Read The Merchant of Venice’s Signior Antonio, Many A Time And Oft soliloquy below with modern English translation & analysis:
Spoken by Shylock, The Merchant of Venice, Act 1, Scene 3
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’?
“Signior Antonio, Many A Time And Oft” Soliloquy Translation:
Signior Antonio. So manytimes on the Rialto, you have berated me about money and my money-lending. I’ve always responded with a patient shrug because enduring such things is the badge of all our race. You call me an unbeliever, a cut-throat dog, and spit on my Jewish gabardine. And all for using what belongs to me. Well then, it now seems that you need my help. Alright then: you come to me and you say, “Shylock, we want some money.”
That’s what you say. You, who spat on my beard and kicked me as you would kick a stray dog from your house. Now you want money. What am I supposed to say to you? Shouldn’t I say, “Has a dog got money? Could a mongrel possibly lend three thousand ducats?” Or shall I bend low and in the fawning tone of a servant, softly, in a small humble voice, say this: ‘Good sir, you spat on me last Wednesday; you kicked me on such and such a day: another time you called me ‘dog’. And for these courtesies I’ll lend you so much money?
See other Merchant of Venice soliloquies >>
Read The Merchant of Venice in modern English >>
Emotions around the current, revived debate about the Shakespeare authorship are raging. Shakespeare scholars are ‘infuriated,’ ‘outraged,’ ‘angry’ about the implications of the film Anonymous, that de Vere wrote... more »
William Shakespeare was nine years old when the first theatre in England was opened. The idea of a dedicated building for the performance of plays was conceived as late... more »
Caroline Biocks & Michelle Ephraim have really outdone themselves with the latest installment of McSweeny’s daily humour website – a Shakespearean parody of Craigslist. Specifically, what would Shakespeare’s characters sell, rent... more »
All over the news the last week is Jesse Anderson, a software developer in Reno, Nevada, who’s created a computer program that will type letters at a very fast... more »
I wouldn’t go as far as to equate those who deny Shakespeare as the author of the Shakespeare plays with holocaust deniers, but both categories beggar belief. There is... more »
‘Something is rotten in the state of Denmark’ is one of Shakespeare’s most famous lines. It refers to the political and sexual corruption that surrounds Hamlet at the court... more »
London 2012 is going to be big. As part of the celebrations there is to be Cultural Olympiad’s London 2012 festival and a major component of that will be... more »
When I was at school, a long long time ago, an all boys’ school, we had a lot of fun in English by nudging each other and giggling behind... more »
Helen Mirren plays the role of Prospero in a new film of The Tempest. In a recent interview with the Huffington Post she said: ‘I played the man role.... more »
Looking something like a serial killers’ notebook, a 20-year-old London girl’s Shakespeare-related scribbles have gone viral this week. Simply writing a bunch of words and phrases Shakespeare invented (admittedly in a... more »