| Context | ComedyWritten 1598Elizabethan eraRacism-slaves and Jews |
| Antonio | My purse, my person, my extremest means Lie all unlockedVoid your rheum upon my beard, and foot me as you spurn a stranger cur (-Shylock)I’ll pay it instantly with all my heartMy lord Bassanio, let him have the ring |
| Shylock | suff’rance is the badge of all our tribeif you prick us do we not bleed?Hath not a Jew eyes?Fawning publican… I hate him for he is ChristianI would my daughter were dead at my footMy ducats and my daughter!I’ll have my bond |
| Bassanio | we are the Jasons, we have won the fleece! (Gratiano?)every word in it is a gaping wound issuing lifeless bloodI would she were in heaven so she could entreat some power to change this currish Jewa lady richly leftlike a golden fleece |
| Portia | a lady richly leftlike a golden fleecedouble six thousand, then treble thather lord, her governor, her kingyour wife would give you little thanks for thatit droppeth as the gentle rain from heavenit is twice blestit is an attribute of God himselfby this ring the doctor lay with me |
| Gratiano | we are the Jasons, we have won the fleeceThou art too wild, too rude and too bold of voice (Bassanio)inexecrable dognot on thy sole, but on thy soulcurrish spiritI will fear no other thing so sore as keeping safe nerissa’s ring |
| Nerissa | superfluity comes sooner by white hairs but competancy lives longerThe wish would make an unquiet house |
The Merchant of Venice
July 4, 2019