Page 73 - William_Shakespeare_-_The_Merchant_of_Venice_191

34
Fie° Gratziano! Where are all the rest? {Fie, fie} / Damn it
‘Tis nine o’clock; our friends all stay° for you. / wait
No masque tonight, the wind has come about, 35
And now Bassanio is° aboard his ship. 36
I have sent twenty out to seek for you.° 37 / men to look for you.

—Gratziano
I’m glad of it:° I seek° no more delight, {I am glad on’t} {desire} / wish
Than to be under sail and gone tonight. 38

Exeunt 39

___________________________________________

34. {where are all the rest?} / where is everyone?
We are not sure whom Antonio is referring to when he says ‘all the rest.’ He might be inquiring about
Lorenzo, Salarino, and Salanio, whom Antonio believed was with Gratziano all this time (and may have made for his
delay) but Antonio, curiously, finds Gratziano all alone.
35. {No masque tonight, the wind is come about.} / No masque for you tonight—the wind has come
no masque: one reading of this could indicate that the masquerade party, planned for that night, has been
cancelled (due to Bassanio’s departure) or that the masque is already over—both scenarios of which are unlikely.
More likely, no masque tonight refers to no masque for Gratziano, as he must set sail immediately. It could also be
played as a literal reference to the mask that Gratziano is wearing (which Antonio pulls off when he says no masque
tonight—thus implying that Gratziano should take off the mask he is wearing, stop his fun and games, and attend to
the task of readying himself for departure.
the wind is come about: the wind has turned favorable (which now allows Bassanio to make a swift departure to
Belmont). From the foregoing action it appears that Bassanio borrows the money from Shylock in the morning,
makes preparations in the afternoon, puts on a feast in the evening, and intends to depart the next day. Yet, the winds
having turned favorable (and Bassanio impatiently wanting to get to Belmont without delay) he decides to depart
immediately—right in the middle of his own feast. Owing to the fact that Portia has many known suitors, and any
delay in Bassanio’s trip to Belmont would diminish his chances of winning here, an immediate departure (the very
same day as he acquires the money) is to be expected. The time frame implicated by the action is, of course, not
consistent with Shylock’s bond, which is for three months; Bassanio hears of the expiration of Shylock’s bond the
very day he arrives in Belmont, which would imply that the bond expired on the very day it was made.
36. {Bassanio presently will go aboard} / Bassanio now awaits aboard his ship / And now Bassanio’s ship will go
abroad
37. Antonio says that the wind has come about—which prompts Bassanio to make a hasty departure, right in the
middle of the party he is throwing—yet wind is not a factor in travel to Belmont: throughout the play, people go back
and forth between Venice and Belmont without any need of favorable wind. [See Additional Notes, 2.6.66]
38. Gratziano, the ultimate party man, would have little reason to delight upon hearing that the masque was
cancelled unless there was something greater which he desired, and which could only be found on Belmont.
39. In the Kean production of 1858, Jessica is swept away by Lorenzo and departs in a whirl of carnival figures.
Straight after, Shylock makes an entrance and a slow walk across the stage; he then knocks twice on the door to his
house and there is no answer. A long silence follows and then the curtain falls. Some productions have Shylock
enter his house, and sensing the ill-brood of Jessica’s absence, cries out her name—with no answer.