Merchant of Venice by William Shakespeare
Act 3 - Scene 5
The same. A garden.
Launcelot Gobbo : Yes, truly; for, look you, the sins of the father
[p]are to be laid
upon the children: therefore, I
[p]promise ye, I fear you. I was
always plain with
[p]you, and so now I speak my agitation of the
matter:
[p]therefore be of good cheer, for truly I think you
[p]are
damned. There is but one hope in it that can do
[p]you any good; and
that is but a kind of bastard
[p]hope neither.
Jessica : And what hope is that, I pray thee?
Launcelot Gobbo : Marry, you may partly hope that your father got you
[p]not, that you
are not the Jew's daughter.
Jessica : That were a kind of bastard hope, indeed: so the
[p]sins of my mother
should be visited upon me.
Launcelot Gobbo : Truly then I fear you are damned both by father and
[p]mother: thus
when I shun Scylla, your father, I
[p]fall into Charybdis, your
mother: well, you are
[p]gone both ways.
Jessica : I shall be saved by my husband; he hath made me a
[p]Christian.
Launcelot Gobbo : Truly, the more to blame he: we were Christians
[p]enow before; e'en
as many as could well live, one by
[p]another. This making Christians
will raise the
[p]price of hogs: if we grow all to be pork-eaters,
we
[p]shall not shortly have a rasher on the coals for money.
Jessica : I'll tell my husband, Launcelot, what you say: here he comes.
Lorenzo : I shall grow jealous of you shortly, Launcelot, if
[p]you thus get my
wife into corners.
Jessica : Nay, you need not fear us, Lorenzo: Launcelot and I
[p]are out. He
tells me flatly, there is no mercy for
[p]me in heaven, because I am a
Jew's daughter: and he
[p]says, you are no good member of the
commonwealth,
[p]for in converting Jews to Christians, you raise
the
[p]price of pork.
Lorenzo : I shall answer that better to the commonwealth than
[p]you can the
getting up of the negro's belly: the
[p]Moor is with child by you,
Launcelot.
Launcelot Gobbo : It is much that the Moor should be more than reason:
[p]but if she be
less than an honest woman, she is
[p]indeed more than I took her for.
Lorenzo : How every fool can play upon the word! I think the
[p]best grace of
wit will shortly turn into silence,
[p]and discourse grow commendable
in none only but
[p]parrots. Go in, sirrah; bid them prepare for
dinner.
Launcelot Gobbo : That is done, sir; they have all stomachs.
Lorenzo : Goodly Lord, what a wit-snapper are you! then bid
[p]them prepare
dinner.
Launcelot Gobbo : That is done too, sir; only 'cover' is the word.
Lorenzo : Will you cover then, sir?
Launcelot Gobbo : Not so, sir, neither; I know my duty.
Lorenzo : Yet more quarrelling with occasion! Wilt thou show
[p]the whole wealth
of thy wit in an instant? I pray
[p]tree, understand a plain man in
his plain meaning:
[p]go to thy fellows; bid them cover the table,
serve
[p]in the meat, and we will come in to dinner.
Launcelot Gobbo : For the table, sir, it shall be served in; for the
[p]meat, sir, it
shall be covered; for your coming in
[p]to dinner, sir, why, let it be
as humours and
[p]conceits shall govern.
Lorenzo : O dear discretion, how his words are suited!
[p]The fool hath planted
in his memory
[p]An army of good words; and I do know
[p]A many fools,
that stand in better place,
[p]Garnish'd like him, that for a tricksy
word
[p]Defy the matter. How cheerest thou, Jessica?
[p]And now, good
sweet, say thy opinion,
[p]How dost thou like the Lord Bassanio's
wife?
Jessica : Past all expressing. It is very meet
[p]The Lord Bassanio live an
upright life;
[p]For, having such a blessing in his lady,
[p]He finds
the joys of heaven here on earth;
[p]And if on earth he do not mean
it, then
[p]In reason he should never come to heaven
[p]Why, if two
gods should play some heavenly match
[p]And on the wager lay two
earthly women,
[p]And Portia one, there must be something
else
[p]Pawn'd with the other, for the poor rude world
[p]Hath not her
fellow.
Lorenzo : Even such a husband
[p]Hast thou of me as she is for a wife.
Jessica : Nay, but ask my opinion too of that.
Lorenzo : I will anon: first, let us go to dinner.
Jessica : Nay, let me praise you while I have a stomach.
Lorenzo : No, pray thee, let it serve for table-talk;
[p]I shall digest it.
Jessica : Well, I'll set you forth.
Previous: Act 3 - Scene 4
Next: Act 4 - Scene 1
