Page 103 - William_Shakespeare_-_The_Merchant_of_Venice_191

—Portia
Away then! I am locked in one of them:
If you do love me, you will find me out. 36
37 38
Nerissa and the rest, stand all aback.° {aloof}
39
Let music sound° while he doth make his choice. / play
Then if he lose he’ll make a swan-like end, 40 / die just like a swan
+Which sings° a song upon its final breath,°, 41 /has // to mark its hapless end
And fades in music. That the metaphor° 42 {Fading in music. That the comparison}
May stand more proper,° my eye shall be the stream° / May be more apt / true // river
43
And wat’ry death-bed for him. He may win—° / Should he win
And what is music then? Then music is
44
The teeming flourish° of joyous° cornets / fanfare // sparkling
That play to honor a new-crownèd monarch;
Or like the dulcet° sounds at break of day / ambrosial
That creep into° the dreaming bridegroom’s ear / fall upon
45
And summon° him to marriage. Now he goes, / beckon

d) A possible triplicate rhyme scheme: / Doth teach me answers where I am set free | +Like a kind jailor who
throws me the key, | Now to my choice and my fortune to be
36. If you do love me: The lottery was designed to find Portia a man who would truly love her. Portia has (so far)
been resisting the ‘wisdom’ of her father’s lottery, uncertain that such a device will find one who truly loves
her—and also, uncertain, that it would find one whom she truly loves. But now, not able to intervene or prolong,
Portia surrenders to the fated dispensation of her father’s lottery. Her words, If you do love me, you will find me out
are more likely a hopeful prayer rather than a sanction or confirmation of the efficacy of her father’s lottery.
find me out: find the casket that hold my picture
37. / give him some room / make room, stand back
38. Portia makes a specific mention of Nerissa to ‘stand aloof,’ which indicates that she is in proximity to Bassanio
(which would have to be the case if she were to give him a subtle ‘yes’-nod).
39. This is not a directive to the musicians to play while Bassanio makes his choice but a poetic device. (No music
is actually played while Bassanio makes his choice). The musicians are instructed to play while Bassanio is
contemplating his choice, not while he is actually deliberating on it.
40. {Then if he lose he makes a swan-like end}
/ Then if he loses, he’ll die like a swan / Then if he lose he’ll play a dying swan
a swan-like end: swans were associated with music and were believed to sing a song (a swan-song) before they
died. This belief was also found in Plato, Euripedes, and Aristotle, and commonly held as true during Shakespeare’s
time: “It is said of the learned, that the swan, a little before her death, sings most pleasantly, as prophesied by a secret
instinct her near destiny.” Shepherd’s Calendar (1597). The use of the term swan song— which is based on this
supposition that a swan sings shortly before its death—now refers to the last great thing a person does before dying
or the final work of a person’s life. The term swan song comes from the English translation of the German word
schwanengesang. Here, the image of a swan singing before it dies is replaced by the tragic image of swan sinking to
a watery death while sad music plays in the background.
41. / Whose lullaby attends its sad demise / Which sings while sinking to a watery grave / Which sings a song to
mark its tragic end
42. Let music sound . . .
/ Let music play while he doth make his choice.
Then, should he lose, he will be like a swan,
Who sinks into a watery demise
As the musicians play their final strain
43. / That the comparison may stand more proper,
Mine eyes shall offer a river of tears
To thus provide for his watery death-bed.
44. / A joyous flourish of the bright cornets
45. / And call him sweetly to wed
/ And call him church-wise for his wedding day.
/ And call him toward church on his wedding day