Page 169 - William_Shakespeare_-_The_Merchant_of_Venice_191

ACT FIVE - Scene One 1

Portia’s house in Belmont. A garden. Moonlight.

—Lorenzo
The moon shines bright. On° such a night as this, {In}
When the sweet° wind did gently kiss the trees— / soft
And they did make no noise. On such a night
Did young° prince Troilus mount° the Trojan walls / climb
And sighed his soul toward the Grecian tents,
Where Cressid lay that night. 2 / Where his beloved lay / Where his Cressida lay

—Jessica On° such a night, {In} 3
Did Thisbe go to meet with Pyramus;° / her beloved
But saw the lion’s shadow ere his frame° {himself}
And ran away in fright.° {And ran away dismayed}

—Lorenzo On such a night,
Queen Dido stood upon the wild shore° {wild sea banks}

1. As it stands, Act Five is much too long, and most productions seek ways to reduce it.. (Before 1900 (xxx) it was
common practice to simply delete the whole of Act Five—an overly-aggressive maneuver which leaves too much of
the play ‘hanging.’ This, however, was favored to leaving the audience burdened and dissipated by an overly
protracted Act Five.)
One way to reduce the length of Act Five is to export the whole of Lorenzo’s and Jessica’s dialogue, and
have it replace 3.5. (Specifically, 5.1.1-21 and 5.1.54-110, could be exported). As such, the scene would open at
5.1.88 with the entrance of Portia and Nerissa. To further shorten Act Five, the scene could open at 5.1.110, with the
entrance of Lorenzo and Jessica, from one side, and Portia and Nerissa from the other:

Lor: Is that dear Portia? Lady, welcome home!
Por: We have been praying for our husband’s welfare
Which speed we hope the better for our words.
Has my husband returned?
Lor: Madam, not yet:
But there is come a messenger before
To signify their coming.
Por: Lorenzo, Jessica—quickly go in
Give order to my servants that they take
No note at all of our being absent hence.
In this reduction of Act Five Lorenzo and Jessica would exit after line 122 [Lor: ‘We are no telltales,
madam, fear not’] and re-enter after 288 [Por: How now Lorenzo?]. The action of having Lorenzo and Jessica exit
(to inform the servants) accomplishes two things: a) it resolves the anomaly of line 117 where Portia instructs
Nerissa to ‘give order’ to the servants but, because Nerissa is involved in the following action, she cannot leave the
stage to accomplish this task; and b) it allows Lorenzo and Jessica to leave the stage and not dissipate the action by
their presence (for none of the following dialogue, over 150 lines of it, [123-287] involve Lorenzo and Jessica. The
pair’s later re-entrance (a few minutes later) could come after 288, as Portia ask, ‘How now Lorenzo?’ which is a
perfect greeting for a character’s entrance upon the stage. In addition, the resolution involving the misgiven rings
contains repetitions, and could be reduced: a) delete 32 lines: 192-217 and 229-233 and 235, or b) delete 11 lines:
207-217.
2. / Methinks the Trojan prince Troilus did mount
The city walls, and sighed his soul toward
The Grecian tents below, where his beloved
Cressida lay that night.
3. Every verse in this night game begins with ‘In such a night’ rather than ‘On such a night.’