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than to either of these. God protect° me from these two!

—Nerissa
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What° say you of the French lord, Monsieur le Bon? {How}

—Portia
God made him so, therefore, let him pass for a man. In truth, I know it is a sin to be a mocker,
but he!—why he hath a horse better than the Neapolitan’s and a frown more formidable than the
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Count Palantine. As he is no one, he tries to be everyone. At the song of a sparrow, he
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dances straight-away like a puppet. Afraid of his own shadow, he draws a sword to fence with
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it. If I should marry him, I’d have to marry twenty of him to have one husband. If he would
reject° me I would return the favor;° but should he fall madly in love with me, that I shall never
requite. 39 40

—Nerissa
What say you then to Falconbridge, the young baron of England?

—Portia
You know I say nothing to him, for he understands me not, nor I him. He speaks° neither Latin,
French, nor Italian; and, as you would swear in court, I have a poor penny’s worth of English.
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He is the picture of a proper man—but alas, who can converse with a picture? And how oddly
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he is suited! I think he got° his jacket in Italy, his stockings° in France, his round hat° in

31. {I’d rather be married to a death’s-head with a bone in his mouth} > I’d rather be dead
32. unmannerly: unfortunate / unbecoming / misappropriated / unbridled / unseemly > not fit for a youth
prove +himself to be,: {prove} / prove +himself,: / prove +to be,
protect: {defend} / rescue / save
33. / What do you think of
34. {a better bad habit of frowning than the Count Palatine}
35. {He is every man in no man.} / As he is no one (in himself), he must try to be everyone else. / He seems to be
everyone but himself.
This line is open to several interpretations: a) as he is no one (having no character of his own) he tries to be
like everyone else, to take on the traits and characteristics of those around him; b) as he is no one (and feeling
inferior to those around him) he tries to impress and to look better than everyone—more of a horseman than the
Neapolitan, more of a sad character than the Count. [See Additional Notes, 1.2.58]
36. Add line: ¢ But what sort of man does this make him? ¦ / +But what manner of man is he?,
37. {If a trassell sing, he falls straight a cap’ring}
trassell: / throstle / thrush falls straight: begins straight away / starts right away
a cap’ring : merrily jumping about, gayly dancing, frolicking // convulsing in fright
/ he suddenly convulses with fear / he immediately begins shaking / he straight away begins to dance.
The exact meaning of a cap’ring is unclear. It could mean a) that the moment he hears the sound of a bird
he begins to dance about, suggesting that he is like a puppet and dances to everyone else’s tune—but not his own. (It
could also be that he is so eager to show off his dancing skills, that the moment a bird sings he will take that as his
opportunity to dance); b) when he hears the song of a bird, a throstle sing, he falls to the ground in a frenzy—so
lacking in manhood and courage that even the sound of bird can cause him to shiver in fright.
38. {He will fence with his own shadow}
> The possible implication of this image is that his shadow is as real as he and/or that he is afraid of his own
shadow.
39. {for if he love me to madness, I shall never requite him.}
40. a-shaking: {a cap’ring} / cowers / shivers / convulses fence: / duel / battle / do battle
reject: {despise} return the favor: {forgive him} / give him the same
41. {dumb-show} / pantomime / ‘someone in a silent show’
42. {doublet} / suit (double-breasted suit) / vest / > referring to a tight-fitting upper-garment