Page 95 - William_Shakespeare_-_The_Merchant_of_Venice_191

—Shylock
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Why there, there, there, there! A diamond gone, cost me two thousand ducats in Frankfort.
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The curse never fell upon our nation till now—I never felt it till now. Two thousand ducats in
that and other precious, precious jewels. I wish° my daughter were dead at my feet° and the
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jewels in her ear! That° she were hearsed at my foot° and the ducats in her coffin! No news
of them? Why so? And I know not what is spent in the search. Why, thou—loss upon loss. The
thief is gone with so much, and so much +spent°, to find the thief; and no satisfaction, no
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revenge; nor no ill-luck stirring but what lights on my shoulders, no sighs but of my°
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breathing, no tears but of my° shedding.

47. Stage direction: [Shylock motions his hands in different directions, as if casually throwing things away,
indicating a carefree waste of his jewels and ducats]
48. No curse has fallen upon ‘our nation,’—the only curse that has fallen is upon Shylock. What pain is Shylock
feeling for the first time? All the years of being persecuted as a Jew, by his enemies, he could not feel, it could not
penetrate his hardened exterior. But the betrayal of his daughter has penetrated the exterior—but it is more like a
stabbing come from inside his heart which he can now feel. Perhaps it was the combination—the betrayal of his
daughter and the whimsical ruin of his hard-earned money—which caused Shylock, for the first time, to feel the
curse that fell upon his nation. [See Additional Notes, 3.1.81]
49. {I would my daughter were dead at my foot, and the jewels in her ear! Would she were hearsed at my foot and
the ducats in her coffin!}
Is Shylock wishing his daughter dead because she has betrayed him or because of the monetary loss she
incurred? Here we see Shylock’s confusion over value—and between his daughter and his ducats. In the court scene
Shylock refuses an offer of 9000 ducats (which was well above the sum stolen by his daughter) so the loss of money
is not the whole of his suffering. Here Shylock is wishing his daughter dead so that he could retrieve his jewels and
ducats from her dead body—which reveals his confusion and misplaced sense of rage. He simply has no way to
understand or express what he is feeling. He is not really wishing his daughter dead, even though he twice makes
this plea. Yet even in this wish there is a mixed message: he wishes that his daughter be dead, but also that she be at
his feet, that she returns to him.
50. Some additional lines could be added to mollify Shylock’s previous words and appease his misplaced rage
wherein he wishes his daughter dead. (Notice that Shylock speaks frankly about wanting his daughter dead but we
never hear him talk with the same directness or sense of entitlement when it comes to Antonio). The added lines
would also better situate the question, ‘No news of them?’ addressing it to Tubal as opposed to Shylock asking the
question to himself:
—Shylock . . . ducats in her coffin. +She’s made me suffer; she has cut me deeper than all mine enemies.
They, I know, are set against me—and their cruelty I can bear—but she was dearer to me than all the
world.,
+—Tubal Those who are closest, oft’ cut us the deepest. ,
—Shylock No news of them?
+ —Tubal None. ,
51. Herein Shylock is using the term thief—and expressing his desire for revenge—in reference to his own daughter.
So, we see that Shylock’s response in terms of revenge—even with respect to his own daughter—is a flaw of his own
unplumbed character, and not something he learned from Christian example (as stated by Shylock in his famous
‘Hath not a Jew eyes?’ speech). Here wants Jessica dead—as that is the action he deems to match her crime.
However, Shylock’s own words belie his true feelings—he does not actually want Jessica dead, but that is the only
thing he can say as to express his sadness and misplaced rage. Perhaps the kind of revenge that Shylock actually
seeks is to teach her a lesson, to somehow make Jessica feel the same kind of pain that he feels so that she might
come to know (a regret) the pain she has brought on her father. We can also suspect that Shylock wants to teach
Antonio the same kind of lesson. Neither of these ‘lessons’ involve the actually killing of the other person, though
that is what Shylock has stated in his rage.
According to theory (see note 28), Salarino and Salanio did not appear in the original draft of the play; in
such a case, this scene may have opened with the entrance of Shylock and Tubal, at line 75 (and did not include
Shylock’s famous speech opening with, ‘Hath not a Jew eyes?’ The idea of Shylock seeking revenge against his
daughter is misplaced and, as part of a later embodiment of the play—and expanding upon Shylock’s human need for
revenge—this theme of revenge was then expanded to include Shylock’s revenge against Antonio but also the more
encompassing revenge of the Jew against the Christian. This is also supported in Shylock’s reaction to news of
Antonio’s loss later in the scene. (See note 53)
52. {nor no ill luck stirring but what lights a my shoulders, no sighs but a my breathing, no tears but a my shedding.}
53. wish: {would} feet: {foot} That:{Would} / I wish at my foot: / right here spent: / lost / wasted / expended
my: / mine own ill luck: / misfortune