Page 178 - William_Shakespeare_-_The_Merchant_of_Venice_191

54 55
Should you° walk ‘round in lieu o’th shining sun.° / If you’d

—Portia
Let me give light but let me not be light: 56
For when a wife is light° in keeping vows / Because a wife who’s light . . . Doth
57 58
It makest for° a heavy-hearted husband—° / brings about / a husband’s heavy-heart
And never shall Bassanio be for me.° / my lord be so for me
59
But God wills° all!° You are welcome home, my lord. 60 {sort} > orders, ordains
—Bassanio
I thank you, madam. Give welcome to my friend.
This is the man, this is Antonio,
To whom I am so infinitely bound.

Gratziano and Nerissa converse on their own

—Portia
You should, in all sense,° be much bound to him 61 / good sense / reason

/ We should hold day with those who live in China | If you ‘d walk ‘round in absence of the sun.
54. {If you would walk in absence of the sun} / If you would walk when sunlight was not shining
walk: A metaphor for the sun’s apparent journey, or walk, through the sky, which brings about night and day.
Herein Portia is likened to the brightness of the sun and her walking to the sun’s movement. Thus, she brings
illumination, or daylight, even when the sun is absent (i.e. during the night). Notice the complete opposite sentiment
in Portia’s first comments about Bassanio—as daylight sick—and Bassanio comments about Portia, as the light-
giving sun. ‘If you would always walk in the night, it would be day with us, as it now is on the other side of the
globe.’ (Malone)
55. / We should hold day with those who live upon | The other side of the planet, if you | Would walk around in
placement of the sun // Our day would be the same with those who live | Upon the globe’s other side, should you
walk | Around in placement of the brilliant sun. // Our night would share the day with all who tread | Upon the other
side of the globe, should | You walk around like the luminous sun
56. be light: be unchaste; be unfaithful in the keeping of one’s vows. Light in this context is in contrast to heavy.
In terms of weight, light implies free, whereas heavy implies a physical weight, or a heavy chain, which keeps a
women in place. Light (meaning a happy and carefree disposition) is in contrast to heavy (meaning sad and
depressed). Here, be light refers to Portia being unfaithful which would cause Bassanio to be heavy (sad). The
implication is that Bassanio should not do anything to make Portia light, unchaste.
57. / For when a wife is light in keeping vows | She makes herself a heavy-hearted husband.
58. {For a light wife doth make a heavy husband} This terse line—which contains both opposing words—is more
poetic than the two-line rendering above, yet may not sufficiently convey the intended contract between light and
heavy, which in normal instance refers to opposite measures of weight but herein refers to human states—a light wife
(unfaithful) and a heavy (husband) one’s whose is burdened or weighed down with grief.
59. {But God sort all}
God works everything out according to His plan; God will work it all out, put everything in order, make things
right. Portia is adding this ex post facto caveat—an escape clause—which commands the power to contradict her
previous statement about her never making Bassanio a heavy husband—a husband who is sad over her being
unfaithful to him. She is saying:, ‘I will never be unfaithful but . . .’ Herein she is setting the stage for the next
confrontation, where she claims to have slept with the doctor in order to get back the ring which Bassanio gave away.
60. This is an impersonal and distant welcome. We notice that Portia never truly welcomes Bassanio, nor does she
even address him, except when she is ‘exclaiming on him’ for having given away her ring. Her last words spoken to
Bassanio are: I had it of him. Pardon me, Bassanio, | For this ring the doctor lay with me. [258-259]. Even when
there is a perfect cue for her to speak—and respond to Bassanio’s question [280] to confirm her loyalty (just as
Nerrisa responds to Gratziano)—she says nothing.
61. {You should, in all sense, be much bound to him} / You should, in every sense, be bound to him
in all sense: in every sense, in every way, in all respects, with good reason