ACT 1 Scene 1

Shylock
A Jewish moneylender in Venice. Angered by his mistreatment at the hands of Venices Christians, particularly
the merchant Antonio, Shylock schemes to get revenge by ruthlessly demanding a pound of Antonios flesh
as penalty for Antonios defaulting on a loan. The Christian characters in the play regard Shylock as an
inhuman monster, frequently mocking him for being obsessed with money. In person, however, Shylock
comes across as far more than a caricature or stereotype. His resentment at his mistreatment, his anger at
his daughters betrayal, and his eloquent expressions of rage make him a convincing, entirely human
character.

Portia
A wealthy heiress from Belmont. Portias beauty is matched only by her intelligence. Bound by a clause in
her fathers will that forces her to marry whichever suitor chooses correctly among three caskets, Portia
nonetheless longs to marry her true love, Bassanio. Far and away the cleverest of the plays characters,
Portia disguises herself as a young male law clerk in an attempt to save Antonio from Shylocks knife.

Antonio
The merchant whose love for his friend Bassanio prompts him to sign Shylocks contract and almost lose his
life. Antonio is something of a mercurial figure, often inexplicably melancholy and, as Shylock points out,
possessed of an incorrigible dislike of Jews. Nonetheless, Antonio is beloved of his friends and proves
merciful to Shylock, albeit with conditions.

Bassanio
A gentleman of Venice and a kinsman and dear friend to Antonio. Bassanios love for the wealthy Portia leads
him to borrow money from Shylock with Antonio as his guarantor. An ineffectual businessman, Bassanio
nonetheless proves himself a worthy suitor, correctly identifying the casket that contains Portias portrait.

Gratiano
A friend of Bassanios who accompanies him to Belmont. A coarse and garrulous young man, Gratiano is
Shylocks most vocal and insulting critic during the trial. While Bassanio courts Portia, Gratiano falls in love
with and eventually weds Portias lady-in-waiting, Nerissa.

Jessica
Although she is Shylocks daughter, Jessica hates life in her fathers house and elopes with the young
Christian gentleman Lorenzo. Launcelot jokingly calls into question what will happen to her soul, wondering
if her marriage to a Christian can overcome the fact that she was born a Jew. We may wonder if her sale of
a ring given to her father by her mother isnt excessively callous.

Lorenzo
A friend of Bassanio and Antonio. Lorenzo is in love with Shylocks daughter, Jessica. He schemes to help
Jessica escape from her fathers house and eventually elopes with her to Belmont.

Nerissa
Portias lady-in-waiting and confidante. Nerissa marries Gratiano and escorts Portia on Portias trip to
Venice by disguising herself as Portias law clerk.

Launcelot Gobbo
Bassanios servant. A comical, clownish figure who is especially adept at making puns, Launcelot leaves
Shylocks service in order to work for Bassanio.

The prince of Morocco

A Moorish prince who seeks Portias hand in marriage. The prince of Morocco asks Portia to ignore his dark
complexion and seeks to win her by picking one of the three caskets. Certain that the caskets reflect
Portias beauty and stature, the prince of Morocco picks the gold chest.

The prince of Arragon

 ACT 1 Scene 1
An arrogant Spanish nobleman who also attempts to win Portias hand by picking a casket. Like the prince of
Morocco, however, the prince of Arragon chooses unwisely. He picks the silver casket, which gives him a
message calling him an idiot rather than offering him Portias hand.

Salarino
A Venetian gentleman, and friend to Antonio, Bassanio, and Lorenzo. Salarino is often almost indistinguishable
from his companion Solanio.

Solanio
A Venetian gentleman, and frequent counterpart to Salerio.

Salerio
A Venetian gentleman and messanger. Salerio returns with Bassanio and Gratiano for Antonios trial.

The Duke of Venice

The ruler of Venice, who presides over Antonios trial. Although he is a powerful man, the state he rules
depends on respect for the law, and he is unable to bend the law to help Antonio.

Gobbo
Launcelots father, also a servant in Venice.

Tubal
A wealthy Jew in Venice and one of Shylocks friends.

Doctor Bellario
A wealthy Paduan lawyer and Portias cousin. Although Doctor Bellario never appears in the play, he gives
Portias servant the letters of introduction needed for Portia to make her appearance in court.

Balthazar
Portias servant, whom she dispatches to get the appropriate materials from Doctor Bellario.

Stephano
A messenger who works for Portia.

Leonardo
One of Bassanios servants.
 ACT 1 Scene 1
Enter ANTONIO, SALARINO, and SOLANIO
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.
SALARINO
Your mind is tossing on the ocean,
There, where your argosies with portly sail,
Like signors and rich burghers on the flood
Or, as it were, the pageants of the sea
Do overpeer the petty traffickers
That curtsy to them, do them reverence
As they fly by them with their woven wings.
SOLANIO
Believe me, sir, had I such venture forth,
The better part of my affections would
Be with my hopes abroad. I should be still
Plucking the grass to know where sits the wind,
Peering in maps for ports and piers and roads.
And every object that might make me fear
Misfortune to my ventures out of doubt
Would make me sad.
SALARINO
My wind cooling my broth
Would blow me to an ague when I thought
What harm a wind too great at sea might do.
I should not see the sandy hourglass run,
But I should think of shallows and of flats
And see my wealthy Andrew docked in sand,
Vailing her high top lower than her ribs
To kiss her burial. Should I go to church
And see the holy edifice of stone
And not bethink me straight of dangerous rocks,
Which, touching but my gentle vessels side,
Would scatter all her spices on the stream,
Enrobe the roaring waters with my silks,
And, in a word, but even now worth this,
And now worth nothing? Shall I have the thought
To think on this, and shall I lack the thought
That such a thing bechanced would make me sad?
But tell not me. I know Antonio
Is sad to think upon his merchandise.
ANTONIO
Believe me, no. I thank my fortune for it
My ventures are not in one bottom trusted,
Nor to one place, nor is my whole estate
Upon the fortune of this present year.
Therefore my merchandise makes me not sad.
SOLANIO
Why then, you are in love.
ANTONIO
Fie, fie!
ANTONIO
To be honest, I dont know why Im so sad. Im tired of it,
and you say youre tired of it too. But I have no idea how
I got so depressed. And if I cant figure out whats making
me depressed, I must not understand myself very well.
SALARINO
Youre worried about your ships.Your mind is out there
getting tossed around on the ocean with them. But
theyre fine. Theyre like huge parade floats on the sea.
Theyre so big they look down on the smaller ships,
which all have to bow and then get out of the way.Your
ships fly like birds past those little boats.
SOLANIO
Yes, believe me, if I had such risky business ventures in
other countries, Id be sad too. Id worry about it every
second. Id constantly be tossing blades of grass into the
air to find out which way the wind was blowing. Id be
peering over maps to figure out the best ports, piers, and
waterways. Everything that made me worry about my
ships would make me sad.
SALARINO
Id get scared every time I blew on my soup to cool it,
thinking of how a strong wind could wipe out my ships.
Every time I glanced at the sand in an hourglass Id
imagine my ships wrecked on sandbars. Id think of
dangerous rocks every time I went to church and saw
the stones it was made of. If my ship brushed up against
rocks like that, its whole cargo of spices would be
dumped into the sea. All of its silk shipments would be
sent flying into the roaring waters. In one moment Id go
bankrupt. Who wouldnt get sad thinking about things like
that? Its obvious. Antonio is sad because hes so worried
about his cargo.
ANTONIO
No, thats not it, trust me. Thankfully my financial
situation is healthy. I dont have all of my money invested
in one ship, or one part of the world. If I dont do well
this year, Ill still be okay. So its not my business thats
making me sad.
SOLANIO
Well then, you must be in love.
ANTONIO
Oh, give me a break.
 ACT 1 Scene 1
SOLANIO
Not in love neither? Then let us say you are sad
Because you are not merryand twere as easy
For you to laugh and leap and say you are merry
Because you are not sad. Now, by two-headed Janus,
Nature hath framed strange fellows in her time.
Some that will evermore peep through their eyes
And laugh like parrots at a bagpiper,
And other of such vinegar aspect
That theyll not show their teeth in way of smile
Though Nestor swear the jest be laughable
Enter BASSANIO, LORENZO, and GRATIANO
Here comes Bassanio, your most noble kinsman,
Gratiano, and Lorenzo. Fare ye well.
We leave you now with better company.
SALARINO
I would have stayed till I had made you merry
If worthier friends had not prevented me.
ANTONIO
Your worth is very dear in my regard.
I take it your own business calls on you
And you embrace th' occasion to depart.
SALARINO
(to BASSANIO, LORENZO, GRATIANO)
Good morrow, my good lords.
BASSANIO
(to SALARINO and SOLANIO)
Good signors both, when shall we laugh? Say, when?
You grow exceeding strange. Must it be so?
SALARINO
Well make our leisures to attend on yours.
SALARINO
Let us know when you want to get together. Were
available.
Exeunt SALARINO and SOLANIO
LORENZO
My Lord Bassanio, since you have found Antonio,
We two will leave you. But at dinnertime
I pray you have in mind where we must meet.
BASSANIO
I will not fail you.
GRATIANO
You look not well, Signor Antonio.
You have too much respect upon the world.
They lose it that do buy it with much care.
Believe me, you are marvelously changed.
ANTONIO
I hold the world but as the world, Gratiano
A stage where every man must play a part,
And mine a sad one.
SOLANIO
Youre not in love either? Fine, lets just say youre sad
because youre not in a good mood.You know, itd be just
as easy for you to laugh and dance around and say youre
in a good mood.You could just say youre not sad.
Humans are so different.
Some people will laugh at anything, and others are so
grouchy they wont even crack a smile when they hear
something hysterically funny.
Enter BASSANIO, LORENZO, and GRATIANO
Here comes your cousin Bassanio. And Gratiano and
Lorenzo too. Goodbye, then. Well leave you to talk to
them. Theyre better company.
SALARINO
I wouldve stayed to cheer you up, if your nobler friends
hadnt shown up.
ANTONIO
Youre both very precious to me. But I understand.You
need to leave to take care of your own business.
SALARINO
(to BASSANIO, LORENZO, and GRATIANO) Good
morning, gentlemen.
BASSANIO
(to SALARINO and SOLANIO) Hello, friends. When are
we going to have fun together again? Just name the time.
We never see you anymore. Does it have to be that way?
SALARINO
Let us know when you want to get together. Were
available.
SALARINO and SOLANIO exit.
LORENZO
Bassanio, well say goodbye for now, since youve found
Antonio. But dont forget, were meeting for dinner
tonight.
BASSANIO
Dont worry, Ill be there.
GRATIANO
You dont look well, Antonio.Youre taking things too
seriously. People with too much invested in the world
always get hurt. Im telling you, you dont look like
yourself.
ANTONIO
For me the world is just the world, Gratianoa stage
where every person has a part to play. I play a sad one.
 ACT 1 Scene 1
GRATIANO
Let me play the fool. Then Ill play the happy fool and get laugh lines on my
With mirth and laughter let old wrinkles come.
And let my liver rather heat with wine
Than my heart cool with mortifying groans.
Why should a man whose blood is warm within
Sit like his grandsire cut in alabaster,
Sleep when he wakes, and creep into the jaundice
By being peevish? I tell thee what, Antonio
I love thee, and tis my love that speaks
There are a sort of men whose visages
Do cream and mantle like a standing pond,
And do a willful stillness entertain
With purpose to be dressed in an opinion
Of wisdom, gravity, profound conceit,
As who should say, I am Sir Oracle,
And when I ope my lips, let no dog bark!
O my Antonio, I do know of these
That therefore only are reputed wise
For saying nothing, when I am very sure
If they should speak, would almost damn those ears
Which, hearing them, would call their brothers fools.
Ill tell thee more of this another time.
But fish not with this melancholy bait
For this fool gudgeon, this opinion.
Come, good Lorenzo.Fare ye well awhile.
Ill end my exhortation after dinner.
LORENZO
Well, we will leave you then till dinnertime.
I must be one of these same dumb wise men,
For Gratiano never lets me speak.
GRATIANO
Well, keep me company but two years more,
Thou shalt not know the sound of thine own tongue.
ANTONIO
Farewell. Ill grow a talker for this gear.
GRATIANO
Thanks, i' faith, for silence is only commendable
In a neats tongue dried and a maid not vendible.
Exeunt GRATIANO and LORENZO
ANTONIO
Is that any thing now?
BASSANIO
Gratiano speaks an infinite deal of nothing, more than
any man in all Venice. His reasons are as two grains of
wheat hid in two bushels of chaffyou shall seek all day
ere you find them, and when you have them they are not
worth the search.
ANTONIO
Well, tell me now what lady is the same
To whom you swore a secret pilgrimage,
That you today promised to tell me of?
GRATIANO
face. Id rather overload my liver with wine than starve
my heart by denying myself fun. Why should any living
man sit still like a statue? Why should he sleep when hes
awake? Why should he get ulcers from being crabby all
the time? I love you, and Im telling you this because I
care about you, Antoniothere are men who always
look serious. Their faces never move or show any
expression, like stagnant ponds covered with scum.
Theyre silent and stern, and they think theyre wise and
deep, important and respectable. When they talk, they
think everybody else should keep quiet, and that even
dogs should stop barking. I know a lot of men like that,
Antonio. The only reason theyre considered wise is
because they dont say anything. Im sure if they ever
opened their mouths, everyone would see what fools
they are. Ill talk to you more about this some other time.
In the meantime, cheer up. Dont go around looking so
glum. Thats my opinion, but what do I know? Im a fool.
Lets go, Lorenzo.Goodbye for now. Ill finish my
lecture after dinner.
LORENZO
All right, well see you at dinnertime. I must be one of
these silent so-called wise men Gratianos talking about,
because he never lets me get a word in
GRATIANO
If you hang around me for two more years, youll forget
the sound of your own voice. I wont ever let you speak.
ANTONIO
Goodbye. After that lecture of yours, Ill start talking a lot
GRATIANO
Thank you. The only tongues that should be silent are ox-
tongues on a dinner plate and those that belong to old
maids.
GRATIANO and LORENZO exit.
ANTONIO
Is he right?
BASSANIO
Gratiano talks more nonsense than any other man in
Venice. His point is always like a needle in a haystack
you look for it all day, and when you find it you realize it
wasnt worth the trouble.
ANTONIO
So, whos this girl, the one you said you were going to
take a special trip for? You promised to tell me.
 ACT 1 Scene 1
BASSANIO
'Tis not unknown to you, Antonio,
How much I have disabled mine estate,
By something showing a more swelling port
Than my faint means would grant continuance.
Nor do I now make moan to be abridged
From such a noble rate. But my chief care Is to come
fairly off from the great debts
Wherein my time something too prodigal
Hath left me gaged. 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,
Within the eye of honor, be assured
My purse, my person, my extremest means
Lie all unlocked to your occasions
BASSANIO
In my school days, when I had lost one shaft,
I shot his fellow of the selfsame flight
The selfsame way with more advisd watch
To find the other forthand by adventuring both,
I oft found both. I urge this childhood proof
Because what follows is pure innocence.
I owe you much, and, like a willful youth,
That which I owe is lost. But if you please
To shoot another arrow that self way
Which you did shoot the first, I do not doubt,
As I will watch the aim, or to find both
Or bring your latter hazard back again
And thankfully rest debtor for the first.
ANTONIO
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 pressed unto it. Therefore speak.
BASSANIO
In Belmont is a lady richly left,
And she is fair andfairer than that word
Of wondrous virtues. Sometimes from her eyes
I did receive fair speechless messages.
Her name is Portia, nothing undervalued
To Catos daughter, Brutus' Portia.
Nor is the wide world ignorant of her worth,
For the four winds blow in from every coast
Renownd suitors, and her sunny locks
Hang on her temples like a golden fleece,
Which makes her seat of Belmont Colchos' strand,
And many Jasons come in quest of her.
O my Antonio, had I but the means
To hold a rival place with one of them,
I have a mind presages me such thrift
That I should questionless be fortunate!
BASSANIO
Antonio, you know how bad my finances have been lately.
Ive been living way beyond my means. Dont get me
wrong, Im not complaining about having to cut back.I
just want to be honourable and pay off the big debts that
piled up when I was living the high life. Im in debt to
many people, and I owe most to you, Antonioboth
money and gratitude. And because you care about me, I
know youll let me tell you my plan to clear all my debts.
ANTONIO
Please let me know your plan, Bassanio. As long as its
honorable, you can be sure that Ill let you use all my
money and do everything I can to help you.
BASSANIO
Back when I was a schoolboy, if I lost an arrow I would
try to find it by shooting another arrow in the same
direction, watching the second arrow more carefully than
I had the first. By risking the second arrow, Id often get
both of them back. Im telling you this story for a reason.
I owe you a lot, and like a spoiled kid Ive lost what I owe
you. But if youd be willing to shoot another arrow the
same way you shot the first, Ill watch your arrow more
carefully this time. Either well get back all the money I
owe you, or else well get back what you lend me this
time, and Ill just owe you what I already owe you.
ANTONIO
You know me better than that.Youre wasting your
breath. All of this talk means you have doubts about my
friendship. Thats worse than if you bankrupted me. Just
tell me what to do, and Ill do it. Tell me.
BASSANIO
Theres a girl in Belmont whos inherited a huge amount
of money, and shes beautiful andeven bettershes a
good person. I think she likes me. Sometimes the
expression on her face tells me she likes me. Her name is
Portia. Shes as rich as that famous Roman heroine Portia,
the daughter of Cato and wife of Brutus. Her wealth is
world-famous. Famous and important men have come in
from all over the world to try to marry her. The hair that
hangs down on her forehead is like gold, calling every
adventurer to Belmont like a gold rush. Antonio, if I only
had enough money to hold my own against those suitors,
I know I could win her!
 ACT 1 Scene 1
ANTONIO
Thou knowst that all my fortunes are at sea.
Neither have I money nor commodity
To raise a present sum. Therefore go forth,
Try what my credit can in Venice do
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.
They Exit
ANTONIO
You know right now all my moneys tied up in that cargo
thats still at sea. I cant give you the cash you need
because I dont have it. But go ahead and charge things to
me on credit, as much credit as I can get in Venice. Ill use
all my lines of credit to help you get to Belmont, to
Portia. Go see who will lend money, and Ill do the same.
Im sure I can get something either as a business loan, or
as a personal favor.