Page 149 - William_Shakespeare_-_The_Merchant_of_Venice_191

113 114
And curb° this cruel devil of his will. / thwart / bar

—Portia
It must not° be. There is no power in Venice / cannot
That can reverse° an established decree. 115 {alter} / turn back / o’erturn
’Twill then be counted as° a precedent, {‘Twill be recorded for}
And many an error,° by the same example,° / many errors // as herein applied
Will rush into the state. It cannot be.° 116 / must not

—Shylock
A Daniel come to judgement, yea, a Daniel!
O wise young judge, how I do honour thee!

—Portia
I pray you, let me look upon the bond.

—Shylock [eagerly handing it over]
Here ‘tis, most reverend doctor, here it is.

—Portia [accepting the document but not yet reading it]
118
117
Shylock, there’s thrice the money offered thee.
—Shylock
An oath, an oath. I have° an oath in° heaven! 119 / I’ve made
Shall I lay perjury upon my soul?—
No, not for Venice.

—Portia [looking over the bond]
Yes,° this bond is forfeit, {Why}
And lawfully, by this, the Jew may claim

113. / And curb this devil of his hellish will
114. / This time alone, by your authority, | Wrest once the reigns of law: for a great right | Do but a little wrong, and
curb this devil | From the cruel execution of his will.
115. {Can alter a decree establishéd}
116. Such a defense of Venetian law—over the direct concerns of her husband, and also over what is morally right,
merciful, and fair—are amiss. Why is Portia (who took so many measures to impersonate a doctor of law and
intervene on behalf of Antonio) now taking pains to preserve precedent in Venetian law? What is she offering here
that a normal Venetian judge could not offer?— if not a straight-forward reading of the law. We must assume, by
this strange course, that Portia is ‘playing’ this hand to the end, and that even before entering the court she was aware
of holding a trump card, and being able to stopping Shylock at any time. See footnote for line 176. [See Additional
Note, 4.1.219]
117. Shylock: Portia is still calling him by first name.
118. thrice: In Q1, Bassanio offers twice the sum [207]. This amount was emended to read thrice the sum, in order
to align it with Portia’s statement: Shylock, there’s thrice thy money offered thee. [224] If Bassanio only offered
twice the sum then here, it seems, that Portia is upping the ante, as Shylock has already refused twice the sum. If she
offered the same sum, already refused, it would not be as effective a plea as offering a higher amount. It is possible,
as some have speculated, that either Shakespeare (or Portia) forgot that twice was offered, and herein stated thrice, in
error (with no objection from Bassanio). More likely, the error slipped in as a result of a copyists error.
119. To remind the audience that Shylock’s oath refers to exacting the forfeit of his bond—a reminder which no
mature audience would need—the following line, could be added: +I swore to have the forfeit of my bond.,