Page 38 - William_Shakespeare_-_The_Merchant_of_Venice_191

—Antonio
Yes, Shylock, I will seal unto this bond.

—Shylock
Then meet me forthwith° at the notary’s, / right away
Give him direction° for this merry bond; / instructions
And straightaway I’ll go to purse° the ducats, 83 / go collect
See to° my house—left in the bumbling care° 84 / Check on {fearful guard}
85
Of an unthrifty knave —and soon thereafter,° {and presently} / and right away
I’ll be with you.

Exit Shylock

—Antonio Hurry thee,° gentle Jew. {Hie thee} / Go with speed
The Hebrew will turn Christian—he grows kind. 86

—Bassanio

that he is acting out of love and kindness—and so much so that he does not want his actions to be misinterpreted as
harmful—yet the exact opposite is true: the bond of a pound of flesh (which is humiliating) is worth a lot to Shylock,
and his real intention is not motivated by love (as contended) but by hatred (as clearly revealed by Shylock earlier in
the scene.) [38-49].
82. / If he will take it, so be it; if not, | Adieu. And for this kind and friendly gesture, | I pray, don’t wrong me with
an evil motive.
83. {And I will go and purse the ducats straight}
/ And I’ll go straightaway to purse the ducats,
Previously Shylock stated that he would have to get the ducats from Tubal [55]; here he says that he has the
ducats and will get them straightaway. Obviously his previous mention of needing to get the ducats from Tubal was
part of a rouse.
84. fearful guard: / terribly poor guard / inept hands
The implication here is that Shylock’s inept servant (Launcelet) is not guarding the house, that he is asleep
on the job; but more than that Shylock is going to check on the ‘unthrifty’ Launcelet to make sure he is not wasting
things (and/or eating too much).
85. {Of an unthrifty knave} / Of a do-nothing knave / Of an e’er wasteful knave
unthrifty: wasteful, unproductive, unprofitable, good for nothing; lazy
The term thrift, as is most often used, refers to success and profit. To a lesser degree it means, as it does today,
one who is frugal and careful about his spending. Thus, an unthrifty knave would refer to someone who is
unprofitable, someone who wastes one’s profit.
Bass: ‘I have a mind presages me such thrift’ [1.1.175]; Shy: ‘On me, my bargains, and my well-won thrift’
[1.3.47]; Shy: And thrift is blessing if men steal it not’ [1.3.87]. Shy: ‘Fast bind, fast find— | A proverb never stale in
a thrifty mind.’ [2.5.53-54]
knave: fool, imbecile
It is doubtful that Shylock would be commenting to Antonio and Bassanio about his ‘unthrifty knave’ (Launcelet)
nor would Shylock have any real reason to check on his house (left in ‘fearful guard.’) This line comes, however, as
an unflattering introduction to Shylock’s foolish servant, Launcelet, so that when the knave first appears in 2.2 the
audience will have some sense of who he is.
86. By all conceivable reckoning, Shylock has agreed to loan Antonio a substantial sum of money, 3000 ducats,
interest-free, for three months. This money would have been more profitably used by Shylock if he loaned it out to
another party. In this transaction he makes no profit, and the odds that Antonio will break his day (not repay the loan
on time) is next to none. So what is Shylock’s motivation in making this merry bond? What advantage does he
gain?