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com

SCHOOL OF DISTANCE EDUCATION

BHARATHIAR UNIVERSITY : COIMBATORE - 641 046

From: To:
Dr.N.Balasubramanian, All First year UG candidates of SDE,
Director. admitted w.e.f. the Academic Year 2007-2008
Dear student,

Greetings! It is to inform you that by error ‘The Solitary Reaper’ (under Poetry), ‘An Astrologer’s Day’ (under Short
Stories) and ‘Remember Caesar’ (under One Act Plays) have been included in the study material already prepared for Part – II
English of all UG Courses of, 2007 - 2008. Hence, you are instructed to ignore the contents given in the pages from 49 - 51, 91 -
99, and 116 - 124 of the said study material.

However, as per the prescribed syllabus for Part II: English Paper – I for first year of UG candidates of SDE admitted
with effect from 2007 – 2008, ‘Lucy Gray’, and the Trial Scene from ‘The Merchant of Venice’ have been included under Poetry
and One Act Plays respectively in the place of ‘The Solitary Reaper’ and ‘Remember Caesar’. The study material already supplied
for the said paper does not contain the texts and the notes for ‘Lucy Gray’ and the Trial Scene from the ‘Merchant of Venice’.
Hence, I have enclosed herewith, a copy of the texts and notes for the said topics for your kind reference and preparation for the
forth coming examination. It is also to inform you that the contents given under Unit - V Communicative Grammar being
general in nature, you could go through the same unmindful of the topics cited inside this unit. It is also to state that you can
ignore the contents given under ‘An Astrologer’s Day’ pages 91 – 99 as already stated.
I deeply regret the inconvenience caused in this regard.
Thanking you, Yours faithfully,

(Director)

LUCY GRAY OR SOLITUDE Comment - 2:

- by William Wordsworth This poem by William Wordsworth, 1799, describes the
death of a woodsman's daughter who lives alone with her
Comment: - 1: parents far from civilisation. During a snowstorm she
apparently falls off a wooden bridge and perishes, but her
Written at Goslar in Germany. It was founded on a circumstance told body is never found. Although this poem appears overly
me by my Sister, of a little girl who, not far from Halifax in Yorkshire, sentimental to more recent readers, it fulfils Wordsworth's
was bewildered in a snow-storm. Her footsteps were traced by her goals in the Lyrical Ballads of writing passionate poetry
parents to the middle of the lock of a canal, and no other vestige of her, using everyday language; it is perhaps precisely this
backward or forward, could be traced. The body however was found in combination that now dismays the modern sensibility.
the canal. The way in which the incident was treated and the
spiritualising of the character might furnish hints for contrasting the He used the traditional stanza form of the English folk
imaginative influences which I have endeavoured to throw over ballad (alternating 8 and 6 syllable lines in an iambic
common life with Crabbe's matter of fact style of treating subjects of meter), which is found in many of the Lyrical Ballads, in the
the same kind. This is not spoken to his disparagement, far from it, but contributions of both Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor
to direct the attention of thoughtful readers, into whose hands these Coleridge (see, for example, Coleridge's The Rime of the
notes may fall, to a Ancient Mariner). One assumes that the references to her
comparison that may both enlarge the circle of their sensibilities, and father's hook and "faggot-bands" refers to his job of tying
tend to produce in them a catholic judgment. bundles of twigs into faggots, the hook one of his
woodsman's tools.
Source: http://classiclit.about.com/ El Dorado Toys sells a Lucy Gray doll designed by Wendy
library/bl-etexts/wwordsworth/bl- Lawton and described thus:
wword-lucygray.htm
With lantern in hand, Lucy sets out to meet her mother.
William Wordsworth's poignant poem tells the haunting
outcome of Lucy Gray's fateful journey. Lucy is a porcelain
and wood 16" doll limited to an edition of 350. This doll
features an intricately jointed wooden body. Thirteen joints
allow for maximum poseability.

Source:http://everything2.com/index.pl?
node_id=1237793
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LUCY GRAY OR SOLITUDE

- by William Wordsworth- The wretched parents all that night

Went shouting far and wide;
OFT I had heard of Lucy Gray: But there was neither sound nor sight
And, when I crossed the wild, To serve them for a guide.
I chanced to see at break of day
The solitary child. At day-break on a hill they stood
That overlooked the moor;
No mate, no comrade Lucy knew; And thence they saw the bridge of wood,
She dwelt on a wide moor, A furlong from their door.
--The sweetest thing that ever grew
Beside a human door! They wept--and, turning homeward, cried,
"In heaven we all shall meet;"
You yet may spy the fawn at play, --When in the snow the mother spied
The hare upon the green; The print of Lucy's feet.
But the sweet face of Lucy Gray
Will never more be seen. Then downwards from the steep hill's edge
They tracked the footmarks small;
"To-night will be a stormy night-- And through the broken hawthorn hedge,
You to the town must go; And by the long stone-wall;
And take a lantern, Child, to light
Your mother through the snow." And then an open field they crossed:
The marks were still the same;
"That, Father! will I gladly do: They tracked them on, nor ever lost;
'Tis scarcely afternoon-- And to the bridge they came.
The minster-clock has just struck two,
And yonder is the moon!" They followed from the snowy bank
Those footmarks, one by one,
At this the Father raised his hook, Into the middle of the plank;
And snapped a faggot-band; And further there were none!
He plied his work;--and Lucy took
The lantern in her hand. --Yet some maintain that to this day
She is a living child;
Not blither is the mountain roe: That you may see sweet Lucy Gray
With many a wanton stroke Upon the lonesome wild.
Her feet disperse the powdery snow,
That rises up like smoke. O'er rough and smooth she trips along,
And never looks behind;
The storm came on before its time: And sings a solitary song
She wandered up and down; That whistles in the wind.
And many a hill did Lucy climb:
But never reached the town.

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If you deny it, let the danger light

Upon your charter and your city's freedom.
The Trial Scene from Merchant of Venice
You'll ask me, why I rather choose to have
Act 4, Scene I A weight of carrion flesh than to receive
Three thousand ducats: I'll not answer that:
But, say, it is my humour: is it answer'd?
SCENE I. Venice. A court of justice. What if my house be troubled with a rat
And I be pleased to give ten thousand ducats
Enter the DUKE, the Magnificoes, ANTONIO, BASSANIO, To have it baned? What, are you answer'd yet?
GRATIANO, SALERIO, and others Some men there are love not a gaping pig;
DUKE Some, that are mad if they behold a cat;
What, is Antonio here? And others, when the bagpipe sings i' the nose,
Cannot contain their urine: for affection,
ANTONIO Mistress of passion, sways it to the mood
Ready, so please your grace. Of what it likes or loathes. Now, for your answer:
DUKE As there is no firm reason to be render'd,
I am sorry for thee: thou art come to answer Why he cannot abide a gaping pig;
A stony adversary, an inhuman wretch Why he, a harmless necessary cat;
uncapable of pity, void and empty Why he, a woollen bagpipe; but of force
From any dram of mercy. Must yield to such inevitable shame
As to offend, himself being offended;
ANTONIO So can I give no reason, nor I will not,
I have heard More than a lodged hate and a certain loathing
Your grace hath ta'en great pains to qualify I bear Antonio, that I follow thus
His rigorous course; but since he stands obdurate A losing suit against him. Are you answer'd?
And that no lawful means can carry me
Out of his envy's reach, I do oppose BASSANIO
My patience to his fury, and am arm'd This is no answer, thou unfeeling man,
To suffer, with a quietness of spirit, To excuse the current of thy cruelty.
The very tyranny and rage of his. SHYLOCK
DUKE I am not bound to please thee with my answers.
Go one, and call the Jew into the court. BASSANIO
SALERIO Do all men kill the things they do not love?
He is ready at the door: he comes, my lord. SHYLOCK
Enter SHYLOCK Hates any man the thing he would not kill?

DUKE BASSANIO
Make room, and let him stand before our face. Every offence is not a hate at first.
Shylock, the world thinks, and I think so too, SHYLOCK
That thou but lead'st this fashion of thy malice What, wouldst thou have a serpent sting thee twice?
To the last hour of act; and then 'tis thought
Thou'lt show thy mercy and remorse more strange ANTONIO
Than is thy strange apparent cruelty; I pray you, think you question with the Jew:
And where thou now exact'st the penalty, You may as well go stand upon the beach
Which is a pound of this poor merchant's flesh, And bid the main flood bate his usual height;
Thou wilt not only loose the forfeiture, You may as well use question with the wolf
But, touch'd with human gentleness and love, Why he hath made the ewe bleat for the lamb;
Forgive a moiety of the principal; You may as well forbid the mountain pines
Glancing an eye of pity on his losses, To wag their high tops and to make no noise,
That have of late so huddled on his back, When they are fretten with the gusts of heaven;
Enow to press a royal merchant down You may as well do anything most hard,
And pluck commiseration of his state As seek to soften that--than which what's harder?--
From brassy bosoms and rough hearts of flint, His Jewish heart: therefore, I do beseech you,
From stubborn Turks and Tartars, never train'd Make no more offers, use no farther means,
To offices of tender courtesy. But with all brief and plain conveniency
We all expect a gentle answer, Jew. Let me have judgment and the Jew his will.
SHYLOCK BASSANIO
I have possess'd your grace of what I purpose; For thy three thousand ducats here is six.
And by our holy Sabbath have I sworn
SHYLOCK
To have the due and forfeit of my bond:
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What judgment shall I dread, doing Not on thy sole, but on thy soul, harsh Jew,
Were in six parts and every part a ducat, Thou makest thy knife keen; but no metal can,
I would not draw them; I would have my bond. No, not the hangman's axe, bear half the keenness
Of thy sharp envy. Can no prayers pierce thee?
DUKE
How shalt thou hope for mercy, rendering none? SHYLOCK
No, none that thou hast wit enough to make.
SHYLOCK
What judgment shall I dread, doing no wrong? GRATIANO
You have among you many a purchased slave, O, be thou damn'd, inexecrable dog!
Which, like your asses and your dogs and mules, And for thy life let justice be accused.
You use in abject and in slavish parts, Thou almost makest me waver in my faith
Because you bought them: shall I say to you, To hold opinion with Pythagoras,
Let them be free, marry them to your heirs? That souls of animals infuse themselves
Why sweat they under burthens? let their beds Into the trunks of men: thy currish spirit
Be made as soft as yours and let their palates Govern'd a wolf, who, hang'd for human slaughter,
Be season'd with such viands? You will answer Even from the gallows did his fell soul fleet,
'The slaves are ours:' so do I answer you: And, whilst thou lay'st in thy unhallow'd dam,
The pound of flesh, which I demand of him, Infused itself in thee; for thy desires
Is dearly bought; 'tis mine and I will have it. Are wolvish, bloody, starved and ravenous.
If you deny me, fie upon your law!
There is no force in the decrees of Venice. SHYLOCK
I stand for judgment: answer; shall I have it? Till thou canst rail the seal from off my bond,
Thou but offend'st thy lungs to speak so loud:
DUKE Repair thy wit, good youth, or it will fall
Upon my power I may dismiss this court, To cureless ruin. I stand here for law.
Unless Bellario, a learned doctor,
DUKE
Whom I have sent for to determine this,
Come here to-day. This letter from Bellario doth commend
A young and learned doctor to our court.
SALERIO Where is he?
My lord, here stays without
A messenger with letters from the doctor, NERISSA
New come from Padua. He attendeth here hard by,
To know your answer, whether you'll admit him.
DUKE
Bring us the letter; call the messenger. DUKE
With all my heart. Some three or four of you
BASSANIO Go give him courteous conduct to this place.
Good cheer, Antonio! What, man, courage yet! Meantime the court shall hear Bellario's letter.
The Jew shall have my flesh, blood, bones and all,
Ere thou shalt lose for me one drop of blood. Clerk
[Reads]
ANTONIO Your grace shall understand that at the receipt of
I am a tainted wether of the flock, your letter I am very sick: but in the instant that
Meetest for death: the weakest kind of fruit your messenger came, in loving visitation was with
Drops earliest to the ground; and so let me me a young doctor of Rome; his name is Balthasar. I
You cannot better be employ'd, Bassanio, acquainted him with the cause in controversy between
Than to live still and write mine epitaph. the Jew and Antonio the merchant: we turned o'er
many books together: he is furnished with my
Enter NERISSA, dressed like a lawyer's clerk opinion; which, bettered with his own learning, the
DUKE greatness whereof I cannot enough commend, comes
Came you from Padua, from Bellario? with him, at my importunity, to fill up your grace's
request in my stead. I beseech you, let his lack of
NERISSA years be no impediment to let him lack a reverend
From both, my lord. Bellario greets your grace. estimation; for I never knew so young a body with so
Presenting a letter old a head. I leave him to your gracious
acceptance, whose trial shall better publish his
BASSANIO commendation.
Why dost thou whet thy knife so earnestly? DUKE
SHYLOCK You hear the learn'd Bellario, what he writes:
To cut the forfeiture from that bankrupt there. And here, I take it, is the doctor come.

GRATIANO Enter PORTIA, dressed like a doctor of laws

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Give me your hand. Come you from old Bellario? The penalty and forfeit of my bond.
PORTIA PORTIA
I did, my lord. Is he not able to discharge the money?
DUKE BASSANIO
You are welcome: take your place. Yes, here I tender it for him in the court;
Are you acquainted with the difference Yea, twice the sum: if that will not suffice,
That holds this present question in the court? I will be bound to pay it ten times o'er,
On forfeit of my hands, my head, my heart:
PORTIA
I am informed thoroughly of the cause. If this will not suffice, it must appear
Which is the merchant here, and which the Jew? That malice bears down truth. And I beseech you,
Wrest once the law to your authority:
DUKE To do a great right, do a little wrong,
Antonio and old Shylock, both stand forth. And curb this cruel devil of his will.
PORTIA PORTIA
Is your name Shylock? It must not be; there is no power in Venice
SHYLOCK Can alter a decree established:
Shylock is my name. 'Twill be recorded for a precedent,
And many an error by the same example
PORTIA Will rush into the state: it cannot be.
Of a strange nature is the suit you follow;
Yet in such rule that the Venetian law SHYLOCK
Cannot impugn you as you do proceed. A Daniel come to judgment! yea, a Daniel!
You stand within his danger, do you not? O wise young judge, how I do honour thee!
ANTONIO PORTIA
Ay, so he says. I pray you, let me look upon the bond.
PORTIA SHYLOCK
Do you confess the bond? Here 'tis, most reverend doctor, here it is.
ANTONIO PORTIA
I do. Shylock, there's thrice thy money offer'd thee.
PORTIA SHYLOCK
Then must the Jew be merciful. An oath, an oath, I have an oath in heaven:
Shall I lay perjury upon my soul?
SHYLOCK No, not for Venice.
On what compulsion must I? tell me that.
PORTIA
PORTIA Why, this bond is forfeit;
The quality of mercy is not strain'd, And lawfully by this the Jew may claim
It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven A pound of flesh, to be by him cut off
Upon the place beneath: it is twice blest; Nearest the merchant's heart. Be merciful:
It blesseth him that gives and him that takes: Take thrice thy money; bid me tear the bond.
'Tis mightiest in the mightiest: it becomes
The throned monarch better than his crown; SHYLOCK
His sceptre shows the force of temporal power, When it is paid according to the tenor.
The attribute to awe and majesty, It doth appear you are a worthy judge;
Wherein doth sit the dread and fear of kings; You know the law, your exposition
But mercy is above this sceptred sway; Hath been most sound: I charge you by the law,
It is enthroned in the hearts of kings, Whereof you are a well-deserving pillar,
It is an attribute to God himself; Proceed to judgment: by my soul I swear
And earthly power doth then show likest God's There is no power in the tongue of man
When mercy seasons justice. Therefore, Jew, To alter me: I stay here on my bond.
Though justice be thy plea, consider this, ANTONIO
That, in the course of justice, none of us Most heartily I do beseech the court
Should see salvation: we do pray for mercy; To give the judgment.
And that same prayer doth teach us all to render
The deeds of mercy. I have spoke thus much PORTIA
Why then, thus it is:
To mitigate the justice of thy plea;
Which if thou follow, this strict court of Venice You must prepare your bosom for his knife.
Must needs give sentence 'gainst the merchant there. SHYLOCK
SHYLOCK O noble judge! O excellent young man!
My deeds upon my head! I crave the law, PORTIA

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For the intent and purpose of the law Your wife would give you little thanks for that,
Hath full relation to the penalty, If she were by, to hear you make the offer.
Which here appeareth due upon the bond. GRATIANO
SHYLOCK I have a wife, whom, I protest, I love:
'Tis very true: O wise and upright judge! I would she were in heaven, so she could
How much more elder art thou than thy looks! Entreat some power to change this currish Jew.
PORTIA NERISSA
Therefore lay bare your bosom. 'Tis well you offer it behind her back;
SHYLOCK The wish would make else an unquiet house.
Ay, his breast: SHYLOCK
So says the bond: doth it not, noble judge? These be the Christian husbands. I have a daughter;
'Nearest his heart:' those are the very words. Would any of the stock of Barrabas
Had been her husband rather than a Christian!
PORTIA
It is so. Are there balance here to weigh Aside
The flesh?
SHYLOCK We trifle time: I pray thee, pursue sentence.
I have them ready. PORTIA
PORTIA A pound of that same merchant's flesh is thine:
Have by some surgeon, Shylock, on your charge, The court awards it, and the law doth give it.
To stop his wounds, lest he do bleed to death. SHYLOCK
Most rightful judge!
SHYLOCK
Is it so nominated in the bond? PORTIA
PORTIA And you must cut this flesh from off his breast:
It is not so express'd: but what of that? The law allows it, and the court awards it.
'Twere good you do so much for charity. SHYLOCK
SHYLOCK Most learned judge! A sentence! Come, prepare!
I cannot find it; 'tis not in the bond. PORTIA
PORTIA Tarry a little; there is something else.
This bond doth give thee here no jot of blood;
You, merchant, have you any thing to say?
The words expressly are 'a pound of flesh:'
ANTONIO Take then thy bond, take thou thy pound of flesh;
But little: I am arm'd and well prepared. But, in the cutting it, if thou dost shed
Give me your hand, Bassanio: fare you well! One drop of Christian blood, thy lands and goods
Grieve not that I am fallen to this for you; Are, by the laws of Venice, confiscate
For herein Fortune shows herself more kind Unto the state of Venice.
Than is her custom: it is still her use
To let the wretched man outlive his wealth, GRATIANO
To view with hollow eye and wrinkled brow O upright judge! Mark, Jew: O learned judge!
An age of poverty; from which lingering penance SHYLOCK
Of such misery doth she cut me off. Is that the law?
Commend me to your honourable wife:
PORTIA
Tell her the process of Antonio's end; Thyself shalt see the act:
Say how I loved you, speak me fair in death; For, as thou urgest justice, be assured
And, when the tale is told, bid her be judge
Thou shalt have justice, more than thou desirest.
Whether Bassanio had not once a love.
Repent but you that you shall lose your friend, GRATIANO
And he repents not that he pays your debt; O learned judge! Mark, Jew: a learned judge!
For if the Jew do cut but deep enough, SHYLOCK
I'll pay it presently with all my heart. I take this offer, then; pay the bond thrice
BASSANIO And let the Christian go.
Antonio, I am married to a wife BASSANIO
Which is as dear to me as life itself; Here is the money.
But life itself, my wife, and all the world,
Are not with me esteem'd above thy life: PORTIA
I would lose all, ay, sacrifice them all Soft!
The Jew shall have all justice; soft! no haste:
Here to this devil, to deliver you.
He shall have nothing but the penalty.
PORTIA
GRATIANO
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O Jew! an upright judge, a learned judge! The danger formerly by me rehearsed.

Down therefore and beg mercy of the duke.
PORTIA GRATIANO
Therefore prepare thee to cut off the flesh. Beg that thou mayst have leave to hang thyself:
Shed thou no blood, nor cut thou less nor more And yet, thy wealth being forfeit to the state,
But just a pound of flesh: if thou cut'st more Thou hast not left the value of a cord;
Or less than a just pound, be it but so much Therefore thou must be hang'd at the state's charge.
As makes it light or heavy in the substance,
Or the division of the twentieth part DUKE
Of one poor scruple, nay, if the scale do turn That thou shalt see the difference of our spirits,
But in the estimation of a hair, I pardon thee thy life before thou ask it:
Thou diest and all thy goods are confiscate. For half thy wealth, it is Antonio's;
The other half comes to the general state,
GRATIANO Which humbleness may drive unto a fine.
A second Daniel, a Daniel, Jew! PORTIA
Now, infidel, I have you on the hip. Ay, for the state, not for Antonio.

PORTIA SHYLOCK
Why doth the Jew pause? take thy forfeiture. Nay, take my life and all; pardon not that:
You take my house when you do take the prop
SHYLOCK That doth sustain my house; you take my life
Give me my principal, and let me go. When you do take the means whereby I live.
PORTIA
BASSANIO What mercy can you render him, Antonio?
I have it ready for thee; here it is. GRATIANO
A halter gratis; nothing else, for God's sake.
PORTIA
He hath refused it in the open court: ANTONIO
He shall have merely justice and his bond. So please my lord the duke and all the court
To quit the fine for one half of his goods,
GRATIANO I am content; so he will let me have
A Daniel, still say I, a second Daniel! The other half in use, to render it,
I thank thee, Jew, for teaching me that word. Upon his death, unto the gentleman
That lately stole his daughter:
SHYLOCK Two things provided more, that, for this favour,
Shall I not have barely my principal? He presently become a Christian;
The other, that he do record a gift,
PORTIA Here in the court, of all he dies possess'd,
Thou shalt have nothing but the forfeiture, Unto his son Lorenzo and his daughter.
To be so taken at thy peril, Jew.
DUKE
SHYLOCK He shall do this, or else I do recant
Why, then the devil give him good of it! The pardon that I late pronounced here.
I'll stay no longer question.
PORTIA
PORTIA Art thou contented, Jew? what dost thou say?
Tarry, Jew:
The law hath yet another hold on you. SHYLOCK
It is enacted in the laws of Venice, I am content.
If it be proved against an alien
That by direct or indirect attempts PORTIA
He seek the life of any citizen, Clerk, draw a deed of gift.
The party 'gainst the which he doth contrive
Shall seize one half his goods; the other half SHYLOCK
Comes to the privy coffer of the state; I pray you, give me leave to go from hence;
And the offender's life lies in the mercy I am not well: send the deed after me,
Of the duke only, 'gainst all other voice. And I will sign it.
In which predicament, I say, thou stand'st;
For it appears, by manifest proceeding, DUKE
That indirectly and directly too Get thee gone, but do it.
Thou hast contrived against the very life
Of the defendant; and thou hast incurr'd
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GRATIANO I will not shame myself to give you this.

In christening shalt thou have two god-fathers:
Had I been judge, thou shouldst have had ten more, PORTIA
To bring thee to the gallows, not the font. I will have nothing else but only this;
And now methinks I have a mind to it.
Exit SHYLOCK
BASSANIO
DUKE There's more depends on this than on the value.
Sir, I entreat you home with me to dinner. The dearest ring in Venice will I give you,
And find it out by proclamation:
PORTIA Only for this, I pray you, pardon me.
I humbly do desire your grace of pardon:
I must away this night toward Padua, PORTIA
And it is meet I presently set forth. I see, sir, you are liberal in offers
You taught me first to beg; and now methinks
DUKE You teach me how a beggar should be answer'd.
I am sorry that your leisure serves you not.
Antonio, gratify this gentleman, BASSANIO
For, in my mind, you are much bound to him. Good sir, this ring was given me by my wife;
And when she put it on, she made me vow
Exeunt Duke and his train That I should neither sell nor give nor lose it.

BASSANIO PORTIA
Most worthy gentleman, I and my friend That 'scuse serves many men to save their gifts.
Have by your wisdom been this day acquitted An if your wife be not a mad-woman,
Of grievous penalties; in lieu whereof, And know how well I have deserved the ring,
Three thousand ducats, due unto the Jew, She would not hold out enemy for ever,
We freely cope your courteous pains withal. For giving it to me. Well, peace be with you!

ANTONIO Exeunt Portia and Nerissa

And stand indebted, over and above,
In love and service to you evermore. ANTONIO
My Lord Bassanio, let him have the ring:
PORTIA Let his deservings and my love withal
He is well paid that is well satisfied; Be valued against your wife's commandment.
And I, delivering you, am satisfied
And therein do account myself well paid: BASSANIO
My mind was never yet more mercenary. Go, Gratiano, run and overtake him;
I pray you, know me when we meet again: Give him the ring, and bring him, if thou canst,
I wish you well, and so I take my leave. Unto Antonio's house: away! make haste.

BASSANIO Exit Gratiano

Dear sir, of force I must attempt you further:
Take some remembrance of us, as a tribute, Come, you and I will thither presently;
Not as a fee: grant me two things, I pray you, And in the morning early will we both
Not to deny me, and to pardon me. Fly toward Belmont: come, Antonio.

PORTIA Exeunt
You press me far, and therefore I will yield.
Source: http://www.online-
To ANTONIO literature.com/shakespeare/merchant/18/

Give me your gloves, I'll wear them for your sake;

To BASSANIO

And, for your love, I'll take this ring from you:
Do not draw back your hand; I'll take no more;
And you in love shall not deny me this.

BASSANIO
This ring, good sir, alas, it is a trifle!
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Comment on The Trial Scene of Merchant of Venice she says ‘If thou dost shed one drop of Christian blood,
thy lands and goods are by the laws of Venice
The trial scene in the Merchant of Venice is the climax of the confiscate unto the state of Venice’. Antonio receives
play as Shylock has taken Antonio to court, as he has not paid his moral justice and Shylock is shown little mercy by
back the money he borrowed. Shylock wants the pound of flesh the letter of the law that he demanded for himself. As
that is the forfeit of the bond concerning the money Antonio Shylock refused to show mercy to Antonio when he had
borrowed from him. Shylock’s main motivation for wanting power over him, he is shown the same treatment and
this forfeit is as his daughter has stolen his money and run away, apparently gets what he deserved as he is shown no
he is taking out his spite on Antonio and this blinds him as he mercy. Shylock tries to go back and get the money he
does not watch what he is getting into during this scene earlier refused to take but Portia stops him by saying
From the point where Shylock enters the courtroom everyone ‘The Jew shall have all justice, he shall have nothing
opposing him is appealing for mercy for Antonio and this is what but the penalty.’ It is shown to the reader that Shylock
gets what is due as the play is written in favour of
the scene demonstrates, a need for mercy. Portia says shortly
Christianity, and so all sympathy is lost for Shylock.
after she has entered the scene ‘Then the Jew must be merciful’
This is because of the way he is taking his anger out on
she is not saying that this is what the law says he must be, but
Antonio, because of his daughter stealing his money
that he should do this because it is the only thing he can do
and running away. Also he doesn’t care that his
morally. The mercy theme runs all the way through the scene
and many opportunities were offered by the Duke, Bassanio and daughter has run away only that she has stolen his
Portia for Shylock to take the moral course of action, but he money.
constantly refuses saying he should get what he deserves not by This demonstrates a prejudice towards him as a
moral justice but by the law. Jew and so none of his characters like him because of
his religion and one of the consequences of the course
Shylock does have the right to the forfeit of his bond and
it is Antonio’s fault that he is in this situation because he signed of action he has chosen is that he is forced to become
the bond of his own free will. He knew the consequences if he Christian. In the end the reader is shown that justice is
carried out as Antonio and Bassanio are good Christian
couldn’t pay it back as Shylock made it clear from the start. This
people and so good has triumphed over the immoral
is shown by when at the start of the court scene when he says
Jew, Shylock.
‘Make no more offers use no farther means, but with all brief
and plain conveniency let me have judgment, and the Jew his
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will’. When he didn’t pay Shylock the money he owed him,
Shylock had a right to Antonio’s forfeit by law. The problem
was he didn’t choose the moral path where he probably could
have gotten a lot of money and become a very rich man, but
chose the forfeit out of spite over his daughter.
This theme is also repeated through the scene that
Shylock deserves his justice by the letter of the law and the
forfeit of his bond. This is shown when he says phrases like ‘My
deeds upon my head I crave the law, the penalty and forfeit of
my bond’. Portia lets Shylock have the chance to take the moral
path or the letter of his bond and Shylock chooses to have his
pound of flesh. Shylock does not realise he is being played into
a trap as he is blinded by spite, so by choosing the forfeit of the
bond he is also choosing execution or to have all of his estate
forfeit by the letter of the law he so craved. This means Shylock
has been tricked into choosing a certain course of action and he
did not know of the consequences until after his decision.
Portia plays on this drawing him further and further
towards the inevitable knowing he is stumbling blinded by spite
towards a consequence that he is not expecting. This is the point
when the balance of power in the trial changes. Portia has an
obvious knowledge of the law as she is using it to trap him,
Shylock has no representation and obviously has little
knowledge of the law as he puts up little argument.
This results in an ironical justice. Portia after Shylock
has chosen his course of action informs him of the consequences,
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