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—Bassanio Nay, but hear me.° 112
Pardon this fault and, by my soul I swear,
I never more will break an oath with thee.

—Antonio
I once did lend° my body for his welfare° / loan {thy wealth}
Which, but for him who won° your husband’s ring, {that had} / has / got > received
My life withal, would have be lost.° I dare / I would have paid for with my life
Be bound again, my soul upon the forfeit,

That he will never knowingly° breath faith. 113 114 / wittingly

—Portia
Then you shall be his bondsman.° {surety}
She takes the ring from her finger
Give him this,
And bid him keep it better than the other.° 115 / first

—Antonio [giving the ring to Bassanio]
Here, Lord Bassanio—swear to keep this ring.

—Bassanio
By heaven it is° the same I gave the doctor! / ‘tis

—Portia

112. Portia does not hear Bassanio. Later, she does not even answer his direct questions [280]. This ‘not hearing’ is
a clear sign of having power over that person, who you are not required to hear, listen to, nor even respond to.
Shylock expressed this same kind of power (which he had over Antonio) by not hearing him, by not responding to
him. Antonio says, Hear me yet, good Shylock [3.3.3] and I pray thee, hear me speak [3.3.11], yet Shylock’s only
reply is: I will not hear thee speak [3.3.12], I’ll have no speaking. [3.3.17]. Portia, of course, cannot say ‘I will not
hear you speak’—all she can do to express her power is not respond.
113. { . . . that your lord | Will never more break faith advisedly}
/ That he will ne’er wittingly break his vow / That, with intention, he will ne’er break his vow / That
wittingly he will ne’er break his vow / That he will never wittingly break faith
114. / And were it not for he who has the ring,
My life withal, would have be lost. And now
I dare be bound again, my soul upon
The forfeit, that your good husband, Bassanio,
Will never wittingly break faith with you.
/ Will ne’er wittingly break the vow he’s made
115. Here Portia is testing Bassanio—and ‘playing him like a fiddle.’ As with Shylock, she plays from the position
of advantage, of being ‘one up,’ i.e., knowing the outcome before she even begins. Here (as in the trial scene) she
escalates the confrontation: First she accuses Bassanio of giving the ring to a woman; then she accepts that he gave
the ring to a man (the doctor); then she says that she will be as liberal (and giving of herself) to the doctor as was
Bassanio (for no other reason other than that he hath got the jewel that I loved); and finally (in the next passage) she
says that she already gave herself to the doctor—a tormenting lie that must have made Bassanio’s heart sink. The
significant outcome of her orchestration is in securing Antonio as surety for Bassanio’s vow to her. (Remember that
he broke his vow to her in favor of Antonio’s request). Now, with Antonio as his bondsman, Bassanio cannot break
his vow to Portia over anything involving Antonio. Further, this could be seen as a kind of second wedding, where
Antonio is symbolically giving away Bassanio, as a father might give away a dear son to his new bride. [See
Additional Notes, 5.1.255]