Page 47 - William_Shakespeare_-_The_Merchant_of_Venice_191

says, ‘Launcelet, budge not.’ ‘Budge,’ says the fiend. ‘Budge not,’ says my conscience.
‘Conscience,’ I say, ‘ you counsel well.’ ‘Fiend,’ I say, ‘ you counsel well.’ If I were ruled by
10
my conscience, I should stay with the Jew, my master, who—God forgive me for saying— is a
kind of devil. And, if I were to I run away from the Jew, I should be ruled by the fiend who, with
12
11
all due respect, is the devil himself. My conscience is but a kind of hard conscience which
13
counsels me to stay with the Jew. The fiend gives the more friendly counsel. O fiend, I will
run. My heels are at your command°—I will run. 14

Enter Old Gobbo, gravel-blind, with a basket 15

—Old Gobbo
Master young man, you, I pray you, which is the way to Master Jew’s?

—Launcelet [aside]
16
O heavens, this is my true-begotten father who, being more than sand-blind—high-gravel-

something which leaves a bad taste; something of bad taste (which means tasting bad and of poor taste, lacking
judgment); rather unsavory; ruinous (as in a dish ruined by burning), etc. Some commentators hold the term to
mean, ‘to grow or get larger,’ implicating a male erection—but such an interpretation is a bit of a stretch and does
not really fit this context.
taste: a) inclination toward; b) enjoyment, relish in; c) funny smell about him; d) taste for woman
The three references in this line (smack, grow to, and taste) all suggest some kind of lechery and untoward sexual
conduct—all of which makes Launcelet the son of a not quite honest man.
10. {God bless the mark}
11. {saving your reverence} / pardon me for saying
12. The line found in the original (“Certainly the Jew is the very devil incarnation; and in my conscience—“) is
uncertain, misplaced, and was likely inserted into the text as an afterthought (by someone other than the Author). In
addition, this unlikely addition weakens (and contradicts) the word play found previous line—which states that the
Jew is a kind of devil and the fiend is the devil himself. The repetition of the word ‘certainly,’ which begins the
soliloquy is also suspect. The term, incarnation is a poor pun for incarnate. All said, the line is weak and suspect
and therefore it has been deleted.
13. {my conscience is but a kind of hard conscience to offer to counsel me to stay with the Jew}
14. will not permit: {will serve} / will not allow honorable: {honest} scorn running: scorn such running
bids me pack: urges me to pack for the sake of heavens: {for the heavens} / for heaven’s sake
command: {commandment}
15. Launcelet’s exit could be staged by his running into his gravel-blind father, who is just entering. His being
stopped by his father could be seen as a symbolic representation of his conscience (superego) stopping him, despite
his ‘final’ decision to follow the fiend’s counsel and run away.
This scene between Launcelet and his father takes up over 75 lines, and then involves Bassanio for another
50 lines, for a total of 125 lines [30-161] yet none of this moves the story. Thus, most productions edit down or even
delete this first portion of the scene. For instance, the entire interaction between Launcelet and his father could be
cut, with the scene opening at line 162. Thus the scene would open with Bassanio instructing Lorenzo (to get things
ready for his voyage) and where Gratziano enters a few lines later. Another way to edit the scene would be to
remove Old Gobbo altogether: such would include Launcelet’s opening monologue [1-30], then have Launcelet exit
the stage, running into one of Bassanio’s men (instead of Old Gobbo). With no actual father present, Launcelot
(unable to muster his own courage to speak directly to Bassanio) could invoke (and play the part of) an imaginary
father to help him; as such, we would see the same kind of split-personality he displayed in the opening of the scene.
[For such a line by line editing of this scene, see Additional Notes 2.2.29]
16. my true begotten father: a mix-up for, ‘my true begotten son.’ Launcelet was begotten by Old Gobbo not the
other way around. The phrase is backwards, yet we clearly understand this to mean that Old Gobbo is Launcelet’s
true father.