Page 67 - William_Shakespeare_-_The_Merchant_of_Venice_191

19
The patch° is kind enough, but a huge feeder.° / dolt / fool // eater
Snail-slow in working,° and he sleeps by day {profit} > producing anything
More than the wildcat. Drones that do not work
20
Stay not in my hive. Thus I part with him—° / let him go /give him up
Now to the Christian so he can help waste° 21 / with whom he can waste
His borrowed purse.° Well Jessica, go in, / funds / wealth
Perhaps I will return immediately.° 22 / return at once. So now
Do as I bid and° shut doors° after you: {you,} //close up
Fast bind, fast find—
A proverb never stale in a thrifty mind. 23

Exit

—Jessica
Farewell, and if my fortune be not crossed,
I have° a husband,° you a daughter lost. 24 / gain {a father}

Exit, opposite door
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19. patch: dolt, fool, clown. A term referring to the motley or ‘patchwork’ garb used by professional fools. It might
also refer to someone as worthless as a patch of cloth. The terms is used in other plays in the canon, such as A
Midsummer’s Night Dream and The Comedy of Errors. Shylock’s complaints are not personal attacks, per se: the
brunt of his contempt is directed at Launcelet’s wastefulness (i.e. his laziness and large appetite) which is at odds
with Shylock’s ‘thriftiness.’
20. {Drones hive not with me}
21. {To one that I would have him help waste} / And now to one with whom he can help waste} / Now to the
Christian, so to help him waste
22. This is a mild threat for Jessica to stay put.
23. This common proverb, used from the fifteenth century onwards, means: ‘if you lock things up, then you will be
able to keep hold of them.’ These are Shylock’s last words to his daughter—and they are mistaken. It turns out that
the very opposite is true: He treats his daughter in the same binding way as he would treat his gold or some
possession. [See Additional Notes, 2.6. 54]
24. {Farewell; and if my fortune be not crossed | I have a father, you a daughter lost.}
I have a father: refers to Jessica’s gaining a husband (who will take care of her like a new father); it could also
indicate her gaining a ‘holy Father,’ through her marriage and conversion to Christianity (which involves the loss of
her Jewish father and heritage).
crossed: a possible pun—she is hoping that her fortune be not crossed (i.e., that nothing will cross, thwart, or
come in the way of her plan to marry Lorenzo and become a Christian), yet her fortune is crossed in that she is
converting to Christianity, symbolized by the cross.