The Merchant of Venice: Act 3, Scene 1 Translation

A side-by-side translation of Act 3, Scene 1 of The Merchant of Venice from the original Shakespeare into modern English.

Original Text	Translated Text
Source: Folger Shakespeare Library
Enter Solanio and Salarino. SOLANIO Now, what news on the Rialto? SALARINO Why, yet it lives there unchecked that Antonio hath a ship of rich lading wracked on the Narrow Seas—the Goodwins, I think they call the place—a very dangerous flat, and fatal, where the 5 carcasses of many a tall ship lie buried, as they say, if my gossip Report be an honest woman of her word. SOLANIO I would she were as lying a gossip in that as ever knapped ginger or made her neighbors believe 10 she wept for the death of a third husband. But it is true, without any slips of prolixity 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!— 15 SALARINO Come, the full stop. SOLANIO Ha, what sayest thou? Why, the end is, he hath lost a ship. SALARINO I would it might prove the end of his losses. SOLANIO Let me say “amen” betimes, lest the devil 20 cross my prayer, for here he comes in the likeness of a Jew. Enter Shylock. How now, Shylock, what news among the merchants? SHYLOCK You knew, none so well, none so well as you, 25 of my daughter’s flight. SALARINO That’s certain. I for my part knew the tailor that made the wings she flew withal. SOLANIO And Shylock for his own part knew the bird was fledge, and then it is the complexion of them 30 all to leave the dam. SHYLOCK She is damned for it. SALARINO That’s certain, if the devil may be her judge. SHYLOCK My own flesh and blood to rebel! SOLANIO Out upon it, old carrion! Rebels it at these 35 years? SHYLOCK I say my daughter is my flesh and my blood. SALARINO There is more difference between thy flesh and hers than between jet and ivory, more between your bloods than there is between red wine and 40 Rhenish. But tell us, do you hear whether Antonio have had any loss at sea or no? SHYLOCK There I have another bad match! A bankrout, a prodigal, who dare scarce show his head on the Rialto, a beggar that was used to come so smug 45 upon the mart! Let him look to his bond. He was wont to call me usurer; let him look to his bond. He was wont to lend money for a Christian cur’sy; let him look to his bond.	Solanio and Salarino meet again in the Venetian streets to gossip. Salarino sadly reports there's still a rumor out there that one of Antonio's ships has been wrecked, and he hasn't been able to find anyone to disprove it. They're lamenting Antonio's poor fortune when Shylock (who they refer to as a devil) walks over. Solanio asks Shylock for gossip from the marketplace, but Shylock points out the gossip he brings is likely old news to those two: Jessica has run off. Solanio and Salarino joke that a) they know more about it than he does, and b) it was about time she left the nest anyway. As Shylock laments that his own flesh and blood has deserted him, the other two men are less than sensitive. They say Jessica was no more like Shylock than white wine to red. Talk turns to the fate of Antonio's ships, and Shylock whines about that too—though it's unclear whether he's gleeful or upset. Either way, he keeps reiterating that Antonio needs to "look to his bond," suggesting that he has no plans to be merciful if Antonio can't pay him back.
SALARINO Why, I am sure if he forfeit, thou wilt not 50 take his flesh! What’s that good for? SHYLOCK To bait fish withal; if it will feed nothing else, it will feed my revenge. He hath disgraced me and hindered me half a million, laughed at my losses, mocked at my gains, scorned my nation, thwarted 55 my bargains, cooled my friends, heated mine enemies— and what’s his reason? I am a Jew. Hath not a Jew eyes? Hath not a Jew hands, organs, dimensions, senses, affections, passions? Fed with the same food, hurt with the same weapons, subject to 60 the same diseases, healed by the same means, warmed and cooled by the same winter and summer as a Christian is? If you prick us, do we not bleed? If you tickle us, do we not laugh? If you poison us, do we not die? And if you wrong us, shall 65 we not revenge? If we are like you in the rest, we will resemble you in that. If a Jew wrong a Christian, what is his humility? Revenge. If a Christian wrong a Jew, what should his sufferance be by Christian example? Why, revenge! The villainy you teach me I 70 will execute, and it shall go hard but I will better the instruction.	Salarino says there's no way Shylock would actually want a pound of Antonio's flesh. Right? What could he use it for. Fish bait, of course, Shylock says. But that's not really what he's after. What he's really after is revenge. He gives an illuminating speech on the nature of prejudice and lists off all the cruel things Antonio has done to him just because he's Jewish. He asks, in earnest, whether a Jew doesn't feel everything a Christian does. (This part includes the famous line, "If you prick us, do we not bleed?") The speech culminates in a note about revenge, just as it began. Jews, being wronged, will seek revenge just as Christians do. If anything, Shylock has learned this example of revenge-taking from the Christians themselves. (Psst. Check out Al Pacino's dramatic delivery of this speech in the 2004 film adaptation of the play. Hooah!)
Enter a man from Antonio. SERVINGMAN Gentlemen, my master Antonio is at his house and desires to speak with you both. SALARINO We have been up and down to seek him. 75 Enter Tubal. SOLANIO Here comes another of the tribe; a third cannot be matched unless the devil himself turn Jew. Salarino, Solanio, and the Servingman exit. SHYLOCK How now, Tubal, what news from Genoa? Hast thou found my daughter? 80 TUBAL I often came where I did hear of her, but cannot find her. SHYLOCK Why, there, there, there, there! A diamond gone cost me two thousand ducats in Frankfurt! The curse never fell upon our nation till now, I 85 never felt it till now. Two thousand ducats in that, and other precious, precious jewels! 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. No news of them? Why so? And 90 I know not what’s spent in the search! Why, thou loss upon loss! The thief gone with so much, and so much to find the thief, and no satisfaction, no revenge, nor no ill luck stirring but what lights a’ my shoulders, no sighs but a’ my breathing, no tears but 95 a’ my shedding. TUBAL Yes, other men have ill luck, too. Antonio, as I heard in Genoa— SHYLOCK What, what, what? Ill luck, ill luck? TUBAL —hath an argosy cast away coming from 100 Tripolis. SHYLOCK I thank God, I thank God! Is it true, is it true? TUBAL I spoke with some of the sailors that escaped the wrack. SHYLOCK I thank thee, good Tubal. Good news, good 105 news! Ha, ha, heard in Genoa— TUBAL Your daughter spent in Genoa, as I heard, one night fourscore ducats. SHYLOCK Thou stick’st a dagger in me. I shall never see my gold again. Fourscore ducats at a sitting, 110 fourscore ducats! TUBAL There came divers of Antonio’s creditors in my company to Venice that swear he cannot choose but break. SHYLOCK I am very glad of it. I’ll plague him, I’ll 115 torture him. I am glad of it. TUBAL One of them showed me a ring that he had of your daughter for a monkey. SHYLOCK Out upon her! Thou torturest me, Tubal. It was my turquoise! I had it of Leah when I was a 120 bachelor. I would not have given it for a wilderness of monkeys. TUBAL But Antonio is certainly undone. SHYLOCK Nay, that’s true, that’s very true. Go, Tubal, fee me an officer. Bespeak him a fortnight before. I 125 will have the heart of him if he forfeit, for were he out of Venice I can make what merchandise I will. Go, Tubal, and meet me at our synagogue. Go, good Tubal, at our synagogue, Tubal. They exit.	A servant enters to announce that Antonio would like to speak to Solanio and Salarino. As they leave, Shylock's friend Tubal enters with news. He's just returned from Genoa, where he was looking for Jessica. He kept hearing about her, so he knows she's there, but he couldn't find her. Shylock is distraught. He wishes he could see his daughter again...dead, laid out at his feet with all his wealth around her. (Nice image, dad.) Not only has he lost the money she took, but this search is costing him even more, and he's the only one suffering here. Tubal says that others are suffering, too. Take Antonio, for instance. His Tripoli venture has failed, and the man is practically ruined. Shylock profusely thanks God. Then Tubal tells him that in Genoa, he heard that Jessica had spent eighty ducats in one night. Shylock starts to freak out again, so Tubal changes the subject back to Antonio's losses. The way he hears it, Antonio can't possibly pay back his debt and must break his bond with Shylock. Shylock is happy again until Tubal mentions that one of the men who told him about Antonio also showed him a ring he'd gotten from Shylock's daughter in return for a monkey. You may have noticed, Tubal doesn't have a very good filter. Shylock is again enraged, but he channels his anger at Antonio, sending Tubal off to get an officer of the law so they can prepare for the rightful collection of Antonio's flesh at the forfeit. After all of this hateful, vengeful talk, Shylock tells Tubal he'll see him later at the synagogue.

Original Text

Translated Text

Enter Solanio and Salarino.

SOLANIO Now, what news on the Rialto?

SALARINO Why, yet it lives there unchecked that Antonio
hath a ship of rich lading wracked on the
Narrow Seas—the Goodwins, I think they call the
place—a very dangerous flat, and fatal, where the 5
carcasses of many a tall ship lie buried, as they say,
if my gossip Report be an honest woman of her
word.

SOLANIO I would she were as lying a gossip in that as
ever knapped ginger or made her neighbors believe 10
she wept for the death of a third husband. But
it is true, without any slips of prolixity 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!— 15

SALARINO Come, the full stop.

SOLANIO Ha, what sayest thou? Why, the end is, he
hath lost a ship.

SALARINO I would it might prove the end of his losses.

SOLANIO Let me say “amen” betimes, lest the devil 20
cross my prayer, for here he comes in the likeness
of a Jew.

Enter Shylock.

How now, Shylock, what news among the
merchants?

SHYLOCK You knew, none so well, none so well as you, 25
of my daughter’s flight.

SALARINO That’s certain. I for my part knew the tailor
that made the wings she flew withal.

SOLANIO And Shylock for his own part knew the bird
was fledge, and then it is the complexion of them 30
all to leave the dam.

SHYLOCK She is damned for it.

SALARINO That’s certain, if the devil may be her judge.

SHYLOCK My own flesh and blood to rebel!

SOLANIO Out upon it, old carrion! Rebels it at these 35
years?

SHYLOCK I say my daughter is my flesh and my blood.

SALARINO There is more difference between thy flesh
and hers than between jet and ivory, more between
your bloods than there is between red wine and 40
Rhenish. But tell us, do you hear whether Antonio
have had any loss at sea or no?

SHYLOCK There I have another bad match! A bankrout,
a prodigal, who dare scarce show his head on
the Rialto, a beggar that was used to come so smug 45
upon the mart! Let him look to his bond. He was
wont to call me usurer; let him look to his bond. He
was wont to lend money for a Christian cur’sy; let
him look to his bond.

Solanio and Salarino meet again in the Venetian streets to gossip. Salarino sadly reports there's still a rumor out there that one of Antonio's ships has been wrecked, and he hasn't been able to find anyone to disprove it.

They're lamenting Antonio's poor fortune when Shylock (who they refer to as a devil) walks over.

Solanio asks Shylock for gossip from the marketplace, but Shylock points out the gossip he brings is likely old news to those two: Jessica has run off.

Solanio and Salarino joke that a) they know more about it than he does, and b) it was about time she left the nest anyway.

As Shylock laments that his own flesh and blood has deserted him, the other two men are less than sensitive. They say Jessica was no more like Shylock than white wine to red.

Talk turns to the fate of Antonio's ships, and Shylock whines about that too—though it's unclear whether he's gleeful or upset.

Either way, he keeps reiterating that Antonio needs to "look to his bond," suggesting that he has no plans to be merciful if Antonio can't pay him back.

SALARINO Why, I am sure if he forfeit, thou wilt not 50
take his flesh! What’s that good for?

SHYLOCK To bait fish withal; if it will feed nothing else,
it will feed my revenge. He hath disgraced me and
hindered me half a million, laughed at my losses,
mocked at my gains, scorned my nation, thwarted 55
my bargains, cooled my friends, heated mine enemies—
and what’s his reason? I am a Jew. Hath not
a Jew eyes? Hath not a Jew hands, organs, dimensions,
senses, affections, passions? Fed with the
same food, hurt with the same weapons, subject to 60
the same diseases, healed by the same means,
warmed and cooled by the same winter and summer
as a Christian is? If you prick us, do we not
bleed? If you tickle us, do we not laugh? If you
poison us, do we not die? And if you wrong us, shall 65
we not revenge? If we are like you in the rest, we will
resemble you in that. If a Jew wrong a Christian,
what is his humility? Revenge. If a Christian wrong
a Jew, what should his sufferance be by Christian
example? Why, revenge! The villainy you teach me I 70
will execute, and it shall go hard but I will better the
instruction.

Salarino says there's no way Shylock would actually want a pound of Antonio's flesh. Right? What could he use it for.

Fish bait, of course, Shylock says. But that's not really what he's after. What he's really after is revenge.

He gives an illuminating speech on the nature of prejudice and lists off all the cruel things Antonio has done to him just because he's Jewish.

He asks, in earnest, whether a Jew doesn't feel everything a Christian does. (This part includes the famous line, "If you prick us, do we not bleed?")

The speech culminates in a note about revenge, just as it began. Jews, being wronged, will seek revenge just as Christians do. If anything, Shylock has learned this example of revenge-taking from the Christians themselves.

(Psst. Check out Al Pacino's dramatic delivery of this speech in the 2004 film adaptation of the play. Hooah!)

Enter a man from Antonio.

SERVINGMAN Gentlemen, my master Antonio is at his
house and desires to speak with you both.

SALARINO We have been up and down to seek him. 75

Enter Tubal.

SOLANIO Here comes another of the tribe; a third
cannot be matched unless the devil himself turn
Jew.

Salarino, Solanio, and the Servingman exit.

SHYLOCK How now, Tubal, what news from Genoa?
Hast thou found my daughter? 80

TUBAL I often came where I did hear of her, but
cannot find her.

SHYLOCK Why, there, there, there, there! A diamond
gone cost me two thousand ducats in Frankfurt!
The curse never fell upon our nation till now, I 85
never felt it till now. Two thousand ducats in that,
and other precious, precious jewels! 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. No news of them? Why so? And 90
I know not what’s spent in the search! Why, thou
loss upon loss! The thief gone with so much, and so
much to find the thief, and no satisfaction, no
revenge, nor no ill luck stirring but what lights a’ my
shoulders, no sighs but a’ my breathing, no tears but 95
a’ my shedding.

TUBAL Yes, other men have ill luck, too. Antonio, as I
heard in Genoa—

SHYLOCK What, what, what? Ill luck, ill luck?

TUBAL —hath an argosy cast away coming from 100
Tripolis.

SHYLOCK I thank God, I thank God! Is it true, is it true?

TUBAL I spoke with some of the sailors that escaped
the wrack.

SHYLOCK I thank thee, good Tubal. Good news, good 105
news! Ha, ha, heard in Genoa—

TUBAL Your daughter spent in Genoa, as I heard, one
night fourscore ducats.

SHYLOCK Thou stick’st a dagger in me. I shall never
see my gold again. Fourscore ducats at a sitting, 110
fourscore ducats!

TUBAL There came divers of Antonio’s creditors in my
company to Venice that swear he cannot choose
but break.

SHYLOCK I am very glad of it. I’ll plague him, I’ll 115
torture him. I am glad of it.

TUBAL One of them showed me a ring that he had of
your daughter for a monkey.

SHYLOCK Out upon her! Thou torturest me, Tubal. It
was my turquoise! I had it of Leah when I was a 120
bachelor. I would not have given it for a wilderness
of monkeys.

TUBAL But Antonio is certainly undone.

SHYLOCK Nay, that’s true, that’s very true. Go, Tubal,
fee me an officer. Bespeak him a fortnight before. I 125
will have the heart of him if he forfeit, for were he
out of Venice I can make what merchandise I will.
Go, Tubal, and meet me at our synagogue. Go, good
Tubal, at our synagogue, Tubal.

They exit.

A servant enters to announce that Antonio would like to speak to Solanio and Salarino. As they leave, Shylock's friend Tubal enters with news.

He's just returned from Genoa, where he was looking for Jessica. He kept hearing about her, so he knows she's there, but he couldn't find her.

Shylock is distraught. He wishes he could see his daughter again...dead, laid out at his feet with all his wealth around her. (Nice image, dad.) Not only has he lost the money she took, but this search is costing him even more, and he's the only one suffering here.

Tubal says that others are suffering, too. Take Antonio, for instance. His Tripoli venture has failed, and the man is practically ruined. Shylock profusely thanks God.

Then Tubal tells him that in Genoa, he heard that Jessica had spent eighty ducats in one night. Shylock starts to freak out again, so Tubal changes the subject back to Antonio's losses.

The way he hears it, Antonio can't possibly pay back his debt and must break his bond with Shylock. Shylock is happy again until Tubal mentions that one of the men who told him about Antonio also showed him a ring he'd gotten from Shylock's daughter in return for a monkey.

You may have noticed, Tubal doesn't have a very good filter.

Shylock is again enraged, but he channels his anger at Antonio, sending Tubal off to get an officer of the law so they can prepare for the rightful collection of Antonio's flesh at the forfeit.

After all of this hateful, vengeful talk, Shylock tells Tubal he'll see him later at the synagogue.

The Merchant of Venice: Act 3, Scene 1 Translation

A side-by-side translation of Act 3, Scene 1 of The Merchant of Venice from the original Shakespeare into modern English.

Original Text

Translated Text

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