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—Shylock
144 145
Most learnèd judge! A sentence! [To Antonio] Come, prepare!

Antonio is strapped to a chair.
146 147 148
Shylock prepares his blade. +Shylock approaches Antonio.,

—Portia
Tarry a little— there is something else.° 149 / more
This bond doth gives thee here no drop° of blood: {jot}
The words expressly are,° ‘a pound of flesh.’ / say
Take then thy bond, take thou thy pound of flesh,
But in the cutting it, if thou dost shed
One drop of Christian blood, thy lands and goods
Are, by the laws of Venice, forfeited° {confiscate} / assignéd / hereby sent
Unto the state of Venice.

—Gratziano O upright judge!

144. This line is somewhat haunting in that Shylock is addressing Antonio right before he is about to kill him. A
more haunting line would be one where Shylock calls Antonio by name, in a familiar tone, such as: ‘A learnèd judge.
Come, Antonio, prepare.’
145. No stage direction follows this line in Q1. It reads:
Jew. Most learned Iudge, a sentence, come prepare.
Por. Tarry a little, there is some thing else,
this bond doth give thee heere no iote of blood,
the words expresly are a pound of flesh:
Most productions add staging (for dramatic effect) after Shylock’s says, ‘come prepare.’ We typically see Shylock
take out his knife and approach Antonio, about to cut off his flesh, when Portia suddenly shouts out ‘Tarry a
little!’—which brings a halt to Shylock’s immanent action. It is unlikely that the words, tarry a little, were intended
to stop an action, as they are far too casual and lack the urgency. In Q1 these lingering words are a continuation of
the verbal repartee and are not intended to halt any immanent action. The charge of stop or wait might be more apt a
command to stop or stay an immanent action, if this were the author’s intent. [See Additional Notes, 4.1.301a]
146. Here is an alternative stage direction, which fulfills the premise that Shylock had no intention to kill Antonio,
but only to teach him a ‘hard’ lesson:
Shylock circles around Antonio, menacingly, inspecting his breast. After tormenting Antonio in this way,
prolonging the moment of his power, Shylock turns away, drops his sharpened knife onto a table and (with
his back to the court) walks toward the chest of ducats that is sitting on the floor, ready to take his 900
ducats and depart
[See Additional Notes, 4.1.301b]
147. For the possible insertion of some added lines, see: Additional Notes, 4.1.300
148. There is an energetic break between lines 301 (Most learnéd judge) and 302 (Tarry a little)—as well as
between 242 and 243—which suggests a pause and makes way for some staged action. One staging could be that
Portia is summoned over to confer with the Duke (after 301) though such a displacement of the audience’s attention
would slow the action and cripple the tension. More apt, Portia could watch Shylock’s action with a knowing
smile—knowing that she has the power to stop Shylock whenever she deems it so.
149. / Tarry a little more—there’s something else
tarry a little: hold on, wait a moment, stick around a little more
This casual, lingering line could suggest a) that Portia has just found something in the books, such as a new way to
read the letter of the law—which is very unlikely, or b) that, at this seemingly final moment, she has decided to play
her trump card and bring up a legal argument which would thwart Shylock’s intended course. She could have
brought up this legal argument at any time but—for the sake of Shylock and to test Bassanio—she played her course
to the very end. Such a casual line would come at a moment of pause and not shouted out as a way to urgently stop
some impending action. [See Additional Notes, 4.1.302]