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He shall do this or else I do recant / withdraw / retract
The pardon that I just° pronouncèd here. {late} // The pardon I of late

—Portia
198
Art thou contented Jew? What dost thou say?

—Shylock
199
I am content.
—Portia [to Nerissa] Clerk, write° a deed of gift. {draw} > draw up / write up

—Shylock
I pray you, give me leave to go from hence.
200
I am not well. Send the deed after me,
And I will sign it.

—Duke Get thee gone,° but do it. / You may go

—Gratziano [to Shylock]
Had I been judge, thou would not walk from court:
I would have found twelve men to make a jury
Who, upon finding you guilty, would drag
201
You by the feet straightway° unto the gallows. / a-straight / away / direct

198. Portia is still calling Shylock ‘Jew.’ Though, in the original, where he must convert to Christianity, we see that
the ‘conversion’ is merely a glossing over; Shylock will, at heart and in secret—and in the eyes of all
Christians—remain a Jew. Even his daughter, who married a Christian, and willingly converted to Christianity, is
still regarded by her fellow Christians as an ‘infidel’ [3.2.216]—a Jew masquerading as a Christian.
199. At this point, Shylock is portrayed as a broken man—having been stripped of half his wealth and forced
(without a fight) to convert to Christianity. Here he utters a feckless and feeble, I am content, simply mouthing back
Portia’s own words, without any hint of protest. It may be that Shylock’s quick acceptance may be a result of
calculation rather than total defeat: he may be wanting to protect the money he has left and avoid opening himself up
to, yet unknown, further harm. His words, I am content, surely belies his true position—he is not content. He might
be thinking: ‘I am content to say ‘I am content.’ But as for the Christian duplicity—cheating me of my earned
wealth, I am very far from being content.’
200. In productions where Shylock is a ‘broken man,’ he is not well—and because he is not well, and feeling
sickly—he desires to leave the court. In productions where Shylock is still intact, this is clearly a rouse to get
himself out of the court and removed from harm’s way. I am not feeling well is decidedly a cliché excuse, which
cannot be taken at face value. Like the mouthed words, I am content, Shylock’s I am not well is not likely to express
his true state.
201. In the original, where Shylock is converted to Christianity, Gratziano refers to the ‘mercy’ of Shylock’s
upcoming baptism:
{In christ’ning shalt thou have two godfathers.
Had I been the judge, thou shouldst have had ten more—
To bring thee to the gallows, not the font.}
An emended version of this passage might read as follows:
/ In christening° shalt thou have two godfathers. / baptism
Had I been judge, thou shouldst have had ten more—
To make a jury which, finding you guilty,
‘Twould bring thee to the gallows, not the font.
Gratziano is saying: Besides the two godfathers (who will accompany you at baptism) I, being judge, would
have rather asked for ten more men, to make up a jury of twelve men, who would then find you guilty of the charge
and bring you to the gallows (to be hanged) instead of to the font (to be baptized).