The Merchant of Venice Act 3 Scene 4
Belmont. Portia's house.
The Original
Plain Modern English
Enter Portia, Nerissa, Lorenzo, Jessica, and Balthazar, a servant of Portia's.
Lorenzo
Madam, although I speak it in your presence,
You have a noble and a true conceit
Of godlike amity, which appears most strongly
In bearing thus the absence of your lord.
But if you knew to whom you show this honor,
How true a gentleman you send relief,
How dear a lover of my lord your husband,
I know you would be prouder of the work
Than customary bounty can enforce you.
Lorenzo
Madam — although I'm saying it in front of you —
you have a noble and genuine understanding
of godlike friendship, and it shows most clearly
in how you're bearing your husband's absence.
But if you knew the man you're honouring,
what a true gentleman you're sending help to,
how dear a friend he is to your husband,
I know you'd be prouder of what you're doing
than ordinary generosity could make you.
Portia
I never did repent for doing good,
Nor shall not now; for in companions
That do converse and waste the time together,
Whose souls do bear an equal yoke of love,
There must be needs a like proportion
Of lineaments, of manners, and of spirit;
Which makes me think that this Antonio,
Being the bosom lover of my lord,
Must needs be like my lord. If it be so,
How little is the cost I have bestowed
In purchasing the semblance of my soul
From out the state of hellish cruelty!
This comes too near the praising of myself;
Therefore no more of it. Hear other things:
Lorenzo, I commit into your hands
The husbandry and manage of my house
Until my lord's return. For mine own part,
I have toward heaven breathed a secret vow
To live in prayer and contemplation,
Only attended by Nerissa here,
Until her husband and my lord's return.
There is a monastery two miles off,
And there we will abide. I do desire you
Not to deny this imposition,
The which my love and some necessity
Now lays upon you.
Portia
I've never regretted doing good,
and I won't start now. Between companions
who talk together and spend their time together,
whose souls pull in the same harness of love,
there has to be a matching proportion
of features, of manners and of spirit.
Which makes me think this Antonio,
being my husband's dearest friend,
must be like my husband. And if that's so,
how small a price I've paid
to buy the likeness of my own soul
out of a state of hellish cruelty.
That comes too close to praising myself.
So no more of it. Listen to something else.
Lorenzo, I'm putting into your hands
the running and management of my house
until my husband comes back. As for me,
I've made a private vow to heaven
to live in prayer and contemplation,
attended only by Nerissa here,
until her husband and mine return.
There's a monastery two miles away,
and we'll stay there. I ask you
not to refuse this burden,
which my affection, and a certain necessity,
now place on you. (None of it is true. The first thing she does with her new authority as mistress of the house is lie to everyone in it about where she is going.)
Lorenzo
Madam, with all my heart.
I shall obey you in all fair commands.
Lorenzo
Madam, with all my heart.
I'll obey you in any reasonable instruction.
Portia
My people do already know my mind
And will acknowledge you and Jessica
In place of Lord Bassanio and myself.
So fare you well till we shall meet again.
Portia
My household already know my wishes
and will recognise you and Jessica
in place of Lord Bassanio and me.
So goodbye, until we meet again.
Lorenzo
Fair thoughts and happy hours attend on you!
Lorenzo
May good thoughts and happy hours go with you.
Jessica
I wish your Ladyship all heart's content.
Jessica
I wish your ladyship every happiness.
Portia
I thank you for your wish, and am well pleased
To wish it back on you. Fare you well, Jessica.
Portia
Thank you for the wish, and I'm glad
to wish it back to you. Goodbye, Jessica.
Lorenzo and Jessica exit.
Portia
Now, Balthazar,
As I have ever found thee honest true,
So let me find thee still: take this same letter,
And use thou all th' endeavor of a man
In speed to Padua. See thou render this
Into my cousin's hands, Doctor Bellario.
And look what notes and garments he doth give thee,
Bring them, I pray thee, with imagined speed
Unto the traject, to the common ferry
Which trades to Venice. Waste no time in words,
But get thee gone. I shall be there before thee.
Portia
Now, Balthazar —
I've always found you honest and reliable,
so let me find you the same now. Take this letter,
and use every effort a man can
to get to Padua quickly. Make sure you deliver it
into my cousin's hands — Doctor Bellario. (giving him a paper) (Bellario never appears in the play. The learned legal opinion that decides the trial is obtained by family connection, from a relative, at speed — and it will be delivered in court by Portia wearing his borrowed clothes.)
And whatever notes and clothes he gives you,
bring them, please, as fast as thought
to the crossing — the public ferry
that runs to Venice. Don't waste time talking,
just go. I'll be there before you.
Balthazar
Madam, I go with all convenient speed.
Balthazar
Madam, I'm going as fast as I can.
He exits.
Portia
Come on, Nerissa, I have work in hand
That you yet know not of. We'll see our husbands
Before they think of us.
Portia
Come on, Nerissa — I've a piece of business in hand
that you don't know about yet. We'll see our husbands
before they've even thought of us.
Nerissa
Shall they see us?
Nerissa
Will they see us?
Portia
They shall, Nerissa, but in such a habit
That they shall think we are accomplishèd
With that we lack. I'll hold thee any wager,
When we are both accoutered like young men,
I'll prove the prettier fellow of the two,
And wear my dagger with the braver grace,
And speak between the change of man and boy
With a reed voice, and turn two mincing steps
Into a manly stride, and speak of frays
Like a fine bragging youth, and tell quaint lies
How honorable ladies sought my love,
Which I denying, they fell sick and died—
I could not do withal!—then I'll repent,
And wish, for all that, that I had not killed them.
And twenty of these puny lies I'll tell,
That men shall swear I have discontinued school
Above a twelvemonth. I have within my mind
A thousand raw tricks of these bragging jacks
Which I will practice.
Portia
They will, Nerissa — but dressed in such a way
that they'll think we're equipped
with what we haven't got. I'll bet you anything
that when we're both kitted out as young men
I'll make the prettier lad of the two,
and wear my dagger with more swagger,
and talk in that voice caught between man and boy,
thin and piping, and turn two dainty steps
into a manly stride, and talk about fights
like a fine boasting youth, and tell elaborate lies
about how respectable ladies chased after me,
and how, when I refused them, they sickened and died —
I couldn't help it! — and then I'll be sorry,
and wish, all the same, that I hadn't killed them.
I'll tell twenty feeble lies like that,
so that men will swear I left school
over a year ago. I've got in my head
a thousand crude tricks these boastful boys use,
and I'll be trying them out. (The joke has another floor to it that a modern reader loses: Portia was played by a boy. So the first audience watched a boy playing a woman planning to pass as a young man, and betting she would be the prettier lad of the two.)
Nerissa
Why, shall we turn to men?
Nerissa
What — are we going to turn into men?
Portia
Fie, what a question's that,
If thou wert near a lewd interpreter!
But come, I'll tell thee all my whole device
When I am in my coach, which stays for us
At the park gate; and therefore haste away,
For we must measure twenty miles today.
Portia
For shame — what a way to put it,
if there were anyone filthy-minded within earshot.
But come on — I'll tell you the whole plan
once I'm in my coach, which is waiting for us
at the park gate. So hurry —
we've twenty miles to cover today.
They exit.