Page 89 - William_Shakespeare_-_The_Merchant_of_Venice_191

ACT THREE —Scene One 3.1.0

Venice. Enter Salanio and Salarino

—Salanio
Now, what news on the Rialto?

—Salarino
3
1
2
Why yet it lives there unchecked, that Antonio hath a ship of rich lading wrecked° on the
narrow seas—the Goodwin Shoals° I think they call the place—a very dangerous flat,° and fatal,
4
where the carcasses of many a tall° ship lie buried. This be the news if my gossip report be a
woman of her word. 5
—Salanio
I wish she were as lying a gossip as an old maid who ever knapped° ginger,° +moving her jaw up
and down without a word of truth coming out, or like a one who weeps and has her neighbors
believing that her husband has just died—for the third time! But it is true, without any miss
7
6
matching of words or crossing the plain highway of talk, that the good Antonio, the honest
Antonio—O that I had a title good° enough to keep his name company— 8

—Salarino
Come the full stop anon°—what sayest thou? 9 / by now > already

—Salanio
Why the end is, he hath lost a ship. 10

1. {it lives there unchecked} / Why news is spreading fast
lives: / breeds unchecked: unstopped, uncontradicted
2. {that Antonio hath a ship of rich lading} / that Antonio’s ship, laden with riches
rich lading: rich cargo
3. wrecked: {wrackt}: wracked / strewn about the Goodwin Shoals: {the Goodwins}: the Goodwin Sands, a shoal
off the coast of Kent, England flat: sand bar, sand flat, shoal tall: / proud / great / grand
4. be the news: {as they say}
5. {if my gossip report be an honest woman of her word} / If the rumors are true
This double-positive could be simplified or emended as follows: ‘ if my gossip report be an honest woman / if
my gossip report be a woman of word.
6. {without any slips of prolixity}
prolixity: wordy, verbose, long-winded—tiresome as a result of being too wordy
slips: lapses into, indulgence in
slips of prolixity: without embellishment, without using too many words (or euphemisms to try and cover up the
hoped for truth), etc.
7. crossing the plain highway of talk: deviating from a straight-forward account; ‘beating around the bush.’
8. knapped: chewed on ginger: / ginger snaps title good enough: / merit enough
9. / Come to the end already! What is it? / Come, the full stop. And now, what sayest thou? / Come, the full stop by
now—what sayest thou?
10. The line division in Q1 is amiss. It reads:
Salari. Come, the full stop.
Solanio. Ha, what sayest thou, why the end is, he hath lost a ship.
In this line division, Salanio asks Salarino a question when Salarino is the one seeking information. Hence, Salanio’s
question, ‘Ha, what say’st thou?’ should be assigned to Salarino. In addition, it is clear what Salarino is saying and
so for Salanio to question him is not warranted. In defense of the original line structure, Salanio could be asking the
question to himself, and then answering it, but such a construction is cumbersome and inelegant.