Page 123 - William_Shakespeare_-_The_Merchant_of_Venice_191

ACT THREE - Scene Three 3.3

A street outside Shylock’s house.
Enter Shylock, Antonio, jSalarino, Salanio, and a Jailer. k 2
1

—Shylock 3
Jailor, keep your watch.° Tell not me of mercy. {Jailor look to him} / Keep watch on him
This is the fool who lends° out money gratis. {that lent} {F1: that lends} / who loans
Jailor, keep your watch.° {look to him}

—Antonio Hear me yet, good Shylock.

— Shylock
¢ Now I am good? I say,° my bond is good!¦ 4 / Methinks
I’ll have my bond.° Speak not against my bond. / And I’ll have it
I’ve sworn an oath that I will have my bond. 5
You call’dst me ‘dog’ before thou hadst a cause,
But since I am a dog, beware my fangs.
6
The Duke shall grant me justice. I do° wonder, / but
Thou wicked° jailor, why art thou so foolish° {naughty} / corrupt {fond} / stupid
To let him walk about at his request.° 7 / To let the captive walk around like this

1. The stage direction of Q1 reads ‘Enter the Jew’ and all speech headings read ‘Jew.’ (The actually reading is ‘Enter
the Iew,’ as I was often replaced J. )
2. The stage direction of Q1 reads:
Enter the Iew, and Salerio, and Anthonio,
and the Iaylor.
The name Salerio in the stage heading (instead of Salarino or Salanio) is likely an error made by the compositor
(or print house editor). The original stage heading may have read: ‘Enter the Iew, Anthonio, and others’—where the
‘others’ was meant to indicate Salarino and Salanio and the Jailor, but not Salerio. (Another anomaly in this stage
direction is that the name of a minor character, Salerio, appears before Anthonio.) Salerio, as we know, is in Belmont
delivering a message to Bassanio and could not be present in this scene (which takes place in Venice). Most editors
rectify this error in the stage heading, by replacing ‘Salerio’ with ‘Salanio’ (or Salanio), assuming that there is a one-
to-one correspondence between Salerio and on of the two other Sals . (Q2 replaces Salerio with Salarino, while F1
has Solanio). Thus, this scene is almost always played with Salanio (alone) or in some cases with Salarino (alone)
but not with both characters present, which is the most likely scenario. In sum, the name of Salerio in the stage
direction is clearly an error but the singular replacement of Salerio with either Salanio or Salarino is not certain; it is
most likely that both Salarino and Salanio appear, and were intended to appear, in this scene [See Additional Notes,
3.3.0a]
3. In this scene Shylock is dwelling in the newfound sense of power he has over Antonio by not letting Antonio
speak. [See Additional Notes, 3.3.0]
4. good: reference is made to the double meaning of this word: good in the sene of being righteous, and good in the
sense of being sound and firm. A similar play on the word good was made in 1.3.12-17 when Shylock says to
Bassanio, Antonio is a good man—not meaning that he is a man who is good (i.e., who has a good character) but a
man who is sufficient (good to cover the loan).
5. Why, and for what purpose, does Shylock tell Antonio that he has sworn an oath? What does this accomplish for
Shylock? [See Additional Notes, 3.3.5]
6. shall: > a) must, b) will
7. {Thou naughty jailer, thou that art so fond | To come abroad with him at his request.}
naughty: unfit, no good, corrupt, foolish
to come abroad: to walk outside the jail, in the street
[See Additional Notes, 3.3.10]