Page 86 - William_Shakespeare_-_The_Merchant_of_Venice_191

Five times judgement brings a hiss,° / brings abyss / falls amiss,
43
Now your choice begets a miss;° / That their choice is e’er amiss
Some there be that shadows kiss, / Now they have a
Such have° but a shadow’s bliss. / Claiming / Getting
44
There be fools we all dismiss,
Silvered° o’er, and so was this. 45 / Varnished
46
Take what thought° you will to bed {wife}
I will ever be your head° 47 / e’er be in your head
So be gone, for you are sped.° > dismissed

Still more fool I shall appear,
With° the time I linger here, {By}
With one fool’s head I came to woo,
But I go away with two.
Sweet adieu, I’ve lost my claim, / my suit/fate is lame / I am lost and ne’er the same
48 49
Thus I go to° bear my shame. / Now to go and

That did never choose amiss,
Some there be that shadow’s kiss,
Such have but a shadow’s bliss:
There be fools alive Iwis (I wis)
Silvered o’er, and so was this.
Take what wife you will to bed,
I will ever be your head:
So be gone, you are sped.
43. {That did never choose amiss} / Choose you now another miss / That did never choose iwis
44.{There be fools alive Iwis}
Iwis: certainly, assuredly, for sure; ‘I know,’ ‘I think.’ The capitalization suggests that the original intent was
probably I wis, or I know.
45. {Silvered o’er, and so was this}
silvered o’er: a) Dressed up with the appearance of merit, perhaps donning some silver medals. This reference
specifically implicates Arragon for the very thing he so diligently condemned in others—undeserved worth. b) The
silver or gray hair found on aged persons, who are considered wise (due to age) but who are, indeed, fools.
46. {Take what wife you will to bed}
This line speaks of taking a wife to bed, yet the vow forbids a suitor from ever taking a wife should he
choose the wrong casket. A possible rendering might be: ‘Take your vanished wife to bed.’ Vanished plays on the
words vanity, vanquished. Here a vanished wife refers to a wife that Arragon will never have—as all he will ever
take to bed is the thought of having a wife.
47. {I will ever be your head}
This suggests that ‘I’ (the head of a blinking idiot) will ever be Arragon’s head. (Arragon will always have
the head of an idiot). As an alternative, the line could read: ‘I will e’er be in your head.’ This suggests that thoughts
about losing the lottery (and thoughts about this idiot head) will ever be in Arragon’s mind (and Arragon will ever
come to think of himself as a fool for failing at the lottery).
48. / Sweet adieu—I’ll keep my vow, | Bearing sorrow, then as now. || To your good choice, O prince, I bow
/ And to my fortune I do bow.
/ A moth into the flames—and how!
/ Sweet adieu, my oath I’ll keep | With but patience as I weep || Ay, one more night of restful sleep.
/ Sweet adieu, my life I’ll wait | Patiently to bear my fate || Thank God ‘tis not a moment late.
49. {Sweet, adieu. I’ll keep my oath, | Patiently to bear my wroath.} Por: {Thus hath the candle singed the moath}
wroath: wroth > a variant of ruth (sorrow, grief). Due to the spelling, it is likely that oath and wroath were
meant to form a triplicate rhyme with moath. In modern pronunciation, the rhyme between oath and wroth is lost,
whereas the rhyme between wroth and moth is preserved. Thus, in modern pronunciation Arrgon’s speech is
completed in rhyme by Portia’s following line (wroth-moth). Similarly, at the end of Arragon’s speech before the
caskets [2.9.50-51] there is no ending rhyme (this-here)—yet the rhyme with Arragon’s last line is completed by
Portia’s following line (here-there).