The Merchant of Venice - mmRyan

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Table of Contents Strategies for Understanding Shakespeare's Language..................................................................................1 Reading Pointers for Sharper Insights.............................................................................................................6 Dramatis Personæ...............................................................................................................................................7 Act I......................................................................................................................................................................8 Scene I......................................................................................................................................................8 Scene II..................................................................................................................................................13 Scene III.................................................................................................................................................17 Act II..................................................................................................................................................................23 Scene I....................................................................................................................................................23 Scene II..................................................................................................................................................24 Scene III.................................................................................................................................................31 Scene IV.................................................................................................................................................31 Scene V..................................................................................................................................................33 Scene VI.................................................................................................................................................35 Scene VII...............................................................................................................................................38 Scene VIII..............................................................................................................................................40 Scene IX.................................................................................................................................................42 Act III.................................................................................................................................................................46 Scene I....................................................................................................................................................46 Scene II..................................................................................................................................................50 Scene III.................................................................................................................................................58 Scene IV.................................................................................................................................................60 Scene V..................................................................................................................................................62 Act IV.................................................................................................................................................................66 Scene I....................................................................................................................................................66 Scene II..................................................................................................................................................81 Act V...................................................................................................................................................................83 Scene I....................................................................................................................................................83 i
Strategies for Understanding Shakespeare's Language 1. When reading verse, note the appropriate phrasing and intonation. DO NOT PAUSE AT THE END OF A LINE unless there is a mark of punctuation. Shakespearean verse has a rhythm of its own, and once a reader gets used to it, the rhythm becomes very natural to speak in and read. Beginning readers often find it helpful to read a short pause at a comma and a long pause for a period, colon, semicolon, dash, or question mark. Here's an example from The Merchant of Venice, Act IV, Scene i: The quality of mercy is not strain'd, (short pause) It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven Upon the place beneath: (long pause) it is twice blest; (long pause) It blesseth him that gives, (short pause) and him that takes; (long pause) 'Tis mightiest in the mighties; (long pause) it becomes The throned monarch better than his crown; (long pause) 2. Reading from punctuation mark to punctuation mark for meaning. In addition to helping you read aloud, punctuation marks define units of thought. Try to understand each unit as you read, keeping in mind that periods, colons, semicolons, and question marks signal the end of a thought. Here's an example from The Taming of the Shrew: LUC. Tranio, I saw her coral lips to move, And with her breath she did perfume the air; Sacred, and sweet, was all I saw in her. TRA. Nay, then, 't is time to stir him from his trance. I pray, awake, sir: if you love the maid, Bend thoughts and wits to achieve her. (I,i) The first unit of thought is from “Tranio” to “air”: He saw her lips move, and her breath perfumed the air. The second thought (“Sacred, and sweet…”) re-emphasizes the first. Tranio replies that Lucentio needs to awaken from his trance and try to win “the maid.” These two sentences can be considered one unit of thought. 3. In an inverted sentence, the verb comes before the subject. Some lines will be easier to understand if you put the subject first and reword the sentence. For example, look at the line below: “Never was seen so black a day as this:” (Romeo and Juliet, IV, v) You can change its inverted pattern so it is more easily understood: Strategies for Understanding Shakespeare's Language 1
Page 1: The Merchant of Venice by William S
Page 5 and 6: O God! a beast that wants discourse
Page 7 and 8: ♦ Shakespeare had the same love o
Page 9 and 10: Dramatis Personæ • ANTONIO, a me
Page 11 and 12: Enrobe the roaring waters with my s
Page 13 and 14: I'll tell thee more of this another
Page 15 and 16: I have a mind presages me such thri
Page 17 and 18: fence with his own shadow: if I sho
Page 19 and 20: Exeunt. Scene III [Venice] Enter Ba
Page 21 and 22: Do you desire—Rest you fair, good
Page 23 and 24: ANTONIO: I am as like to call thee
Page 25 and 26: Act II Scene I [Belmont] Enter Moro
Page 27 and 28: not: budge, says the fiend; budge n
Page 29 and 30: Pray you, let's have no more foolin
Page 31 and 32: And hath preferr'd thee, if it be p
Page 33 and 34: And I must to Lorenzo and the rest;
Page 35 and 36: SALERIO: Ay, marry, I'll be gone ab
Page 37 and 38: [LAUNCELOT:] I will go before, sir.
Page 39 and 40: But love is blind, and lovers canno
Page 41 and 42: Who chooseth me, shall get as much
Page 43 and 44: Fled with a Christian—O my Christ
Page 45 and 46: Even in the force and road of casua
Page 47 and 48: Exeunts. Scene IX 45
Page 49 and 50: That's certain. I, for my part, kne
Page 51 and 52: TUBAL: Yes, other men have ill luck
Page 53 and 54:
None, but that ugly treason of mist
Page 55 and 56:
PORTIA: How all the other passions
Page 57 and 58:
GRATIANO: I thank your lordship, yo
Page 59 and 60:
I freely told you, all the wealth I
Page 61 and 62:
Enter the Jew, and Solanio, and Ant
Page 63 and 64:
Until her husband and my lord's ret
Page 65 and 66:
And what hope is that, I pray thee
Page 67 and 68:
Past all expressing. It is very mee
Page 69 and 70:
Forgive a moiety of the principal;
Page 71 and 72:
DUKE: Upon my power, I may dismiss
Page 73 and 74:
You hear the learn'd Bellario, what
Page 75 and 76:
SHYLOCK: Here, 'tis, most reverend
Page 77 and 78:
Antonio, I am married to a wife, Wh
Page 79 and 80:
BASSANIO: I have it ready for thee;
Page 81 and 82:
Get thee gone, but do it. GRATIANO:
Page 83 and 84:
Exit Gratiano. Come, you and I will
Page 85 and 86:
Act V Scene I [Belmont] Enter Loren
Page 87 and 88:
LAUNCELOT: Sola! Where where LORENZ
Page 89 and 90:
LORENZO: Dear lady, welcome home. P
Page 91 and 92:
Nor pluck it from his finger, for t
Page 93 and 94:
I swear to thee, even by thine own
Page 95:
And we will answer all things faith
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The Merchant of Venice - mmRyan

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