The Merchant of Venice (Annotated by Henry N. Hudson with an Introduction by Charles Harold Herford)

THE MERCHANT OF VENICE

By WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE

Preface and Annotations by

HENRY N. HUDSON

Introduction by

CHARLES HAROLD HERFORD

The Merchant of Venice

By William Shakespeare

Preface and Annotations by Henry N. Hudson

Introduction by Charles Harold Herford

Print ISBN 13: 978-1-4209-5336-7

eBook ISBN 13: 978-1-4209-5337-4

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Cover Image: A detail of ‘With Bated Breath and Whispering Humbleness,’ illustration from ‘The Merchant of Venice,’ c. 1910 (colour litho), Linton, James Dromgole (1840-1916) / Private Collection / Bridgeman Images.

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CONTENTS

PREFACE

INTRODUCTION

THE MERCHANT OF VENICE

DRAMATIS PERSONAE

ACT I.

SCENE I.

SCENE II.

SCENE III.

ACT II.

SCENE I.

SCENE II.

SCENE III.

SCENE IV.

SCENE V.

SCENE VI.

SCENE VII.

SCENE VIII.

ACT III.

SCENE I.

SCENE II.

SCENE III.

SCENE IV.

SCENE V.

ACT IV.

SCENE I.

SCENE II.

ACT V.

SCENE I.

Preface

Registered at the Stationers’ in July, 1598, but with a special proviso, that it be not printed without license first had from the Right-Honourable the Lord Chamberlain. The theatrical company to which Shakespeare belonged were then known as The Lord Chamberlain’s Servants; and the purpose of the proviso was to keep the play out of print till the company’s permission were given through their patron. The play was entered again at the same place in October, 1600, his lordship’s license having probably been obtained by that time. Accordingly two editions of it were published in the course of that year, one by James Roberts, the other by Thomas Heyes. These were evidently printed from two distinct manuscripts, both of which had probably been transcribed from the author’s original copy. The play was never issued again, that we know of, till in the folio of 1623. The repetition of certain peculiarities shows it to have been there printed, with some alterations, from the quarto of Heyes.

The Merchant of Venice was also mentioned by Francis Meres in his Wit’s Treasury, 1598. How long before that time the play was written we have no means of knowing; but, judging from the style, we cannot well assign the writing to a much earlier date; though there is some reason for thinking it may have been on the stage four years earlier; as Henslowe’s Diary records The Venetian Comedy as having been originally acted in August, 1594. It is by no means certain, however, that this refers to Shakespeare’s play; while the workmanship here shows such maturity and variety of power as argue against that supposal. It evinces, in a considerable degree, the easy, unlabouring freedom of conscious mastery; the persons being so entirely under the author’s control, and subdued to his hand, that he seems to let them talk and act just as they have a mind to. Therewithal the style, throughout, is so even and sustained; the word and the character are so fitted to each other; the laws of dramatic proportion are so well observed; and the work is so free from any jarring or falling-out from the due course and order of art; as to justify the belief that the whole was written in same stage of intellectual growth and furnishing.

In the composition of this play the Poet drew largely from preceding writers. Novelty of plot or story there is almost none. Nevertheless, in conception and development of character, in poetical texture and grain, in sap and flavour of wit and humour, and in all that touches the real life and virtue of the workmanship, it is one of the most original productions that ever issued from the human mind. Of the materials here used, some were so much the common stock of European literature before the Poet’s time, and had been run into so many variations, that it is not easy to say what sources he was most indebted to for them.

It is beyond question that there was an earlier play running more or less upon the same or similar incidents. For Stephen Gosson published, in 1579, a tract entitled The School of Abuse, in which he mentions a certain play as The Jew, shown at the Bull, representing the greediness of worldly choosers, and the bloody minds of usurers. This would fairly infer that Shakespeare was not the first to combine, in dramatic form, the two incidents of the caskets and the pound of flesh: but, nothing further being now known touching the order and character of that older performance, we can affirm nothing as to how far he may have followed or used it in the composition of his play.

The original of the casket-lottery dates far back in the days of Mediaeval Romance; and the substance of it was variously repeated, from time to time, by successive authors, till Shakespeare spoilt it for further use. It is met with in the Gesta Romanorum, an old and curious collection of tales; and, as the version there given is clearly identified as the one used by Shakespeare directly or indirectly, it seems hardly worth the while to notice, here, any of the other versions.

Anselm, Emperor of Rome, having been long childless, has at length a son born to him. His great enemy, the King of Naples, wishing to end their strife, proposes a marriage between his daughter and the Emperor’s son. The latter consents, and in due time the princess embarks for Rome. A terrible storm arising, the ship is wrecked, and all on board perish except the princess. Before she can make good her escape, she is swallowed by a huge whale. But she happens to be armed with a sharp knife, which she uses so vigorously in her strange lodging, that the whale soon has the worst of it. The monster thereupon makes for the shore, and is there killed by a knight, who rescues the princess, and takes her under his protection. On relating her story, she is conveyed to the Emperor, who, to prove whether she is worthy of his son, puts before her three vessels: the first made of pure gold, and outwardly set with rich gems, but within full of dead men’s bones; the second made of fine silver, but filled with earth and worms; the third made of lead, but full within of precious stones. On the first is inscribed Whoso chooseth me shall find what he deserveth; on the second, Whoso chooseth me shall find what his nature desireth; on the third, Whoso chooseth me shall find what God has disposed to him. The Emperor then orders her to choose one of the vessels, telling her that, if she chooses that which will profit herself and others, she shall have his son. The princess chooses the third, and is forthwith married to the young prince.

The incidents of the bond, the forfeiture, the pound of flesh, and the mode in which the penalty is escaped, are also related in the Gesta Romanorum, but not in connection with that of the caskets. It is certain, however, that in this the Poet did not draw from the Gesta, but, directly or indirectly, from an Italian novel, by Giovanni Fiorentino, written as early as 1378, though not printed till 1500. The main points of the story are as follows:

Giannetto, the adopted son of a Venetian merchant, Ansaldo, gets permission to visit Alexandria. On his voyage he lands at Belmont, where he finds a lady of great wealth and beauty, and falls deeply in love with her. He returns to Venice, asks for a supply of money to enable him to prosecute his love-suit, and Ansaldo borrows 10,000 ducats of a Jew on the condition that, if the money be not repaid by a certain day, Ansaldo shall forfeit a pound of his flesh, to be cut off by the Jew. Giannetto gains the lady in marriage; but, forgetful of the bond, prolongs his stay at Belmont till the day of payment is past. Hastening to Venice, he finds the Jew rigid in exacting the penalty, and not to be turned from it even by ten times the amount of the loan. The bride, knowing the merchant’s position, disguises herself as a doctor of law, repairs to Venice, and gets herself introduced as a judge into the court where the case is on trial: for in Italy, at that time, nice and difficult points of law were determined, not by the ordinary judges, but by doctors of law from Padua, Bologna, and other famous law-schools. The lady, unrecognized by her husband, learns the nature of the case, and, after reading the bond, calls on the Jew to take the pound of flesh, but tells him he must take neither more nor less than exactly a pound, and that he must shed no blood. An executioner is at hand to behead him in case any blood be drawn. The Jew then says he will accept the 100,000 ducats offered; but, as he has declared up and down repeatedly that he will have nothing but the pound of flesh, the judge refuses to allow any repayment of money whatever; and the Jew in a rage tears up the bond and quits the court. Hereupon Giannetto, overjoyed at the happy issue, yields up to the judge, in token of his gratitude, a ring which his wife had given him on their marriage-day; and the judge, on returning home and putting off the disguise, rails at her husband in fine terms about his parting with the ring, which she says she is sure he must have given to some woman.

There is also an old ballad entitled The cruelty of Gernutus, a Jew, who, lending to a Merchant a hundred crowns, would have a pound of his flesh, because he could not pay him at the day appointed. The ballad is of uncertain date; but Bishop Percy, who reprints it in his Reliques from an ancient blackletter copy, justly infers it to have been earlier than the play, because it differs from the play in many circumstances which a mere ballad-maker would hardly have given himself the trouble to alter. I subjoin so much of it as is pertinent to the occasion:

In Venice town, not long ago,

A cruel Jew did dwell,

Which lived all on usury,

As Italian writers tell.

Within that city dwelt that time

A merchant of great fame,

Which, being distressed, in his need

Unto Gernutus came;

Desiring him to stand his friend,

For twelvemonth and a day

To lend to him an hundred crowns;

And he for it would pay

Whatsoever he would demand of him;

And pledges he should have.

No, quoth the Jew with fleering looks,

Sir, ask what you will have.

No penny for the loan of it

For one year you shall pay:

You may do me as good a turn,

Before my dying day.

But we will have a merry jest

For to be talked long:

You shall make me a bond, quoth he,

That shall be large and strong.

And this shall be the forfeiture,—

Of your own flesh a pound:

If you agree, make you the bond,

And here is a hundred crowns.

With right good will! the merchant says;

And so the bond was made.

When twelvemonth and a day drew on,

That back it should be paid,

The merchant’s ships were all at sea,

And money came not in:

Which way to take, or what to do,

To think he doth begin.

Some offer’d for his hundred crowns

Five hundred for to pay;

And some a thousand, two, or three,

Yet still he did denay.

And, at the last, ten thousand crowns

They offer’d, him to save:

Gernutus said, I will no gold,—

My forfeit I