Day 12: Your Favorite Scene
Aug. 2nd, 2010 05:58 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
a_t_rainMerchant of Venice 1.3. I like this scene because it's an awesome study in manipulation and hidden agendas, as well as being totally audacious. I mean, stripped down to its essence, the scene basically goes like this:
Antonio: Shylock, lend me some money.
Shylock: Maybe I don't feel like lending you any money. I hate you.
Antonio: That's OK. I hate you too.
Shylock: Fine, you can have the money. And just to show there aren't any hard feelings between us, I get a pound of your flesh if you don't pay me back. Ha, it's a joke, get it? Deal?
Bassanio: Dude. Maybe this isn't such a great idea.
Antonio: Nope, it'll be fine! Deal!
There shouldn't be any way to make this plausible. But somehow, it works all the same.
Shylock. Antonio is a good man.
Bassanio. Have you heard any imputation to the contrary?
Shylock. Oh, no, no, no, no: my meaning in saying he is a good man is to have you understand me that he is sufficient.
One of the things I love about this scene is the constant play of hidden undercurrents: the hint of "who are you to say whether he's a good man or not?" in Bassanio's question, and the unspoken "No, what do I care whether he's morally good, as long as he has money?" in Shylock's response. (Of course, people are pretty much always conflating one's place in the economic system with one's moral status in this play -- something that becomes even more explicit in Shylock's "How like a fawning publican" speech a few lines later.)
I will buy with you, sell with you, talk with you, walk with you, and so following, but I will not eat with you, drink with you, nor pray with you.
Eating and drinking together is a big deal in Renaissance drama -- it's stage shorthand for the sharing of community, and it's always worth keeping an eye on the characters who refuse. In this case, though, there's no genuine community implied in the invitation. (As Shylock will say later in the play, when he does end up going to dinner at Bassanio's, "I am not bid for love.") Much of what he's doing, in the first part of the scene, involves refusing to play the Christians' game of fake courtesy, while at the same time stopping just short of actively insulting them. And then, about two-thirds of the way through, he comes to the point:
Signior Antonio, many a time and oft
In the Rialto you have rated me
About my moneys and my usances:
Still have I borne it with a patient shrug,
For sufferance is the badge of all our tribe.
You call me misbeliever, cut-throat dog,
And spit upon my Jewish gaberdine,
And all for use of that which is mine own.
Well then, it now appears you need my help:
Go to, then; you come to me, and you say
'Shylock, we would have moneys:' you say so;
You, that did void your rheum upon my beard
And foot me as you spurn a stranger cur
Over your threshold: moneys is your suit
What should I say to you? Should I not say
'Hath a dog money? is it possible
A cur can lend three thousand ducats?' Or
Shall I bend low and in a bondman's key,
With bated breath and whispering humbleness,
Say this;
'Fair sir, you spit on me on Wednesday last;
You spurn'd me such a day; another time
You call'd me dog; and for these courtesies
I'll lend you thus much moneys'?
Shylock knows exactly how much he can get away with -- again, he stops short of openly defying Antonio, instead using rhetorical questions to force him to acknowledge his own hypocrisy.
I am as like to call thee so again,
To spit on thee again, to spurn thee too.
If thou wilt lend this money, lend it not
As to thy friends; for when did friendship take
A breed for barren metal of his friend?
But lend it rather to thine enemy,
Who, if he break, thou mayst with better face
Exact the penalty.
At this point, the kid gloves are off: Antonio switches from the polite "you" to the familiar "thou," dropping any pretense that they are social equals. He also acknowledges their mutual enmity for the first time, practically daring Shylock to try to ruin him. Shylock takes him up on it, and throws in a twist of his own:
Shylock. Why, look you, how you storm!
I would be friends with you and have your love,
Forget the shames that you have stain'd me with,
Supply your present wants and take no doit
Of usance for my moneys, and you'll not hear me:
This is kind I offer.
Bassanio. This were kindness.
Shylock. This kindness will I show.
Go with me to a notary, seal me there
Your single bond; and, in a merry sport,
If you repay me not on such a day,
In such a place, such sum or sums as are
Express'd in the condition, let the forfeit
Be nominated for an equal pound
Of your fair flesh, to be cut off and taken
In what part of your body pleaseth me.
Antonio. Content, i' faith: I'll seal to such a bond
And say there is much kindness in the Jew.
"Kindness" is a loaded word in this scene; in addition to its modern sense, there are at least two other meanings in play: acting according to one's essential nature, and reciprocity (as in "payment in kind"). Both parties take advantage of the triple meaning to slip in a few subtle insults.
Here Bassanio protests, and Shylock attempts to answer his concerns:
Pray you, tell me this;
If he should break his day, what should I gain
By the exaction of the forfeiture?
A pound of man's flesh taken from a man
Is not so estimable, profitable neither,
As flesh of muttons, beefs, or goats.
Antonio, arguably, may be blinded by his own anti-Semitism -- he can't really bring himself to believe that Shylock cares for anything except profit, even when the fact that Shylock hates him (and has every reason to hate him) is staring him in the face. On the other hand, I'm not absolutely sure that Antonio loses this exchange: he's agreed to a bargain that is, on the surface, stupid, but he also has every reason to be confident that the laws and institutions of Christian Venice will protect him. Thus, it's not entirely clear who succeeds in baiting whom into an act of monumental hubris -- but it's masterfully played on both sides.
Day #1: Your favorite play
Day #2: Your favorite character
Day #3: Your favorite hero
Day #4: Your favorite heroine
Day #5: Your favorite villain
Day #6: Your favorite villainess
Day #7: Your favorite clown
Day #8: Your favorite comedy
Day #9: Your favorite tragedy
Day #10: Your favorite history
Day #11: Your least favorite play
Day #12: Your favorite scene
Day #13: Your favorite romantic scene
Day #14: Your favorite fight scene
Day #15: The first play you read
Day #16: Your first play you saw
Day #17: Your favorite speech
Day #18: Your favorite dialogue
Day #19: Your favorite movie version of a play
Day #20: Your favorite movie adaptation of a play
Day #21: An overrated play
Day #22: An underrated play
Day #23: A role you've never played but would love to play
Day #24: An actor or actress you would love to see in a particular role
Day #25: Sooner or later, everyone has to choose: Hal or Falstaff?
Day #26: Your favorite couple
Day #27: Your favorite couplet
Day #28: Your favorite joke
Day #29: Your favorite sonnet
Day #30: Your favorite single line
Antonio: Shylock, lend me some money.
Shylock: Maybe I don't feel like lending you any money. I hate you.
Antonio: That's OK. I hate you too.
Shylock: Fine, you can have the money. And just to show there aren't any hard feelings between us, I get a pound of your flesh if you don't pay me back. Ha, it's a joke, get it? Deal?
Bassanio: Dude. Maybe this isn't such a great idea.
Antonio: Nope, it'll be fine! Deal!
There shouldn't be any way to make this plausible. But somehow, it works all the same.
Shylock. Antonio is a good man.
Bassanio. Have you heard any imputation to the contrary?
Shylock. Oh, no, no, no, no: my meaning in saying he is a good man is to have you understand me that he is sufficient.
One of the things I love about this scene is the constant play of hidden undercurrents: the hint of "who are you to say whether he's a good man or not?" in Bassanio's question, and the unspoken "No, what do I care whether he's morally good, as long as he has money?" in Shylock's response. (Of course, people are pretty much always conflating one's place in the economic system with one's moral status in this play -- something that becomes even more explicit in Shylock's "How like a fawning publican" speech a few lines later.)
I will buy with you, sell with you, talk with you, walk with you, and so following, but I will not eat with you, drink with you, nor pray with you.
Eating and drinking together is a big deal in Renaissance drama -- it's stage shorthand for the sharing of community, and it's always worth keeping an eye on the characters who refuse. In this case, though, there's no genuine community implied in the invitation. (As Shylock will say later in the play, when he does end up going to dinner at Bassanio's, "I am not bid for love.") Much of what he's doing, in the first part of the scene, involves refusing to play the Christians' game of fake courtesy, while at the same time stopping just short of actively insulting them. And then, about two-thirds of the way through, he comes to the point:
Signior Antonio, many a time and oft
In the Rialto you have rated me
About my moneys and my usances:
Still have I borne it with a patient shrug,
For sufferance is the badge of all our tribe.
You call me misbeliever, cut-throat dog,
And spit upon my Jewish gaberdine,
And all for use of that which is mine own.
Well then, it now appears you need my help:
Go to, then; you come to me, and you say
'Shylock, we would have moneys:' you say so;
You, that did void your rheum upon my beard
And foot me as you spurn a stranger cur
Over your threshold: moneys is your suit
What should I say to you? Should I not say
'Hath a dog money? is it possible
A cur can lend three thousand ducats?' Or
Shall I bend low and in a bondman's key,
With bated breath and whispering humbleness,
Say this;
'Fair sir, you spit on me on Wednesday last;
You spurn'd me such a day; another time
You call'd me dog; and for these courtesies
I'll lend you thus much moneys'?
Shylock knows exactly how much he can get away with -- again, he stops short of openly defying Antonio, instead using rhetorical questions to force him to acknowledge his own hypocrisy.
I am as like to call thee so again,
To spit on thee again, to spurn thee too.
If thou wilt lend this money, lend it not
As to thy friends; for when did friendship take
A breed for barren metal of his friend?
But lend it rather to thine enemy,
Who, if he break, thou mayst with better face
Exact the penalty.
At this point, the kid gloves are off: Antonio switches from the polite "you" to the familiar "thou," dropping any pretense that they are social equals. He also acknowledges their mutual enmity for the first time, practically daring Shylock to try to ruin him. Shylock takes him up on it, and throws in a twist of his own:
Shylock. Why, look you, how you storm!
I would be friends with you and have your love,
Forget the shames that you have stain'd me with,
Supply your present wants and take no doit
Of usance for my moneys, and you'll not hear me:
This is kind I offer.
Bassanio. This were kindness.
Shylock. This kindness will I show.
Go with me to a notary, seal me there
Your single bond; and, in a merry sport,
If you repay me not on such a day,
In such a place, such sum or sums as are
Express'd in the condition, let the forfeit
Be nominated for an equal pound
Of your fair flesh, to be cut off and taken
In what part of your body pleaseth me.
Antonio. Content, i' faith: I'll seal to such a bond
And say there is much kindness in the Jew.
"Kindness" is a loaded word in this scene; in addition to its modern sense, there are at least two other meanings in play: acting according to one's essential nature, and reciprocity (as in "payment in kind"). Both parties take advantage of the triple meaning to slip in a few subtle insults.
Here Bassanio protests, and Shylock attempts to answer his concerns:
Pray you, tell me this;
If he should break his day, what should I gain
By the exaction of the forfeiture?
A pound of man's flesh taken from a man
Is not so estimable, profitable neither,
As flesh of muttons, beefs, or goats.
Antonio, arguably, may be blinded by his own anti-Semitism -- he can't really bring himself to believe that Shylock cares for anything except profit, even when the fact that Shylock hates him (and has every reason to hate him) is staring him in the face. On the other hand, I'm not absolutely sure that Antonio loses this exchange: he's agreed to a bargain that is, on the surface, stupid, but he also has every reason to be confident that the laws and institutions of Christian Venice will protect him. Thus, it's not entirely clear who succeeds in baiting whom into an act of monumental hubris -- but it's masterfully played on both sides.
Day #1: Your favorite play
Day #2: Your favorite character
Day #3: Your favorite hero
Day #4: Your favorite heroine
Day #5: Your favorite villain
Day #6: Your favorite villainess
Day #7: Your favorite clown
Day #8: Your favorite comedy
Day #9: Your favorite tragedy
Day #10: Your favorite history
Day #11: Your least favorite play
Day #12: Your favorite scene
Day #13: Your favorite romantic scene
Day #14: Your favorite fight scene
Day #15: The first play you read
Day #16: Your first play you saw
Day #17: Your favorite speech
Day #18: Your favorite dialogue
Day #19: Your favorite movie version of a play
Day #20: Your favorite movie adaptation of a play
Day #21: An overrated play
Day #22: An underrated play
Day #23: A role you've never played but would love to play
Day #24: An actor or actress you would love to see in a particular role
Day #25: Sooner or later, everyone has to choose: Hal or Falstaff?
Day #26: Your favorite couple
Day #27: Your favorite couplet
Day #28: Your favorite joke
Day #29: Your favorite sonnet
Day #30: Your favorite single line
