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THE METAPHYSICIiL SHAKESPEARE 
 
 AN INTERPRETATION 
 
 THE MERCHANT OF VENICE 
 
ZU metapbvsical Sbakespeare 
 
 Each Interpretation is a Key- 
 to the Play it Accompanies 
 and Proves that the Only 
 Basis upon which Shake- 
 speare built his Dramas was 
 the Bible* J^ ^ J* J> 
 
 tbe mercbant of Uenice 
 
 A Metaphysical 
 Interpretation by 
 
 JULIA RUGGLES 
 
 Pasadena, California 
 
 OCCIDENTAL PUBLISHING COMPANY 
 
 J908 
 
. ««f « fc »^ rrfr . T 1 r ■ -f . , 
 
 5LIBHARY of C0N-3KiSSJ 
 . Two Copies Kecdiy.jfc 
 
 JAN 15 1908 
 
 ^OUSS A XACe !^8vy. 
 
 COPY B, 
 
 Copyright, 1907. 
 By Julia Ruggles. 
 
 All Rights Reserved. 
 
 
BLESSED IS HE THAT READ- 
 ETH, AND THEY THAT HEAR 
 THE WORDS OE THIS PROPH- 
 ECY, AJSTD KEEP THOSE 
 THINGS WHICH ARE WRIT- 
 TEN THEREIN: FOR THE TIME 
 IS AT HAND. 
 
INTEODUCTION. 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 It is now three hundred years since 
 Shakespeare wrote his matchless 
 plays, but it is only during the last 
 century that they have been brought 
 forward artistically, critically and 
 educationally, by scholar, actor and 
 lover of the drama. Today they 
 stand supreme among the world's 
 masterpieces and first in the affec- 
 tions of all English-speaking peoples. 
 During these centuries thinkers of 
 each generation have contributed to 
 a voluminous mass of literature bear- 
 ing on Shakespeare's works. Each 
 play has been dissected; every char- 
 acter, minor and important, has been 
 
8 Introdtjctiox 
 
 analyzed to atoms; every possible 
 source from which this master genius 
 could have dravv^n the material for his 
 settings has been investigated, and by 
 this means there has been given to the 
 world a Shakespeareana of great in- 
 terest and undoubted value. 
 
 Nevertheless, the real source of his 
 plays has never yet been named. Af- 
 ter mature consideration, I here take 
 the stand, without reservation, that 
 Shakespeare's sole source of inspira- 
 tion was the Bible. 
 
 It was his deliberate intention to 
 dramatize the fundamental teachings 
 of Christianity, so far as he under- 
 stood them. This was his Alpha and 
 Omega. The simplest truths of the 
 Scriptures inspired his liveliest scenes 
 and most dramatic passages. 
 
Introduction^ 9 
 
 Long lias the world glibly referred 
 to ' ' Shakespeare and the Bible, ' ' and 
 all unconsciously has it accorded to 
 them, on the ascending scale, their 
 normal relation to one another, 
 ' ' Shakespeare and the Bible. ' ' 
 
 The teachings of the Bible, uncol- 
 ored by doctrine, dogma, creed and 
 ritual^ are the truth about God, man 
 and the universe; and the plays are 
 based upon these teachings, and upon 
 nothing else. They have lived, there- 
 fore, in the hearts of the people to 
 feed and satisfy the craving for truth. 
 Today, as never before, does the proud 
 knee of intellect and ecclesiasticism 
 bow to the simple, but potent, teach- 
 ings of Jesus, v\^ho spake in parable 
 and diminutive drama as never man 
 spake; and from Galilean hill-sides 
 
10 IXTKODUCTION 
 
 reiterated the eternal facts of man's 
 unity with God, and the ISTew Com- 
 mandment, love, as his only govern- 
 ment. Only as "earthly power" 
 yields to the sway of mercy can it 
 "show likest God's." The' Master 
 knew that Christianity as He 
 preached and practiced it, would be 
 obliged, and could afford, to wait for 
 its certain and universal recognition. 
 When this, too, dawned upon 
 Shakespeare's mind, he determined to 
 evolve a form through which he could 
 picture forth to his fellow man what 
 he conceived to be the exact and sim- 
 ple truth concerning the operation of 
 spiritual law, and reveal, without 
 arousing antagonism, the knowledge 
 that certain benefits, including ulti- 
 mate salvation, accrue to man when 
 
Inteodltction 11 
 
 he accepts its imperative demands. 
 
 The literary form chosen by Shake- 
 speare was the most despised of his 
 day. It was the Drama. Until the es- 
 tablishment of the Stuarts upon the 
 throne of England, English had been 
 the language of the masses ; the class- 
 es still spoke in French and wrote in 
 Latin. Latin was the tongue in which 
 most of the religious teachings of the 
 world were then couched, and it was 
 the language in which the Bible had 
 existed for hundreds of years. Tyn- 
 dale and Wj^ckliffe had at the peril of 
 their lives translated the Bible into 
 English, but the Scriptures read from 
 them were not yet in full favor. Latin 
 was pointed to by all scholars as the 
 permanent language of elegant litera- 
 ture. English was to be the speech 
 
12 Introductiox 
 
 of tlie middle classes and peasantry. 
 So convinced of this was Francis Ba- 
 con that he translated many of his 
 works written in English into Latin 
 to preserve them to posterity. 
 
 The King James version of the Bi- 
 ble was made from the four English 
 Bibles then already in existence, and 
 it was his royal word that put forward 
 in England the first of the two pov\^er- 
 ful influences which decided the fu- 
 ture of the English language. The 
 other potent influence was Shake- 
 speare. Shakespeare not only hid his 
 precious secret away in the humble 
 form of the drama, but he also framed 
 his immortal message in the despised 
 language of the people. As a result 
 of the simultaneous appearance of the 
 King James Bible and the plays of 
 
IXTHODUCTIOX 13 
 
 Shakespeare in this tongue^ English 
 was discovered to possess an unsus- 
 pected elegance. Other writers of 
 this period felt the radiance of this 
 uplifting influence without under- 
 standing it, and the literature of Eng- 
 land leaped at a single bound into the 
 leadership of the world's master- 
 pieces. Just so surely as there is no 
 standard superior to that we call 
 Shakespearean, just so surely will his 
 language girdle the globe and help to 
 take the English Bible with it. 
 
 Shakespeare in adopting the drama 
 flung the classic unities to the four 
 winds. He used the literature of all 
 lands to supply his settings, dressed 
 the heroes of history in colors to 
 please himself, but he never wavered 
 from his central theme — the triumph 
 
14 Introdtjction 
 
 of rigliteousness through man when 
 governed by spiritual law, which pre- 
 serves him from harm ; and the inevi- 
 table self-destruction of evil, includ- 
 ing the evil-doer, unless its snake-like 
 spell is checked and turned down up- 
 on its belly to eat the dust of its own 
 sacrilegious argument. 
 
 The religious world of Shake- 
 speare's day was too confused to re- 
 ceive this lesson from his pen. Today 
 the church is broader in its every out- 
 look The intellectual and scientific 
 world of Shakespeare's day was oc- 
 cupied in splitting hairs on non-essen- 
 tials. Today it is prepared to wel- 
 come anything that contributes, to 
 man's welfare and increased mental 
 elasticity. 
 
 Shakespeare, therefore, three hun- 
 
Introduction 15 
 
 dred years ago laid Ms ^^ pearl of great 
 price ^' quietly away behind the gor- 
 geous panorama of history and trag- 
 edy, the sparkling surface of comedy 
 and song, knowing that the full im- 
 port of his message would reach, at 
 the appointed hour, a generation 
 ready to run, ready to read. 
 
 This hour has struck. 
 
 I, therefore, offer the following in- 
 terpretation of The Merchant of Ven- 
 ice, knowing that the play itself will 
 furnish adequate proof that this read- 
 ing is correct. In this play 
 
 Antonio represents the average 
 moralist seeking the world's good 
 opinion. 
 
 The Venetian Law represents hu- 
 man law unable to save man from sin 
 and death, because of its own self- 
 
16 Inteoductiox 
 
 created limitations. 
 
 Sliylock represents the Mosaic law. 
 
 Portia represents the Ideal — ^the 
 higher Hebrew law now called Chris- 
 tian — which says: ^^Love is the ful- 
 filling of the lavv^/' i. e., the old Mosaic 
 law. 
 
 Portia^s Suitors represent the 
 world in pursuit of a false concept of 
 the Ideal; judging according to ap- 
 pearances. 
 
 Bassanio represents those who cor- 
 rectly perceive the Ideal, by abandon- 
 ing the material sense of it, and 
 through ^^ righteous judgment/' judg- 
 ing not according to appearances, en- 
 ter into the jDossession of it. 
 
 Belmont represents the home of the 
 Ideal, where the fulfillment is 
 achieved. 
 
SHAKESPEARE. 
 
 I see all human wits 
 Are measured, but a few; 
 Unmeasured still my Shakespeare 
 
 sits. 
 Lone as the Blessed Jew. 
 
 Ralph Waldo Emerson. 
 
THE METAPHYSICAL 
 INTERPRETATION 
 
 OP 
 
 THE MERCHANT OF VENICE. 
 
THE MERCHANT OF VENICE, 
 
 Venice in Shakespeare's day was 
 the center of both the financial and 
 legal world. Standing as she did at 
 the head of the Adriatic sea, she was 
 the one objective point on the great 
 commercial highway between the east 
 and the west. The treasures of the 
 Orient — gems, rugs, spices, gums, 
 ivory, gold, candied fruits and price- 
 less fabrics — came up over the deserts 
 by caravan to the coast and thence: 
 were shipped to Venice. Italy was 
 then the land of the heart's desire, and 
 thither resorted the wealth of all 
 
22 The Merchant of Venice 
 
 countries in pursuit of both the pleas- 
 ure and the gain that attends always 
 upon the incoming of ships. 
 
 Venetian law was so exact in its ex- 
 ecution of justice that its standards 
 upheld all the lesser courts of Eur- 
 ope. In this play the Venetian law 
 typifies the assumed infallibility of 
 human law to adequately protect man. 
 Shylock naturally looks to the hither- 
 to unquestioned legal standard of the 
 Venetian court for support in claim- 
 ing all that his bond gives him. When 
 Salarino says : 
 SaJarino, 
 
 I am sure the duke 
 Will never grant this forfeiture to hold. 
 
 Act III, Scene j. 
 Antonio replies : 
 
 Antonio. 
 
 The duke cannot deny the course of law : 
 
The Meechant of Venice 23 
 
 For the commodity that strangers have 
 With us in Venice, if it be denied, 
 Will much impeach the justice of the state; 
 Since that the trade and profit of the city 
 Consisteth of all nations. 
 
 Act III, Scene j. 
 
 And later Portia adds in support of 
 the honor of Venetian law : 
 
 Portia. 
 
 There is no power in Venice 
 Can alter a decree established: 
 'Twill be recorded for a precedent, 
 And many an error by the same example 
 Will rush into the state : it cannot be. 
 
 Act IV, Scene i. 
 And following her matchless appeal 
 to the Jew for mercy, she says : 
 
 Portia. 
 
 I have spoke thus much 
 
 To mitigate the justice of thy plea; 
 
 Which if thou follow, this strict court of Venice 
 Must needs give sentence 'gainst the merchant 
 
24 The Meechant of Yenics 
 
 there. 
 
 Act IV J Scene i. 
 
 This play is based upon three of the 
 simplest and most radical of the 
 teachings of the Bible : 
 
 ^^ Judge not according to the ap- 
 pearancCj but judge righteous judg- 
 ment. ' ' 
 
 ' ' He that loseth his life for my sake 
 shall find it. ' ' 
 
 ^^Love is the fulfilling of the law.'^ 
 
 The dramatic form upon which this 
 play is built is that of the Opinion. 
 The repetition of the word opinion 
 and its sister qualities in this play is 
 interesting and significant. The posi- 
 tive side of a dramatic principle pos- 
 sesses necessarily its negative or re- 
 verse, w^hich is used scientifically by 
 Shakespeare as an essential accom- 
 
The Merckaxt of Venice 25 
 
 paniment to the development of the 
 main idea. This negative condition 
 is the reverse of all that constitutes 
 righteous judgment, i. e., opinion. 
 An opinion is a mental outlook for 
 which man gives a reason. This abil- 
 ity to reason skillfully, when devel- 
 oped, becomes judgment. The re- 
 verse of this is prejudice. A preju- 
 dice is that outlook upon things or 
 people for which no reason can be 
 given, and of all twists aside of v/hich 
 the human mind is capable, it is the 
 most impossible to straighten, for it 
 is without genuine mental foundation. 
 Shakespeare selected for his drama- 
 tized negative the racial hatred of the 
 Jew — a prejudice so deeply rooted in 
 the minds of all people that it seems 
 like a hopeless task to think of ever 
 
26 The Merchant of Venice 
 
 removing it. This antagonism against 
 the Hebrew race antedates the Chris- 
 tian era and is as old as the history of 
 the race itself. Why? Because 
 while their neighbors were bowing 
 down in worship to many material 
 forms^ the Hebrews elevated their 
 worship of God into Mind, and cried, 
 that they might be known of all men, 
 ^^Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God 
 is One Lord," and ^^Thou shalt have 
 no other gods before me." 
 
 Jesus, born of the tribe of Judah. 
 came in due time, adding His testi- 
 mony to that of Moses and the proph- 
 ets, ^^I come not to destroy, but to ful- 
 fill the law," and ^^A new command- 
 ment give I unto you, that ye love one 
 -another. " 
 
 Hence, in this wonderful dramati- 
 
The Meechant of Venice 27 
 
 zation of the imperious demands of 
 Christianity upon human capacities^ 
 Shylock and his sense of justice rep- 
 resent the Mosaic law, which says, 
 ^^An eye for an eye, and a tooth for 
 a tooth, '^ w^hile Portia is the embodi- 
 ment of the ^^new commandment" — 
 love — which shows ^4ikest God's/^ 
 when mercy seasons the human sense 
 of justice. 
 
 This wonderful race was hated by 
 all its Oriental neighbors, constantly 
 persecuted and conquered until they 
 were swallowed up in the innnensity 
 of the Roman Empire. In every age 
 they were, as they still are, the most 
 remarkable people that have ever trod 
 the globe. They have been the think- 
 ers, prophets, seers, and su|)r8mc 
 idealists of the world. Thev have 
 
28 The Meechaxt of Vextce 
 
 given to Christendom its Christian 
 ideals, its Decalogue, its Sermon on 
 the Mount, its Bible, and its hope of 
 Immortality ; for it is from the empty 
 tomb of the Hebrew-born Jesus that 
 there arises for the Christian the hope 
 of eternal life. The blackest blot up- 
 on history's page is the Christian 
 treatment of the Hebrew. It is as 
 inexcusable as it is without parallel. 
 They were hounded from city to city, 
 allowed no abiding place, forced to 
 wear a dress that was a mark of ig- 
 nominy ; they were locked in herds in 
 the Ghettos of the great cities of Eur- 
 ope, permitted no accomplishments, 
 alloYv^ed to enter no trade, art, profes- 
 sion or business, but that of money- 
 lending. It is not surprising, there- 
 fore, that in this they were remark- 
 
The Merchant of Yenice 29 
 
 ably successful. 
 
 When Antonio and Bassanio ap- 
 proach Shylock for the loan of three 
 thousand ducats^ he turns upon them 
 and, in burning words that voice the 
 righteous indignation of his outraged 
 race, he says : 
 
 Shylock, 
 
 Signior Antonio, many a time and oft 
 In the Rialto you have rated me 
 About my moneys and my usances : 
 Still have I borne it with a patient shrug, 
 For sufferance is the badge of all our tribe. 
 You call me misbeliever, cut-throat dog, 
 And spit upon miy Jewish gaberdine, 
 And all for use of that which is mine own. 
 Well then, it now appears you need my help : 
 Go to, then; you come to me, and you say 
 ^Shylock, we would have moneys ;' you say so ; 
 You, that did void your rheum upon my beard 
 And foot me as you spurn a stranger cur 
 Over your threshold : moneys is your suit. 
 
30 The Merchant of Venice 
 
 What should I say to you? Should I not say | 
 *Hath a dog money ? is it possible 
 A cur can lend three thousand ducats?' Or 
 Shall I bend low and in a bondman's key, 
 With bated breath and whispering humbleness, 
 
 Say this; 
 
 Tair sir, you spit on me on Wednesday last ; 
 You spurn'd me such a day ; another time 
 You caird me dog ; and for these courtesies 
 I'll lend you thus much moneys ?' 
 
 Act h Scene 3. 
 
 Antonio makes a very discourteous 
 reply : 
 
 Antonio, 
 
 I am as like to call thee so again, 
 To spit on thee again, to spurn thee too. 
 If thou wilt lend this money, lend it not 
 As to thy friends ; for when did friendship take 
 A breed for barren metal of his friend? 
 But lend it rather to thine enemy. 
 Who if he break, thou mayst with better face: 
 
 Exact the penalty. ^ r o 
 
 Act I, Scene 3. 
 
\ 
 
 The Merchant of Venice 31 
 
 When first approached by Bassanio 
 
 for the loan for which Antonio should 
 
 become bound, Shvlock says to him- 
 self : 
 
 Shylock. 
 If I catch him once upon the hip, 
 I will feed fat the ancient grudge I bear him. 
 He hates our sacred nation, and he rails, 
 Even there where merchants most do congre- 
 gate, 
 On me, my bargains and my well-won thrift, 
 Which he calls interest. Cursed be my tribe, 
 If I forgive him ! 
 
 Act I, Scene 3, 
 
 Presentiment, intuition and super- 
 stition being akin to the central ideas, 
 opinion and prejudice, are introduced 
 with rare art into this play, which op- 
 ens with a statement freighted with 
 presentiment : 
 
32 The Merchant of Venice 
 
 Antonio, 
 In sooth, I know not why I am so sad : 
 It wearies me; you say it wearies you; 
 But how I caught it, found it, or came by it, 
 What stuff 'tis made of, whereof it is born, 
 I am to learn ; 
 
 And such a want-wit sadness makes of me 
 That I have much ado to know myself. 
 
 Act I, Scene i. 
 
 and Bassanio, in the conversation 
 which follows, has an intuition that 
 he will be successful in his suit for 
 Portia's hand in marriage. 
 
 Bassanio. 
 
 my Antonio, had I but the m^eans 
 To hold a rival place with one of them, 
 
 (i. e,, Portias suitors,) 
 
 1 have a mind presages me such thrift, 
 That I should questionless be fortunate! 
 
 Act I, Scene i. 
 
 and Shylock's presentiments ring 
 
The Merchant of Venice 33 
 
 true, though mixed with the baser 
 metal of superstition: 
 
 Shylock, 
 
 I am bid forth to supper, Jessica: 
 There are my keys. But wherefore should I 
 
 go? 
 I am not bid for love; they flatter me: 
 But yet I'll go in hate, to feed upon 
 The prodigal Christian. Jessica, my girl. 
 Look to my house. I am right loath to go: 
 There is some ill a-brewing towards my rest, 
 For I did dream of money-bags to-night. 
 
 * 5fC iK >JS 
 
 By Jacob's staff, I swear, 
 I have no mind of feasting forth tonight: 
 But I Vvdll go. Go you before me, sirrah; 
 
 ^ H< ^ ^ • 
 
 Perhaps I will return immediately : 
 Do as I bid you ; shut doors after you. 
 
 Act II, Scene 5. 
 
 That night was he robbed, and by- 
 Jessica herself, who fled from Venice 
 
34 The Merchant of Venice 
 
 with her Christian husband, Lorenzo, 
 and embarked for Belmont. Shy- 
 lock's alternate grieving and cursing 
 for the loss of both his daughter and 
 his ducats, culminates in lines that 
 show that he could as deeply and de- 
 votedly love as he could bitterly and 
 vindictively hate: 
 
 Tubal. 
 One of them showed me a ring that he had 
 of your daughter for a monkey. 
 
 Shylock. 
 Out upon her ! Thou torturest me, Tubal : 
 it was my turquoise; I had it of Leah when 
 I was a bachelor: I would not have given it 
 for a wilderness of monkeys. 
 
 Act III, Scene i. 
 
 Again, when asked why he prefers a 
 pound of Antonio 's flesh to his money, 
 Shylock replies in words that never 
 
The Merchant of Venice 35 
 
 fail to rouse sympathy in the logical 
 mind : 
 
 Shylock, 
 If it will feed nothing else, it will feed my 
 revenge. He hath disgraced me, and hindered 
 me half a million; laughed at my losses, 
 mocked at my gains, scorned my nation, 
 thwarted my bargains, cooled my friends, 
 heated mine enemies; and what's his reason? 
 I am a Jew. Hath not a Jew eyes? hath not 
 a Jew hands, organs, dimensions, senses, af- 
 fections, passions ? fed with the same food, hurt 
 with the same weapons, subject to the same 
 diseases, healed by the same means, warmed 
 and cooled by the same winter and summer, 
 as a Christian is ? If you prick us, do we not 
 bleed ? if you tickle us, do we not laugh ? if you 
 poison us, do we not die? and if you wrong 
 us, shall we not revenge? If we are like you 
 in the rest, we will resemble you in that. If 
 a Jew wrong a Christian, what is his humility ? 
 Revenge. If a Christian wrong a Jew, what 
 should his sufferance be by Christian example ? 
 
36 The Merchant of Venice 
 
 Why, revenge. The villainy you teach me, I 
 will execute, and it shall go hard but I will 
 better the instruction. 
 
 Act III, Scene /. 
 
 Antonio is the embodiment of both 
 the positive and the negative qualities 
 that emphasize the Christian gentle- 
 man. He is high-mindedj moral, gen- 
 erous and gifted with a capacity to 
 love so great that he lays down his 
 life for his friend Bassanio, who 
 comes to him saying : 
 
 Bassanio. 
 
 To you, Antonio, 
 I owe the most, in money and in love, 
 And from your love I have a warranty 
 To unburden all my plots and purposes 
 How to get clear of all the debts I owe. 
 
 Antonio. 
 I pray you, good Bassanio, let me know it ; 
 And if it stand, as you yourself still do, 
 
The Merchant of Venice 37 
 
 Within the eye of honor, be assured, 
 
 My purse, my person, my extremest means, 
 
 Lie all unlocked to your occasions. 
 
 ^ Jj: J{; 5k 
 
 You know me well, and herein spend but time 
 To wind about my love with circumstance; 
 And out of doubt you do me now more wrong 
 In making question of my uttermost 
 Than if you had made waste of all I have : 
 Then do but say to me what I should do 
 That in your knowledge may by me be done, 
 And I am prest unto it : therefore speak. 
 
 Act /, Scene i, 
 
 Bassanio then tells of Iiis suit for Por- 
 tia 's hand in marriage, and of his need 
 of money for the suitable conduct of 
 it, to which Antonio replies : 
 
 Antonio, 
 Thou know'st that all my fortunes are at sea; 
 Neither have I money nor commodity 
 To raise a present sum : therefore go forth ; 
 Try what mv credit can in Venice do: 
 
38 The Merchaxt of Venice 
 
 That shall be racked, even to the uttermost, 
 To furnish thee to Belmont, to fair Portia. 
 Go, presently inquire, and so will I, 
 Where money is^ and I no question make 
 To have it of my trust or for my sake. 
 
 Act I, Scene i, 
 
 Tliey go together to Shylock, who 
 makes with Antonio the following 
 compact : 
 
 Shylock. 
 
 Go with me to a notary, seal me there 
 
 Your single bond ; and, in a merry sport, 
 
 If you repay me not on such a day. 
 
 In such a place, such sum or sums as are 
 
 Express'd in the condition, let the forfeit 
 
 Be nominated for an equal pound 
 
 Of your fair flesh, to be cut off and taken 
 
 In what part of your body pleaseth me. 
 
 Antonio. 
 Content, i' faith : FU seal to such a bond 
 And say there is much kindness in the Jew. 
 
The Merchant of Venice 39 
 
 Bassanio, 
 You shall not seal to such a bond for me: 
 I'll rather dwell in my necessity. 
 
 Antonio. 
 Why, fear not, man ; I will not forfeit it : 
 Within these two months, that's a month before 
 This bond expires, I do expect return 
 Of thrice three times the value of this bond. 
 
 Act I, Scene 3. 
 
 When, three months later, Anto- 
 nio's ships have not come to port and 
 Shylock is vindictively claiming the 
 forfeiture, Salarino says of Antonio : 
 
 Salarino, 
 A kinder gentleman treads not the earth. 
 I saw Bassanio and Antonio part : 
 Bassanio told him he would make some speed 
 Of his return: he answered, 'Do not so; 
 Slubber not business for my sake, Bassanio, 
 But stay the very riping of the time ; 
 And for the Jew's bond which he hath of me, 
 Let it not enter in your mind of love: 
 
40 The Merchant of Yeistice 
 
 * * * * 
 
 And even there, his eye being big with tears, 
 Turning his face, he put his hand behind him, 
 And with affection wondrous sensible 
 He wrung Bassanio's hand ; and so they parted. 
 
 and Salanio adds : 
 
 Salanio, 
 I think he only loves the world for him. 
 I pray thee, let us go and find him out 
 And quicken his embraced heaviness 
 With some delight or other. 
 
 Act II, Scene 8, 
 
 When Bassanio receives the news 
 of Antonio 's inability to pay the duc- 
 ats and communicates it to Portia, we 
 learn that Antonio was : 
 
 Bassanio, 
 The dearest friend, the kindest man, 
 The best-condition'd and unwearied spirit 
 In doing courtesies, and one in whom 
 The ancient Roman honour more appears 
 Than any that draws breath in Italy. 
 
The Merchant of Venice 41 
 
 Portia. 
 What sum owes he the Jew? 
 
 Bassanio, 
 For me three thousand ducats. 
 
 Portia. 
 
 What, no more? 
 Pay him six thousand, and deface the bond ; 
 Double six thousand, and then treble that, 
 Before a friend of this description 
 Shall lose a hair through Bassanio's fault. 
 
 Act III, Scene 2. 
 
 In court, when Antonio feels that 
 the arm of the law is powerless to ex- 
 tricate him from the meshes that his 
 own and the Jew's lav/less hatred has 
 w^oven about him, he says : 
 
 Antonio. 
 I am arm'd and well prepared. 
 Give me your hand, Bassanio: fare you welll 
 Grieve not that I am fallen to this for you ; 
 For herein Fortune shows herself more kind 
 
42 The Merchant of Venice 
 
 Than is her custom : it is still her use 
 To let the wretched man outlive his wealth, 
 To view with hollow eye and wrinkled brow 
 An age of poverty ; from which lingering pen- 
 ance 
 Of such a misery doth she cut me off. 
 Commend me to your honourable wife : 
 Tell her the process of Antonio's end ; 
 Say how I loved you, speak me fair in death ; 
 And, when the tale is told, bid her be judge 
 Whether Bassanio had not once a love. 
 
 Act IVy Scene i. 
 
 But this love is limited and does not 
 
 extend to the Jew, his neighbor, uponi 
 
 whom he spits freely and knows only 
 
 by the name of dog; to which indig- 
 nity Shylock pertinently replies : 
 
 Shylock, 
 Thou cairdst me dog before thou hadst a cause ;; 
 But, since I am a dog, beware my fangs. 
 
 Act III, Scene 5. 
 Such respect has Antonio for the 
 
The Meechant of Venice 43 
 
 world's estimation of riches, and of 
 the man who possesses them^ that he 
 prefers death to advanced years, un- 
 less accompanied with wealth. Gra- 
 tiano has already advised him not to 
 fish ^^for this fool-gudgeon — this 
 opinion. ' ' 
 
 Gratiano. 
 Signior Antonio; 
 
 You have too much respect upon the world : 
 They lose it that do buy it with much care. 
 
 Act I, Scene /. 
 
 The loss of the world's estimation 
 robbed the grave for him of its sting. 
 This ignominious attitude toward 
 money is in sharp contrast to that of 
 Portia's. She only mshed ^^In vir- 
 tueSj beauties, livings, friends, to ex- 
 ceed account," that she might enrich 
 another. 
 
44 The Merchant of Venice 
 
 Portia steps before us appealing 
 for sjonpathy : ' ' By my troth, Neris- 
 sa, rny little body is aweary of this 
 great world." 
 
 Portia. 
 But this reasoning is not in the fashion to 
 choose me a husband. O me, the word 
 'choose' ! I may neither choose v/hom I would 
 nor refuse whom I disHke ; so is the will of a 
 living daughter curbed by the will of a dead 
 father. Is it not hard, Nerissa, that I cannot 
 choose one nor refuse none? 
 
 Nerissa. 
 Your father was ever virtuous ; and holy men 
 at their death have good inspirations : therefore 
 the lottery, that he hath devised in these three 
 chests of gold, silver and lead, Vvmereof who 
 chooses his meaning chooses you, will, no 
 doubt, never be chosen by any rightly but one 
 wlio shall rightly love. 
 
 >{< ^ J|C ij< 
 
 Do you not remember, lady, in your father's 
 
The Merchant of Venice 45 
 
 time, a Venetian, a scholar and a soldier, that 
 came hither in company of the Marquis of 
 Montferrat ? » 
 
 Portia, 
 Yes, yes, it was Bassanio ; as I think, he 
 was so called. 
 
 Nerissa. ^ 
 True, madam : he, of all the men that ever 
 my foolish eyes looked upon, was the best de- 
 serving a fair lady. 
 
 Portia. 
 I remember him well, and I remember him 
 worthy of thy praise. 
 
 Act I, Scene 2. 
 
 And later ^ when Bassanio stands be- 
 fore the caskets, to win or lose her, 
 Portia says : 
 
 Portia, 
 Away, then ! I am lock'd in one of them : 
 If you do love me, you will find me out. 
 
 Act III, Scene 2 
 
46 The Merchant of Venice 
 
 Portia typifies throughout this play; 
 the Ideal for which every man who is 
 born into the world strives. 
 
 'Who chooseth me shall gain what many men 
 
 desire/ 
 Why, that's the lady ; all the world desires her ; 
 From the four corners of the earth they come, 
 To kiss this shrine, this mortal breathing saint : 
 The Hyrcanian deserts and the vastly wilds 
 Of wide Arabia are as throughfares now 
 For princes to come view fair Portia: 
 The watery kingdom, whose ambitious head 
 Spits in the face of heaven, is no bar 
 To stop the foreign spirits, but they come, 
 As o'er a brook, to see fair Portia. 
 
 Act II, Scene 7. 
 Lorenzo, 
 How cheer'st thou, Jessica? 
 And now, good sweet, say thy opinion. 
 How dost thou like the Lord Bassanio's wife?? 
 
 Jessica, 
 Past all expressing. It is very meet 
 
The Merchant of Venice 47 
 
 The Lord Bassanio live an upright Hfe ; 
 
 For, having such a blessing in his lady, 
 
 He finds the joys of heaven here on earth • 
 * * ^ ^ ' 
 
 Why, if two gods should play some heavenly 
 
 match 
 And on the wager lay two earthly women, 
 And Portia one, there must be something else 
 Pawn'd with the other, for the poor rude world 
 Hath not her fellow. 
 
 Act III, Scene 5. 
 Bassanio, 
 In Belmont is a lady richly left ; 
 And she is fair and, fairer than that word, 
 Of wondrous virtues : sometimes from her eyes 
 I did receive fair speechless messages : 
 Her name is Portia, nothing undervalued 
 To Cato's daughter, Brutus' Portia: 
 Nor is the wide world ignorant of her vv^orth. 
 For the four winds blow in from every coast 
 Renowned suitors, and her sunny locks 
 Hang on her temples like a golden fleece ; 
 Which makes her seat of Belmont Colchos' 
 
48 The Merchant of Venice 
 
 strand, 
 And many Jasons come in quest of her/ 
 
 Act I, Scene i. j 
 
 In ancient Greece, tlie Golden 
 Fleece hidden on Colchos' strand typ- 
 ified this same idea, and the story goes , 
 that when Jason had successfully 
 braved incredible dangers for the 
 possession of it and had brought it 
 home and placed it in the temple, each 
 person who made the effort to view 
 its loveliness saw therein embodiedl 
 his own highest sense of beauty.. 
 Therefore, since Portia typifies iri^ 
 this play the ideal, her home, Belmont 
 is artistically introduced by Shake- 
 speare as "Colchos' strand," and hen 
 suitors as *'many Jasons who come in 
 search of her." 
 
 Here, of necessity, in the home oJ 
 
The Merchant of Venice 49 
 
 the Ideal, Belmont, the height of 
 beauty, must the masculine repre- 
 sentative meet the feminine repre- 
 sentative of the Ideal ; thus revealing 
 through dramatic and romantic scenes 
 the fact that all heavenly qualities 
 unite in each individual consciousness 
 to satisfy man that he is indeed God^s 
 image and likeness. Here at Belmont 
 ^^all journeys end lovers' meeting,'' 
 and here, therefore, as the play pro- 
 gresses, do all the leading characters, 
 except Shylock, gather in happy un- 
 ion. 
 
 The symbolic interest of this play 
 centers in the casket scenes, and cul- 
 minates in the court room. The in- 
 scriptions upon the caskets are 
 freighted with peculiar significance, 
 and are the direct outcome of the ba- 
 
50 The Merchant of Venice 
 
 sic ideas upon wliicli this play rests. 
 
 The first, of gold, who this inscription bears, 
 Who chooseth me shall gain what many men 
 
 desire ;' 
 The second, silver, which this promise carries, 
 'Who chooseth me shall get as much as he 
 deserves ;' 
 This third, dull lead, with warning all as blunt, 
 'Who chooseth me must give and hazard 
 all he hath.' 
 How shall I know if I do choose the right? 
 
 Act II, Scene 7. 
 
 The Prince of Morocco, from Afri- 
 can shores, beturbaned and be jeweled, 
 black as the ace of spades, and con- 
 sumed with self-love, addresses him- 
 self to Portia for personal approval, 
 but is turned of necessitv by her to 
 the resources of his own judgment. 
 He knows that '^ appearances are 
 against him," and with mingled fear 
 
The Merchant of Venice 51 
 and vanity lie says to Portia: 
 
 Morocco. 
 Mislike me not for my complexion, 
 The shadowed livery of the burnished sun, 
 To whom I am a neighbor and near bred. 
 Bring me the fairest creature northward born, 
 Where Phoebus' fire scarce thaws the icicles, 
 And let us make incision for your love, 
 To prove vv^hose blood is reddest, his or mine. 
 I tell thee, lady, this aspect of mine 
 Hath fear'd the valiant: by my love, I swear 
 The best-regarded virgins of our clime 
 Have loved it too : I would not change this hue. 
 Except to steal your thoughts, my gentle queen. 
 
 Portia. 
 In terms of choice I am not solely led 
 By nice direction of a maiden's eyes ; 
 Besides, the lottery of my destiny 
 Bars me the right of voluntary choosing: 
 But if my father had not scanted me, 
 And hedged me by his wit, to yield myself 
 His wife who wins me by that means I told 
 you, 
 
! 
 
 52 The Merchant of Venice 
 
 Yourself, renowned prince, then stood as fair 
 As any comer I have look'd on yet 
 For my affection. 
 
 Morocco. 
 
 Even for that I thank you : 
 Therefore, I pray you, lead me to the caskets 
 
 To try mv fortune. 
 
 Act II, Scene i. 
 
 As he stands before the caskets he 
 fervently ejaculates, "Some god di-| 
 rect my judgment." 
 
 Morocco. i 
 
 Let me see; • 
 
 I will survey the inscriptions back again. I 
 
 What says this leaden casket? 
 
 'Who chooseth me must give and hazard all he 
 
 hath.' 
 Must give ! for what ? for lead ? hazard for lead . 
 This casket threatens. Men that hazard all 
 Do it in hope of fair advantages : 
 A golden mind stoops not to shows of dross j 
 I'll then nor give nor hazard aught for lead. ^ 
 
The Merchant of Venice 53 
 
 What says the silver with her virgin hue ? 
 *Who chooseth me shall get as much as he 
 
 deserves.' 
 As much as he deserves? Pause there, Mo- 
 rocco, 
 And weigh thy value with an even hand : 
 If thou be'st rated by thy estimation, 
 Thou dost deserve enough ; and yet enough 
 May not extend so far as to the lady : 
 And yet to be afeard of my deserving 
 Were but a weak disabling of myself. 
 As much as I deserve ! Why, that's the lady : 
 I do in birth deserve her, and in fortunes, 
 In graces and in qualities of breeding; 
 But more than these, in love I do deserve. 
 What if I stray 'd no further, but chose here? 
 Let's see once more this saying graved in gold ; 
 'Who chooseth me shall gain what many men 
 desire.' 
 
 AVhy, that's the lady ; all the world desires her r 
 From the four corners of the earth they come. 
 To kiss this shrine, this mortal breathing saint : 
 The Hyrcanian deserts and the vasty wilds 
 
54 The Merchant of Venice 
 
 Of wide Arabia are as throughfares now 
 For princes to come view fair Portia: 
 The watery kingdom, whose ambitious head 
 Spits in the face of heaven, is no bar 
 To stop the foreign spirits, but they come, 
 As o'er a brook, to see fair Portia. 
 One of these three contains her heavenly pic- 
 ture. 
 
 Is't Hke that lead contains her? 'Twere damna- 
 tion 
 
 To think so base a thought : it were too gross 
 
 To rib her cerecloth in the obscure grave. 
 
 Or shall I think in silver she's immured, 
 
 Being ten times undervalued to tried gold? 
 
 O sinful thought ! Never so rich a gem 
 
 Was set in worse than gold. They have in 
 
 England 
 A coin that bears the figure of an angel 
 
 Stamped in gold, but that's insculp'd upon ; 
 But here an angel in a golden bed 
 Lies all within. Deliver me the key : 
 Here do I choose, and thrive I as I may ! 
 
 Portia, 
 There, take it, prince ; and if my form lie there, 
 
The Merchant of Venice 55 
 
 Then I am yours. 
 
 {He unlocks the golden casket.) 
 Morocco. 
 
 O hell ! what have we here ? 
 A carrion Death, within whose empty eye 
 There is a written scroll ! V\\ read the writing. 
 (Reads) All that glisters is not gold ; 
 
 Often have you heard that told : 
 Many a man his life hath sold 
 But my outside to behold: 
 Gilded tombs do worms infold. 
 Had you been as wise as bold, 
 Young in limbs, in judgement old, 
 Your answer had not been inscrolFd : 
 Fare you well; your suit is cold. ^ 
 
 Act II, Scene 7. 
 With the dismissal of Morocco, ar- 
 rives Arragon, suave, hopeful and se- 
 cure in his sense of his own superior 
 discernment and deser\ings. As he 
 stands before the caskets he exclaims 
 with elated confidence : 
 
56 The Merchant of Venice 
 
 Arragon. 
 
 Fortune now 
 To my heart's hope! Gold; silver; and base 
 
 lead. 
 'Who chooseth me must give and hazard all 
 
 he hath.' 
 You shall look fairer, ere I give or hazard. 
 What says the golden chest? ha! let me see: 
 *Who chooseth me shall gain what many men 
 
 desire.' 
 What many men desire! that 'many' may be 
 
 meant 
 By the fool multitude, that choose by show, 
 Not learning more than the fond eye doth 
 
 teach ; 
 Which pries not to the interior, but, like the- 
 
 martlet, 
 Builds in the weather on the outward wall, 
 Even in the force and road of casualty. 
 I will not choose what many men desire, 
 Because I will not jump with common spirits 
 And rank me with the barbarous multitudes. 
 Why, then to thee, thou silver treasure-house; 
 
The Mekchant of Venice 57 
 
 Tell me once more what title thou dost bear : 
 
 'Who chooseth me shall get as much as he de- 
 serves :' 
 
 And well said too ; for who shall go about 
 
 To cozen fortune and be honourable 
 
 Without the stamp of merit? Let none pre- 
 sume 
 
 To wear an undeserved dignity. 
 
 O, that estates, degrees and offices 
 
 Were not derived corruptly, and that clear hon- 
 our 
 
 Were purchased by the merit of the wearer! 
 
 How many then should cover that stand bare ! 
 
 How many be commanded that command! 
 
 How much low peasantry would then be 
 gleaned 
 
 From the true seed of honour ! and how much 
 honour 
 
 Pick'd from the chafif and ruin of the times 
 
 To be new-varnish'd ! Well, but to my choice : 
 
 'Who chooseth me shall get as much as he de- 
 serves.' 
 
 I will assume desert. Give me a key for this, 
 
58 The Merchant of Venice 
 
 And instantly unlock my fortunes here. 
 
 {He opens the silver casket.) 
 
 Portia, 
 Too long a pause for that which you find there. 
 
 Arragon, 
 AVhat's here? the portrait of a blinking idiot, 
 Presenting me a schedule ! I will read it. 
 How much unlike art thou to Portia ! 
 How much unlike my hopes and my deserv- 
 
 ings ! 
 'Who chooseth me shall get as much as he 
 
 deserves.' 
 Did I deserve no more than a fool's head ? 
 -Is that my prize? are my deserts no better? 
 
 Portia, 
 To offend, and judge, are distinct offices 
 And of opposed natures. 
 
 Arragon. 
 
 What is here? 
 (Reads) The fire seven times tried this: 
 
 Seven times tried that judgment is, 
 That did never choose amiss. 
 
The Merchant of Venice 59 
 
 Some there be that shadows kiss; 
 Such have but a shadow's bUss : 
 There be fools aUve, I wis, 
 Silver'd o'er ; and so was this. 
 Take what wife you will to bed, 
 I will ever be your head : 
 So be gone, sir : you are sped. 
 
 Still more fool I shall appear 
 By the time I Hnger here : 
 With one fooFs head I came to woo, 
 But I go away with two. 
 
 Act II, Scene p. 
 
 Thus does Shakespeare depict the 
 power of the sinuous false logic of ap- 
 pearances to lead heated ambition and 
 calculating worldliness to place their 
 ideal in merelv material conditions. 
 When they have cast in their all for 
 what they did desire, and for what 
 they claimed as their desert, their re- 
 ward is even a carrion death and a 
 
60 The Merchant of Venice 
 
 blinking idiocy. 
 
 With Arragon's exit, Bassanio en- 
 ters the arena. Of Bassanio we are 
 told nothing directly and everything 
 indirectlj^ He, and he only, had 
 penetrated far enough into the home 
 of the Ideal to have received from 
 Portia's eyes fair speechless mes- 
 sages, which informed him that he 
 should ^ ' questionless be fortunate, ' ' if 
 he but pursued his suit in the face of 
 all obstacles to its end. Bassanio had 
 in his favor, birth, breeding and cor- 
 rect idealistic perceptions, but he had 
 no money. This is error's last con- 
 temptible weapon in seeking to pre- 
 vent the consummation of idealistic 
 conditions for man. The ^^ earth al- 
 ways helps the woman,'' and Anto- 
 nio's boundless affection for Bassa- 
 
The Merchant of Venice 61 
 
 nio, in whom he sees a type of his own 
 ideal fulfilled, provides the necessary 
 material equipment for the progress 
 of the idea towards its goal — this 
 home of the good and the true where 
 finally all the leading characters of 
 the play, except Shylock, meet in hap- 
 py union. 
 
 As Bassanio stands before the cas- 
 kets he presents a striking contrast to 
 his predecessors. In support of the 
 key-note of this play, ^^ Judge not by 
 appearance, but judge righteous judg- 
 ment, ' ' the leaden casket bears the in- 
 scription, ^^Wlio chooseth me must 
 give and hazard all he hath. ' ' What 
 ideal is that for which man will not 
 give and hazard all he hath? This 
 is the test of our desire and our de- 
 serts. Bassanio having sought first 
 
62 The Merchant of Venice 
 
 his highest understanding of love, and 
 glad to have something demanded of 
 him in proof of his capacity to love, 
 had all these things represented by 
 the gold and silver caskets added, as 
 a natural sequence, unto him. 
 
 Shakespeare introduces at this 
 
 point this song : 
 
 Song. 
 Tell me where is fancy bred, 
 Or in the heart or in the head? 
 How begot, how nourished? 
 
 Reply, reply. 
 It is engendered in the eyes, 
 With gazing fed; and fancy dies 
 In the cradle where it Hes. 
 
 Let us all ring fancy's knell : 
 ril begin it, — Ding, dong, bell. 
 
 Act III, Scene 2, 
 
 ^^It is neither of the heart nor of 
 the head; it is not begot nor nour- 
 
The Merchant of Venice 63 
 
 ished. It is by gazing fed. It is en- 
 gendered in the eyes and there it 
 dies. ' ' No one metaphysical doctrine 
 is so dramatized by Shakespeare as 
 the subtle power of the eyes to de- 
 ceive. It is the whole theme of some 
 of his plays, and the analysis of it will 
 frequently appear in these Interpre- 
 tations. The eye, when governed by 
 spiritual perception, which judges not 
 at all by the things which are seen 
 and temporal, but by things which are 
 not seen and are eternal, is the guide 
 to righteous judgment. The mathe- 
 matical reversal of this is fancy, mes- 
 merism, that presents itself through 
 material forms to beguile, to befool, 
 deceive, ruin poor misguided mortals 
 who believe that desire and desert can 
 be satisfied in the gratification of ma- 
 
64 The Meecha^^t of Venice 
 
 terial possession. 
 
 The mesmeric spell of appearance 
 had long since been conquered by Bas- 
 sanio, whose first words are : 
 
 Bassanio. 
 So may the outward shows be least themselves ; 
 The world is still deceived v/ith ornament. 
 In law, what plea so tainted and corrupt 
 Bill, being seasonal with a gracious voice, 
 Obscures the show of evil? In religion, 
 What damned error, but some sober brow 
 Will bless it and approve it with a text, 
 Hidinp* the ^-rossness with fair ornament? 
 There is no vice so simple but assumes 
 Some mark of virtue on his outward parts : 
 How many cowards, whose hearts are all as 
 
 false 
 As stairs of sand, wear yet upon their chins 
 The beards of Hercules and frowning Mars, 
 Who, inward search'd, have livers white as 
 
 milk ; 
 And these assume but valour's excrement 
 
The Merchant of Venice 65 
 
 To render them redoubted! Look on beauty, 
 And you shall see 'tis purchased by the weight ; 
 Which therein works a miracle in nature, 
 Making them lightest that wear most of it : 
 So are those crisped snaky golden locks 
 Which make such wanton gambols with the 
 wind, 
 
 Upon supposed fairness, often known 
 To be the dowry of a second head, 
 The ski:ll that bred them in a sepulchre. 
 Thus ornam.ent is but the gilded shore 
 To a most dangerous sea ; the beauteous scarf 
 Veiling an Indian beauty ; in a word. 
 The seeming truth which cunning times put on 
 To entrap the wisest. Therefore, thou gaudy 
 gold, 
 
 Hard food for Midas, I will none of thee ; 
 Nor none of thee, thou pale and common 
 
 drudge 
 'Tween man and man: but thou, tliou meagre 
 
 lead, 
 Which rather threatenest than dost promise 
 
 aught, 
 
66 The Mekchant of Venice 
 
 Thy paleness moves me more than eloquence ; 
 And here choose I : joy be the consequence! 
 What find I here? 
 
 {Opening the leaden casket,) 
 
 Fair Portia's counterfeit! What demi-god 
 Hath come so near creation? Move these eyes? 
 Or whether, riding on the balls of mine, 
 Seem they in motion ? Here are severed lips, 
 Parted with sugar breath : so sweet a bar 
 Should sunder such sweet friends. Here in 
 
 her hairs 
 The painter plays the spider and hath woven 
 A golden mesh to entrap the hearts of men 
 Faster than gnats in cobwebs : but her eyes, — 
 How could he see to do them? having made 
 
 one, 
 Methinks it should have power to steal both his 
 And leave itself unfurnished. Yet look, how far 
 The substance of my praise doth wrong this 
 
 shadow. 
 In underprising it, so far this shadow 
 Doth Hmp behind the substance. Here's the 
 
 scroll, 
 
The Merchant of Venice 67 
 
 The continent and summary of my fortune. 
 (Reads) You that choose not by the view, 
 Chance as fair and choose as true ! 
 Since this fortune falls to you, 
 Be content and seek no new. 
 If you be well pleased with this 
 And hold your fortune for your bliss, 
 Turn you where your lady is 
 And claim her with a loving kiss. 
 A gentle scroll. Fair lady, by your leave; 
 I come by note, to give and to receive. 
 Like one of two contending in a prize, 
 That thinks he hath done well in people's eyes. 
 Hearing applause and universal shout. 
 Giddy in spirit, still gazing in a doubt 
 Whether those peals of praise be his or no. 
 So, thrice-fair lady, stand I, even so; 
 As doubtful whether what I say be true. 
 Until confirmed, sign'd, ratified by you. 
 
 Portia, 
 You see me. Lord Bassanio, where I stand, 
 Such as I am ; though for myself alone 
 I would not be ambitious in my wish, 
 
68 The Merchant of Venice 
 
 To wish myself much better ; yet, for you 
 I would be trebled twenty times myself; 
 A thousand times more fair, ten thousand times 
 More rich ; 
 
 That only to stand high in your account, 
 I might in virtues, beauties, livings, friends, 
 Exceed account ; but the full sum of me 
 Is sum of— something, which, to term in gross 
 Is an unlesson'd girl, unschool'd, unpractised ; 
 Happy in this, she is not yet so old 
 But she may learn ; happier than this, 
 She is not bred so dull but she can learn ; 
 Happiest of all in that her gentle spirit 
 Commits itself to yours to be directed, 
 As from her lord, her governor, her king. 
 Myself and what is mine to you and yours 
 Is now converted : but now I was the lord 
 Of this fair mansion, master of my servants, 
 Queen o'er myself ; and even now, but now. 
 This house, these servants and this same my- 
 self 
 Are yours, my lord : I give them with this ring ; 
 Which when you part from, lose, or give away, 
 
The Merchant of Venice 69 
 
 Let it presage the ruin of your love 
 And be my vantage to exclaim on you. 
 
 Bassanio, 
 Madam, you have bereft me of all words, 
 Only my blood speaks to you in my veins ; 
 And there is such confusion in my powers 
 As, after some oration fairly spoke 
 By a beloved prince, there doth appear 
 Among the buzzing, pleased multitude ; 
 Where every something, being blent together, 
 Turns to a wild of nothing, save of joy, 
 Express'd and not expressed. But when this 
 
 ring 
 Parts from this finger, then parts life from 
 
 hence : 
 O, then be bold to say Bassanio's dead ! 
 
 Act III, Scene J. 
 Although Portia is now given in 
 marriage to Bassanio by her father 's^ 
 will, Bassanio will not accept its pro- 
 visions. His victory is not complete 
 until ^^ confirmed, signed, ratified" by 
 
70 The Merchant of Veistice 
 
 Portia, thus restoring to her the free- 
 dom of individual judgment, tempo- 
 rarily taken from her by her father. 
 
 This ideal is the manifestation of 
 man's highest sense of goodness, beau- 
 ty and truth. This can be discerned 
 from afar, as Bassanio looked upon 
 Portia, but the actual possession of 
 it is only entered in upon as did Bas- 
 sanio, by judging not according to ap- 
 pearance, but judging righteous judg- 
 ment. The meaning of ^^He who lay- 
 eth down his life for my sake shall 
 find it,'' was grasped by Shakespeare 
 and imaged forth by Bassanio, who, 
 in his willingness to fulfill the de- 
 mand of the leaden casket, and ' ' Give 
 and hazard all he hath," found that 
 for which he did give and hazard. 
 
 Above and bevond all desire for ma- 
 
The Merchant of Venice 71 
 
 terial possession lies the Ideal, Mdden 
 from all who seek her according to ap- 
 pearance, but generous in the com- 
 plete giving of herself is she to those 
 who silently reach out and find her in 
 obedience to the spiritual law, which 
 alone endows man with a capacity for 
 righteous judgment. 
 
 In every age has the light of the 
 spiritual ideal risen, set, and again 
 been brought forth by one who, like 
 Bassanio, should rightly love. The 
 phenomenon of appearance, disap- 
 pearance and reappearance has al- 
 w^ays accompanied it, because of the 
 limited human sense that wakes and 
 sleeps in regard to man's oneness with 
 God, the ever-present I AM, who 
 neither comes nor goes. This phe- 
 nomenon sharply accentuates the his- 
 
72 The Merchant of Venice 
 
 tory of Jesus' career on earth. He 
 appeared in Bethlehem, disappeared 
 into Egypt, and reappeared in the 
 temple that He might be about his 
 Father's business. He appeared in 
 Nazareth as the son of the carpenter, 
 disappeared into the wilderness, to re- 
 appear in Galilee, where He began 
 His ministrj^ He appeared in Jeru- 
 salem for crucifixion, disappeared 
 within a rock-bound tomb, only to re- 
 appear in a Garden. His appearance 
 on the shores of the Galilean sea was 
 followed by his disappearance in as- 
 cension, and since He said, ^^Lo, I am 
 with YOU ahvavs," therefore his final 
 reappearing will of necessity be im- 
 personal and permanent. 
 
 Portia's humor is tinged with wis- 
 dom, and her keen sense of justice 
 
The Merchant of Venice 73 
 
 with mercy. When she finds tliat Bas- 
 sanio's friend Antonio stands in dan- 
 ger of his life for the want of a few 
 thousand ducats, she instantly sup- 
 plies thrice the amount. Money is 
 readily used by Portia for suc-h a 
 friend ! Rising in the scale of ideal- 
 ism, Portia next proposes that she and 
 Bassanio give up their wedding day 
 to the saving of this friend 's life, and 
 the culmination of her understanding 
 of the s]3iritual law of unselfed love 
 is when, in the court scene which fol- 
 lows swiftlv on the heels of her mar- 
 riage, she tries to save the Jew from 
 his own undoing. 
 
 Under the effulgence of the wisdom 
 and love that Portia brought to bear 
 upon the ignorance of hate and mal- 
 ice that had struck at Antonio's life. 
 
74 The Merchant of Venice 
 
 those evils were arrested and driven 
 out. Human justice would have been 
 obliged to give Shylock his bond. The 
 appearance of the law^ justified it, and 
 all, including the powerful Duke of 
 Venice himself, were pov/erless under 
 its rigid exactions to save the life of 
 a fellow man. It was to the heavenly 
 sense of mercy that the flaws in the 
 bond framed by malice and hate were 
 revealed; for ^^Love is the fulfilling 
 of the law. ' ' Portia is never so plain- 
 ly the dramatization of man's capac- 
 ity to show ^4ikest God's'' as she is 
 w^hen, kindly, persuasively, does she 
 try to win the Jew to take the money 
 so precious she knows to him, and 
 which he will surely lose if he refuse 
 it thrice in court. 
 Portia. 
 
The Meechant of Venice 75 
 
 Shylock, there's thrice thy money offered thee. 
 
 ^ ^ H: ^ 
 
 Be merciful : 
 
 Take thrice thy money ; bid me tear the bond. 
 
 Act IVy Scene i. 
 
 The enriching of the Jew by many 
 times the original amount borrowed 
 was offered by Portia from out the 
 wealth of her own coffers. She is not 
 introduced hj Shakespeare to trap the 
 wretched Jew, but to heal and save 
 him from himself; otherwise how 
 could she consistently say, ^^Then 
 must the Jew be merciful?" Could 
 Shakespeare allow her to ask more of 
 the Jew, with his burden of wrongs, 
 than she herself could give from the 
 abundance of her heaven-endowed 
 perception that love is the fulfilling 
 of the law? 
 
76 The Merchant of Venice 
 
 If this metaphysical understanding 
 of law, which is ahva5^s mercif ul, were 
 the established code in use in the le- 
 gal, world today, how drfierent would 
 be the attitude of stern justice toward 
 the defiant criminal at the bar. How^ 
 invaluable would it be in detecting 
 and destroying the evil motive that 
 alone produces the criminal act, thus 
 protecting the innocent and aiding in 
 the release of the prisoner from the 
 bondage of vice and the oft-time bated 
 desire for evil doino*. Hovr much 
 greater protection to public morals 
 this would be than sending the 
 wretched and protesting victim to the 
 electric chair, or gallows, while all his 
 undestroyed desires angrily multiply 
 and react upon unguarded conscious- 
 ness, to find ten channels of activity 
 
The Merchant of Vexice 77 
 
 to the one ignorantly destroyed. 
 The trial proceeds : 
 
 Ditke. 
 Antonio and old Shylock, both stand forth. 
 
 Portia, 
 Is your name Shylock? 
 
 Shylock. 
 
 Shylock is my name 
 
 Portia. 
 Of a strange nature is the suit you follow ; 
 Yet in such rule that the Venetian law 
 Cannot impugn you as you do proceed. 
 You stand within his danger, do you not? 
 
 Antonio. 
 Ay, so he says. 
 
 Portia, 
 
 Do you confess the bond ? 
 Antonio, 
 
 I do. > * 
 
 } -, J 
 Portia, 
 
 Then must the Tew be merciful. 
 
78 The Meechant of Venice 
 
 Shylock, 
 On what compulsion must I? tell me that 
 
 Portia. 
 The quality of mercy is not strained; 
 It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven 
 Upon the place beneath; it is twice blest; 
 It blesseth him that gives and him that takes : 
 'Tis mightiest in the mightiest : it becomes 
 The throned monarch better than his crown ; 
 His sceptre shows the force of temporal power, 
 The attribute to awe and majesty, 
 Wherein doth sit the dread and fear of kings ; 
 But mercy is above this sceptred sway ; 
 It is enthroned in the hearts of kings, 
 It is an attribute to God himself ; 
 And earthly powef doth then show likest God's 
 When mercy seasons justice. Therefore, Jew, 
 
 Though justice be thy plea, consider this, 
 That, in the course of justice, none of us 
 Should see salvation : we do pray for mercy ; 
 And that same prayer .doth teach us all to 
 
 render 
 The deeds of mercy. 
 
 Act IV, Scene i. 
 
The Merchant of Venice 79 
 
 No more striking scene exists in all 
 dramatic literature than this where 
 Shylock and Portia face one another 
 for either the destruction or preser- 
 vation of Antonio. Shylock, repre- 
 senting the Mosaic law, waits to ' ' feed 
 fat the ancient grudge" he owed An- 
 tonio, and Portia, the embodiment of 
 the new commandment, seeking to 
 save even that which rejects it; for 
 ^'Love is the fulfilling of the law.'' 
 Finding that Shylock is determined to 
 refuse the salvation she offers him, 
 she swiftly runs the malice to earth 
 and, with keen intelligence, addresses 
 the Jew as follows : 
 
 Portia. 
 A pound of that same merchant's flesh is 
 
 thine : 
 The court awards it, and the law doth give it. 
 
80 The Merchant of Venice 
 
 Shylock. 
 Most rightful judge! 
 
 Portia. 
 And you must cut this flesh from off his breast : 
 The lav/ alloAvs it, and the court awards it. 
 
 Shylock. 
 Most learned judge! A sentence! Come, pre- 
 pare ! 
 
 Portia. 
 Tarry a little ; there is something else. 
 This bond doth give thee here no jot of blood ; 
 The words expressly are 'a pound of flesh:' 
 Take then thy bond, take thou thy pound of 
 
 flesh ; 
 But, in the cutting it, if thou dost shed 
 One drop of Christian blood, thy lands and 
 
 goods 
 Are, by the laws of Venice, confiscate 
 Unto the state of Venice. 
 
 Shylock. 
 Is that the law ? 
 
 Portia. 
 
The Merchant of Venice 81 
 
 Thyself shalt see the act : 
 For, as thou urgest justice, be assured 
 Thou shalt have justice, more than thou de- 
 sirest. 
 
 Shylock, 
 I take this offer, then ; pay the bond thrice 
 And let the Christian go. 
 
 Bassanio. 
 Here is the money. 
 
 Portia. 
 
 Soft ! 
 The Jew shall have all justice; soft! no haste: 
 He shall have nothing but the penalty. 
 Therefore prepare thee to cut off the flesh 
 Shed thou no blood, nor cut thou less nor more 
 But just a pound of flesh: if thou tak'st more 
 Or less than a just pound, be it but so much 
 As makes it light or heavy in the substance 
 Or the division of the twentieth part 
 Of one poor scruple, nay, if the scale do turn 
 But in the estimation of a hair. 
 Thou diest, and all thy goods are confiscate. 
 
82 The Meechant of Venice 
 
 Why doth the Jew pause? take thy forfeiture. 
 
 Shylock. 
 Give me my principal, and let me go. 
 
 Portia. 
 Thou shalt have nothing but the forfeiture, 
 To be so taken at thy peril, Jew. 
 
 Shylock. 
 Why, then the devil give him good of it! 
 ril stay no longer question. 
 
 Portia. 
 
 Tarry, Jew : 
 
 The law hath yet another hold on you. 
 
 It is enacted in the laws of Venice, 
 
 If it be proved against an alien 
 
 That by direct or indirect attempts 
 
 He seek the life of any citizen. 
 
 The party 'gainst the which he doth contrive 
 
 Shall seize one half his goods; the other half 
 
 Comes to the privy coffer of the state ; 
 
 And the offender's life lies in the mercy 
 
 Of the duke only, 'gainst all other voice. 
 
 In which predicament, I say, thou stand'st ; 
 
The Merchaxt of Venice 83 
 
 For it appears, by manifest proceeding, 
 That indirectly and directly too 
 Thou hast contrived against the very life 
 Of the defendant; and thou has incurred 
 The danger formerly by me rehearsed. 
 Down, therefore, and beg mercy of the duke. 
 
 Duke, 
 That thou shalt see the difference of our spirits, 
 I pardon thee thy life before thou ask it ; 
 For half thy wealth, it is Antonio's ; 
 The other half comes to the general state. 
 Which humbleness may drive unto a fine. 
 
 Portia. 
 Ay, for the state, not for Antonio. 
 
 Shylock, 
 Nay, take my life and all ; pardon not that : 
 You take my house when you do take the prop 
 That doth sustain my house ; you take my life 
 When you do take the means whereby I live. 
 
 Portia. 
 What mercy can you render him, Antonio? 
 
 Antonio. 
 
84 The Merchant of Venice 
 
 So please my lord the duke and all the court 
 
 To quit the fine for one-half of his goods 
 
 I am content ; so he will let me have 
 
 The other half in use, to render it, 
 
 Upon his death, unto the gentleman 
 
 That lately stole his daughter : 
 
 Two things provided more, that, for this 
 
 favour, 
 He presently become a Christian; 
 The other, that he do record a gift, 
 Here in the court, of all he dies possess'd. 
 Unto his son Lorenzo and his daughter. 
 
 Duke. 
 He shall do this, or else I do recant 
 The pardon that I late pronounced here. 
 
 Portia. 
 Art thou contented, Jew? what dost thou 
 say? 
 
 Shylock. 
 I am content. 
 
 Portia. 
 
 Clerk, draw a deed of gift. 
 
The Meechant op Venice 85 
 
 Shylock. 
 
 I pray you, give me leave to go from hence ; 
 I am not well : send the deed after me, 
 And I will sign it. 
 
 Act IV, Scene i. 
 
 Antonio's demand that Shylock be- 
 come a Christian would provoke a 
 smile were the situation not so pitiful. 
 What persuasive loveliness had An- 
 tonio's race ever offered Shylock 's 
 that could induce him to believe that 
 its religion was superior to the faith 
 of his fathers? No wonder Shylock 
 leaves the court room hurriedly, say- 
 ing, " I am not well. ' ' Here may we 
 not give rein to kindly imagination 
 for one moment and believe that the- 
 force of Portia's Ufe-giving goodness 
 may have penetrated into the dull suf- 
 fering of his outraged sensibilities 
 
86 The Merchant of Venice 
 
 and there brought the solace of a new 
 understanding of the law — ^honored 
 from time immemorial by his race — 
 ior ^4ove is the fulfilling of the law/' 
 Jn taking Jessica, the Jew's daugh- 
 ter, to Belmont, as the happy wife of 
 a Christian husband, Shakespeare's 
 intention was not to lav another 
 crushing grief upon Shylock. It was 
 rather to show that as the old Judaic 
 law of restriction gives way to the new 
 Judaic law of the Golden Rule, so in- 
 evitably must Jew and Christian meet, 
 not in the narrow highways of theol- 
 ogy, not in the glamour of form, not 
 in the bypaths of bigotry, or formu- 
 lated creed, but upon the broad up- 
 lands of the First Commandment — 
 '^Thou shalt have no other gods be- 
 fore me" — and in its inspired inter- 
 
The Merchant of Venice 87 
 
 pretation of that commandinent from 
 the teachings of Jesus, ' ' God is Spirit 
 and must be worshipped in Spirit and 
 in Truth. '^ 
 
 One of the philosophical doctrines 
 introduced by Shakespeare into his 
 plays is the power of music to soothe, 
 uplift and redeem. Some modern 
 thinker has said, and wisely, that 
 more music is needed today in the edu- 
 cational world, from the kindergarten 
 to the university. Through Lorenzo 
 and Jessica, a pair of captivating and 
 child-like lovers, does Shakespeare 
 give forth this acceptable message of 
 the efficacy of music. This doctrine 
 is aptly allied to the idealistic philoso- 
 phy embedded in this play, and again 
 points to the fact that this great artist 
 was thoroughly familiar with the 
 
88 The Merchant of Venice 
 
 Book of Books wherein is recorded 
 the music of the spheres, when ^^the 
 morning stars sang together and all 
 the sons and daughters of God shout- 
 ed for joy." 
 
 Portia, in her absence, has left Lo- 
 renzo and Jessica in charge of Bel- 
 mont, and there, like happy children, 
 they await her return. The sense of 
 companionship in isolation that 
 Shakespeare conveys through this 
 scene is enchanting. Lorenzo in his 
 appreciation of Jessica sa5^s : 
 
 Lorenzo, 
 Beshrew me but I love her heartily; 
 For she is wise, if I can judge of her, 
 And fair she is, if that mine eyes be true, 
 And true she is, as she hath proved herself, 
 And therefore, like herself, wise, fair and true, 
 Shall she be placed in my constant soul. 
 
 Act II y Scene 6. 
 
The Merchant of Venice 89 
 
 On the night of Portia 's return Bel- 
 mont is flooded with moonlight. Lo- 
 renzo, walking with Jessica in Bel- 
 mont's gardens, says to her: ^'The 
 moon shines bright; your mistress is 
 at hand ; bring your music forth into 
 the air. ' ' 
 
 Lorenzo, 
 How sweet the moonlight sleeps upon this 
 
 bank ! 
 Here will we sit and let the sounds of music 
 Creep in our ears : soft stillness and the night 
 Become the touches of sweet harmony. 
 Sit, Jessica. Look how the floor of heaven 
 Is thick inlaid with patines of bright gold : 
 There's not the smallest orb which thou be- 
 
 hold'st 
 But in his motion like an angel sings, 
 Still quiring to the young-eyed cherubins ; 
 Such harmony is in immortal souls; 
 But whilst this muddy vesture of decay 
 Doth grossly close it in, we cannot hear it. 
 
90 The Merchant of Venice 
 
 Come, ho ! and wake Diana with a hymn : 
 With sweetest touches pierce your mistress' 
 
 ear 
 And draw her home with music. 
 
 Jessica, 
 I am never merry when I hear sweet music. 
 
 Lorenzo, 
 The reason is, your spirits are attentive : 
 For do but note a v/ild and wanton herd. 
 Or race of youthful and unhandled colts. 
 Fetching mad bounds, bellowing and neighing 
 
 loud, 
 Which is the hot condition of their blood ; 
 If they but hear perchance a trumpet sound, 
 Or any air of music touch their ears, 
 You shall perceive them make a mutual stand, 
 Their savage eyes turn'd to a modest gaze 
 By the sweet power of music : therefore the 
 
 poet 
 Did feign that Orpheus drew trees, stones and 
 
 floods ; 
 Since nought so stockish, hard and full of 
 
 rage, 
 
The Merchant of Venice 91 
 
 But music for the time doth change his nature. 
 The man that hath no music in himself, 
 Nor is not moved with concord of sweet 
 
 sounds, 
 Is fit for treasons, stratagems and spoils ; 
 The motions of his spirit are dull as night 
 And his affections dark as Erebus : 
 Let no such man be trusted. Mark the music. 
 
 Act V, Scene i. 
 Ushered home by these heavenly in- 
 fluences of mellowed light and music, 
 Portia, as she enters the garden, ex- 
 claims : 
 
 Portia. 
 That light we see is burning in my hall. 
 How far that little candle throws his beams ! 
 So shines a good deed in a naughty world. 
 
 ^ >js 'jj >!? 
 
 Music ! hark ! 
 
 * * i{s Jj« 
 
 Nothing is good, I see, without respect ; 
 Methinks it sounds much sweeter than by day. 
 
92 The Merchaxt of Venice 
 
 How many things by season seasoned are 
 To their right praise and true perfection! 
 Peace, ho! the moon sleeps with Endymion 
 And would not be awaked. 
 
 Act V , Scene i. 
 
 From this point the play runs swift- 
 ly to its close, with ^^ right praise and 
 true perfection" restoring Bassanio 
 to Portia, Gratiano to Nerissa; 
 bringing "^ special deed of gift" to 
 Jessica and Lorenzo, and the good 
 news to Antonio that his ' ' argosies are 
 richly come to harbor, suddenly," 
 drawing from him the expression of 
 heartfelt gratitude to Portia : ' ' Sweet 
 
 lady, you haye given me life and liv- 
 
 • 9 9 
 mg." 
 
 With Lorenzo we echo, ^^You drop 
 manna in the w^ay of starved people." 
 
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