2. it lives there unchecked, the rumor is current there uncontradicted.

4. the narrow seas [or sea], a usual term for the English Channel. The Goodwins, I think they call the place. Goodwin Sands, off the coast of Kent. Notice how Salarino’s doubt as to the precise name of the place in which Antonio’s ships have come to grief upholds the illusion that we are in Venice, a place remote from England.

10. knapped, broke into small pieces.

30. the wings she flew withal, the boy’s clothing in which she eloped with Lorenzo.

46. match, bargain.

49. smug, trim, neat.

56. disgraced me, lowered me in public estimation.

57. hindered me [from gaining] half a million [of ducats].

62. affections, emotions caused by external objects, as contrasted with passions, feelings due to emotions within.

63. [Is he not] fed with, etc. Observe how the pathos of the Jew’s despised life strengthens Shylock’s hold on our sympathies at the very moment when the sense of Antonio’s disaster is growing upon us.

72. humility, humanity.

81. cannot be matched, cannot be found to match them.

83. what news from Genoa? This question suggests the lapse of some time since the elopement of Jessica, precisely as the vehemence of Shylock’s words to Salanio and Salarino at the beginning of the scene produces the opposite effect of an apparently brief period since that event.

88. cost, that cost.

89. Frankfort on the Main, famous throughout the Middle Ages for its commercial fairs.

105. from Tripolis. This argosy is mentioned above, i. 3. 18.

112. here? in Genoa? i.e. known here [in Italy]? in Genoa? The emendation where for here seems unnecessary.

126. my turquoise. The turquoise was often given as a pledge of love, because it was supposed to maintain or change its brilliancy of color in accordance with the faithfulness or infidelity of the wearer, besides possessing other miraculous qualities. This touch of human affection in Shylock at the moment when he is raving over the extravagance and ingratitude of Jessica can never be overpraised.

131. fee me an officer, engage an officer for me [to arrest Antonio the moment his bond is forfeited].

135. “Shakespeare,” says one critic, “probably intended to add another shade of darkness to the character of Shylock, by making him still formally devout while meditating his horrible vengeance.” Another remarks on this passage: “The Jew invokes the Ancient of Days, who spoke unto Moses aforetime: ‘If a man cause a blemish in his neighbor; as he hath done, so shall it be done to him; breach for breach, eye for eye, tooth for tooth; as he hath caused a blemish in a man, so shall it be done to him again.’ In entering his synagogue Shylock intrusts his hatred to the safeguard of his faith. Henceforward his vengeance assumes a consecrated character.” It is one of the marvels of Shakespeare’s power of characterization that we differ about the characters of his personages as we differ about the characters of real people whom we personally know.

2. in [the event of your] choosing wrong.

7-10. Portia is anxious that Bassanio may not choose hastily. She is deeply in love with him, but “yet a maiden hath no tongue but thoughts” [i.e. it becomes her not to tell him so]; and she wishes simply to detain him, at first a day or two, which rises in her eagerness to a month or two. But she is equally concerned lest Bassanio mistake her attitude for an unmaidenly declaration of love.

14. Beshrew, a very mild imprecation, “Woe to your eyes.”

20, 21. These lines, which offer an excellent illustration of the extreme pregnancy of Shakespeare’s thought, have been explained: “If it prove that I, who am yours by affection, am not yours owing to your unlucky choice of casket, Fortune ought to suffer the penalty, not I; and yet to lose you will be hell for me.”

29. fear [for] the enjoying, doubt if I shall enjoy.

30, 31. There may … as [between] treason and my love.

35. ‘Confess‘ and ‘love,’ love is the sum total of my confession.

44. swan-like end, in allusion to the popular belief that the swan sings before its death. Shakespeare is fond of the allusion; see Othello, v. 2. 247; and King John, v. 7. 21.

49. The moment of crowning an English sovereign is heralded by a flourish of trumpets. Some critics have sought to date this play, 1594, because of this, a supposed allusion to the crowning of Henry of Navarre in that year.

52. The bridegroom was thus awakened by the musicians engaged to accompany him to the bride’s house.

55. young Alcides. Hercules rescued Hesione who, as a virgin tribute to appease the wrath of Neptune, had been chained to a rock by her father, Laomedon, to be devoured by a sea-monster. But Bassanio approaches his perilous undertaking with much more love [line 54], because Hercules was urged to his exploit not for love of the lady, but for the horses which Laomedon had promised him. The whole similitude in which Bassanio is likened to young Alcides, Portia to Hesione, the virgin tribute, and Portia’s attendants to the Dardanian wives [women, the descendants of Dardanus, the ancestor of the Trojans], is full of the spirit of Greek story.

61. Live thou [if thou live], I live. The subjunctive is not infrequently indicated by placing the verb before its subject. The line is perfectly metrical without doubling the word much.

63. fancy is often synonymous with love. See Much Ado About Nothing, iii. 2. 31-32. Here, however, fancy is affection bred by the sight; and neither the product of the heart nor the head. Did Portia unconsciously break her oath in providing that this song be sung? Or did Nerissa? She had openly praised Bassanio (i. 2. 129-131). The maid in one of Shakespeare’s possible sources, Il Pecarone, gave the lover a hint.

73. the outward shows [of things] be least [like the things] themselves.

82. his, the old neuter of the possessive pronoun it or hit. Its is found only toward the end of the sixteenth century. Its appears in no work of Shakespeare’s published in his lifetime, although the form occurs ten times in the folio, usually in the spelling it’s.

86. livers white as milk. Compare 2 Henry IV. iv. 3. 113: “The liver white and pale, which is the badge of pusillanimity and cowardice.”

87. excrement, a word often applied to the hair. See The Winter’s Tale, iv. 4. 733: “Let me pocket up my pedler’s excrement. [ Takes off his false beard.]”

88. beauty, that is, mere beauty. Notice the usual Shakespearean play on the words weight and light.

92-96. those crisped snaky golden locks … bred … in the sepulchre. Shakespeare expresses much the same thought in Sonnet lxviii. The fashion among women of wearing wigs had become very common toward the end of Elizabeth’s reign.

94. Upon supposed fairness, “on the strength of their fictitious beauty.” Compare 3 Henry VI, iii. 3. 223: “And tell false Edward, thy supposed king.”

99. an Indian beauty, a woman that an Indian might consider a beauty.

102. Midas, the foolish Phrygian king, who asked that everything that he touched might be turned to gold; and, his wish granted, nearly perished of hunger.

106. paleness, as Bassanio has already called silver pale, plainness has been suggested as the right reading, thus bringing out a contrast with eloquence. As, however, lead is frequently described as pale, this reading of all the old editions should be preserved.

109. As, such as, as namely.

112. rain thy joy. Compare 1 Henry IV, v. 1. 47: “It rain’d down fortune showering on your head.” Rein is an inferior reading.

117. Or whether. Whether is sometimes used after or where we should omit one of the two. Compare Coriolanus, i. 3. 69: “Or whether his fall enraged him, or how ’twas.”

120. hairs. Used in the plural in Shakespeare’s day. Compare King John, iii. 4. 66: “Bind up your hairs.”

124. having made one. We expect a verb agreeing with this clause to follow; but in the hurry of Bassanio’s rapturous speech the construction is not carried out. Such examples of colloquial phraseology in Shakespeare, far from being blemishes, add greatly to the dramatic quality of his dialogue.

126. unfurnished, unmatched with its fellow eye.

126, 128. how far … so far, in modern English as … so.

140. Notice how Bassanio’s delight and exaltation of spirit at his success is expressed in the continuance after the “scroll” of rhyming lines; and how Portia’s succeeding lines, in their deep seriousness, drop back into blank verse.

141. I come by note [in accordance with the scroll or warrant just read] to give [a kiss] and to receive [you, the lady].

145. Broken as this line is, it is not unmetrical; spirit may have been pronounced as one syllable.

160. sum of – nothing. Preferable to the reading something, of equally good authority, because it conforms more with the negations (unlesson’d, unschool’d, unpractised) that follow, and is more in accord with the careless, happy depreciation of herself which characterizes Portia’s whole speech.

162. Happy in this. The old editions all read “Happiest is this,” explained by regarding Happiest as neuter, the happiest of all is (it or this), etc. The emendation in preserves the construction; happy in this … happier than this … happiest of all in, etc.

173. this ring. The giving of a ring as a token of fidelity is of frequent occurrence in the old drama. See Romeo and Juliet, iii. 2. 142. The employment of the device of the episode of Portia’s ring to lighten the gravity of the ending of this comedy is one of the happiest examples of Shakespeare’s consummate dramatic skill.

176. vantage, the position of one who is master of the situation. To exclaim on one is to complain of one’s conduct. For vantage, see Hamlet, v. 2. 401; for exclaim on, see 1 Henry VI, v. 3. 134.

185. Express’d and not express’d, expressed in inarticulate sounds.

193. none from me, none different from me, none which I do not wish you.

200. the maid. Nerissa was in no respect a servant. She was doubtless as well born, though not as rich, as Portia herself; and bore the same relation of friendship and companionship to Portia that Gratiano, a gentleman by birth, bore to his friend Bassanio.

214. shall be, in modern English will be.

223. A question has been raised as to why Jessica receives no welcome from Portia. This is only apparent. General salutations between the two parties take place while Bassanio is speaking; but the importance of Lorenzo’s message to Bassanio usurps the place which mere courtesies might otherwise occupy. Portia being engaged in the interest which Antonio’s letter excites, Gratiano (in line 240) calls Nerissa to the charge of Jessica.

232. past all saying nay, beyond the possibility of refusal.

240-253. The dialogue of these lines is carried on while Bassanio is reading Antonio’s letter.

242. royal, a term applied to the wealthy and powerful Italian merchants who aided kingdoms with their funds, and often held mortgages on them. The Medici and the Pozzi in Italy, the Fuggers in Germany, and Sir Thomas Gresham in England were merchants of this type. The term here conveys no more than a complimentary allusion to Antonio’s wealth.

252. And I must freely have the half of anything, an Alexandrine line, scan it how we will. There is no reason why we should not acknowledge frankly that, intentionally or inadvertently, Shakespeare frequently uses the Alexandrine in single lines in his dramatic verse.

275. it should appear. This use of shall is much like the German sollen, which means is to and not quite ought.

280. And doth impeach the freedom of the state, denies that those, like himself not natives of Venice, have equal rights there if, etc. See below, iv. 1. 38: “If you deny it, let the danger light Upon your charter and your city’s freedom.”

282. magnificoes, the chief men of Venice were so called.

295. unwearied, that is most unwearied, the superlative is communicated from the words kindest and best-condition’d. Compare above, ii. 1. 46: “To make me blest or cursed’st among men.”

304. thorough, through, as often spelled.

315. Since you are dear bought [with all the anxiety that I have suffered while your fate as a suitor hung in the balance].

321. between you and I. This is so common as to amount to an Elizabethan idiom. Compare above, ii. 6. 30. None of the old copies indicate that Bassanio reads this letter, and yet, as Portia asks to “hear the letter of your friend,” the assignment of the reading to Bassanio seems proper. Dr. Furness finely suggests that Bassanio read until the words, “If I might see you at my death,” and his voice failing him from emotion, that Portia finish the reading, and passionately add without pause: “O love, despatch all business and be gone!”

9. naughty, worthless.

9. fond, foolish.

14. dull-eyed, wanting in perception.

19. kept, associated.

23. made moan, complained.

25. grant this forfeiture to hold, allow it to hold good.

26. deny the course of law, refuse to let the law take its course.

27, 28. For the commodity that strangers have [that is the right to trade and the assurance of legal protection in their bargains] … if it [this right] be denied, it [this denial] will, etc. By others the word it is made to refer to the course of law, and a comma is placed after law, in line 26.

32. bated, reduced, lowered.

6. [To] How true a gentleman, the dative case. In modern English we use the dative only when it comes between the verb and its object: “You send your friend money.”

7. lover. This word was commonly used of friendship between men. See Coriolanus, v. 2. 14: “Thy general is my lover.”

9. customary bounty [your ordinary benevolence] can enforce you [to be].

11. Nor shall not. The double negative as above, i. 2. 28.

15. lineaments, features.

22. the praising of myself. “The frequently precedes a verbal that is followed by an object” (Abbott).

25. husbandry, stewardship.

34. The which. See above, i. 3. 4, and note thereon.

34. my love and some necessity Now lays. Note the singular verb with two subjects.

49. Padua, famous for the learned jurists of its university.

52. with imagined speed, such as can only be thought. Compare Henry V, iii. prologue: “Thus with imagined wing our swift scene flies.”

53. tranect, perhaps better traject from the Italian traghetto, a ferry.

59. Before they think of us [of our seeing them].

63. accoutred, dressed.

66. And speak between, etc. And speak with high, shrill voice such as boys have when they are changing from childhood to manhood.

67. mincing, short, dainty.

72. I could not do withal, I could not help it. A very common phrase and capable of no other interpretation. Cf. below, iv. 1. 412, and the note thereon.

77. Jacks, a term of contempt. See Much Ado About Nothing, i. 1. 185: “Do you play the flaunting Jack?”

81. all my whole device. Compare 1 Henry VI, i. I. 126: “All the whole army.”

82. my coach. Towards the close of Elizabeth’s reign coaches had become very common in England, although the queen had ridden to her coronation on horseback.

3. I fear you, I fear for you.

19. A line from the Alexandreis of Philip Qualtier written in the thirteenth century which became proverbial: Incidis in Scyllam cupiens vitare Charibdim.

21. I shall be saved by my husband. Perhaps an allusion to 1 Corinthians, vii. 14: “The unbelieving wife is sanctified by the husband.”

28. a rasher on the coals, a favorite dish of the time.

34. are out, have fallen out.

57. ‘cover.’ Launcelot plays on the word which means to lay covers on the table, that is set the table, and also to put the hat on the head. I know my duty, and do not wear my hat in the presence of my superiors.

60. quarrelling with occasion, quibbling with words at every opportunity.

70. O dear discretion [sober sense and fair meaning], how [absurdly] his words are suited [matched to the thought].

73. A many fools. The a thus inserted before a numeral indicates that the objects enumerated are regarded collectively as one. Compare the expressions: “This nineteen years,” “This many years”; and Tennyson in The Miller’s Daughter: “They have not shed a many tear.”

74, 75. for a tricksy word Defy the matter, for the sake of playing on the word set the meaning at defiance.

82. And if on earth he do not mean it. Mean is the reading of all the old editions, and various emendations, such as merit it and earn it have been offered. If the reading of the text is to be retained, perhaps the best explanation is that which gives to mean it the force of, “to observe the mean, enjoy blessings moderately.”

95. set you forth, describe you to advantage.