The Merchant of Venice, Act 3, Scene 3

Antonio faces the law · William Shakespeare

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SCENE III. Venice. A street.

Enter Shylock, Salarino, Antonio and Gaoler.

SHYLOCK

Gaoler, look to him. Tell not me of mercy.This is the fool that lent out money gratis.Gaoler, look to him.

ANTONIO

Hear me yet, good Shylock.

SHYLOCK

I’ll have my bond, speak not against my bond.I have sworn an oath that I will have my bond.Thou call’dst me dog before thou hadst a cause,But since I am a dog, beware my fangs;The Duke shall grant me justice. I do wonder,Thou naughty gaoler, that thou art so fondTo come abroad with him at his request.

Shylock seizes the Christians' insult and makes it literal, so their contempt produces the very danger it pretended to describe.

Venice was governed by a Doge, a ruler chosen by election who then held office for life. The 'Duke' to whom Shylock and Antonio both look for the outcome of the bond corresponds to this office.

He takes up the insult as an identity, turning degradation into a licence for violence

In Marlowe's The Jew of Malta (2.3) Barabas says 'We Jews can fawn like spaniels when we please; / And when we grin we bite'. Shylock shares the dog-then-bite figure, but where Barabas boasts of feigned servility hiding a bite, Shylock takes up a name he has been called and turns it into open threat.

Shylock's refrain turns the bond into a wall of sound, letting one word replace argument and shutting out every other kind of speech.

In an English penal bond the debtor bound himself under seal to pay a penalty sum. The bond became void only if a stated condition was performed. If the condition went unperformed, the bond stood and the penalty was owed: this is the forfeiture whose enforcement is in doubt here.

Shylock insists upon enforcing…

He reminds Antonio of past…

Shylock expects legal support…

ANTONIO

I pray thee hear me speak.

SHYLOCK

I’ll have my bond. I will not hear thee speak.I’ll have my bond, and therefore speak no more.I’ll not be made a soft and dull-eyed fool,To shake the head, relent, and sigh, and yieldTo Christian intercessors. Follow not,I’ll have no speaking, I will have my bond.

Exit.

SALARINO

It is the most impenetrable curThat ever kept with men.

ANTONIO

Let him alone.I’ll follow him no more with bootless prayers.He seeks my life, his reason well I know:I oft deliver’d from his forfeituresMany that have at times made moan to me.Therefore he hates me.

SALARINO

I am sure the DukeWill never grant this forfeiture to hold.

ANTONIO

The Duke cannot deny the course of law,For the commodity that strangers haveWith us in Venice, if it be denied,’Twill much impeach the justice of the state,Since that the trade and profit of the cityConsisteth of all nations. Therefore, go.These griefs and losses have so bated meThat I shall hardly spare a pound of fleshTomorrow to my bloody creditor.Well, gaoler, on, pray God Bassanio comeTo see me pay his debt, and then I care not.

Exeunt.