[Illustration: _William M. Blatt (born in Orange, N.J., in 1876)
was educated in the public schools of Boston, and received his degree
of LL.B. from Boston University Law School in 1897. Besides being
engaged with the law in Boston and contributing to a number of legal
periodicals, Mr. Blatt is also devoted to letters and has published a
number of plays, including "Husbands on Approval," and many one-act
playlets, including "The Danger of Ideals," which have been given
professional performance._]
_Characters_: SHYLOCK, JESSICA, ANTONIO, GRATIANO, PORTIA, ISAAC, _a
servant of Shylock_.
_Scene_: A street in Venice.
_Time_: An afternoon, two years after the last act of "The Merchant of
Venice."
_As curtain rises, Portia and Gratiano discovered standing and looking
down the street, Gratiano pointing._
_Gratiano_ Now Lady Portia look a long way off
And see if you can recognize a friend.
_Portia_ A friend? One person only do I see--
A man, quite old, who hobbles with a staff.
_Gratiano_ He is the one I mean. Now look again
And try to recognize his face, his beard.
_Portia_ Why, is it not old Shylock? Sure it is.
And met most opportunely, on my word.
Now, dear Gratiano, with this icy heart
We must needs waste a score or two of words.
_Gratiano_ To make him help his daughter Jessica?
_Portia_ That is the task.
_Gratiano_ Too much for Hercules.
(_Enter Shylock._)
_Portia_ A moment, Shylock, of your precious time.
You must remember meeting me before.
_Shylock_ Remember, nay then, how could I forget
The noble judge who spoke so clean and fair
And took away on quibbles all I owned.
_Portia_ Not all, good Shylock, half of it remained.
_Shylock_ Oh, true, I thank you for the half you left.
I thank that kindly merchant, him that begged
The Duke to quite remit the City's fine
Which never would have done him any good--
I thank him for accepting what was all
He could have claimed, the half of my estate.
_Portia_ In trust----
_Shylock_ I know. In trust until I die.
And trust Antonio to eat it up.
Is it not known that when he takes a risk
Of more than common danger and doth lose,
He makes a record that he did invest
A part of my belongings in the venture?
Belike by now there's not a ducat left.
For that however I have naught but joy
Because it means that she who was my daughter
And that Lorenzo who's her paramour
Will, when I die, inherit penury.
_Gratiano_ But if Antonio's trust should disappear
They still would come by all you leave yourself;
'Twas thus the Duke decreed.
_Shylock_ I know a thing
Or two that I could tell and make the face
Of son Lorenzo somewhat longer grow.
_Gratiano_ Faith, often did Lorenzo say to us
"The Jew will find a way to cheat me yet."
_Shylock_ To cheat him out of what? The gold he earned
By robbing me, debauching my--my child?
_Portia_ Nay, let us not be quarreling, old man,
I have a message that I want to give.
_Shylock_ No message from my daughter--none to me.
_Portia_ I meant not message, what I have is news.
Poor Jessica has come to sorry straits.
Her husband, having heard of what you spoke,
The loss of what Antonio received,
The tricks you have been playing with your own,
Fell out with Jessica; they came to words;
From words, they say, to blows. And so it seems
He left her in a pitiable state.
_Shylock_ (_laughing wildly_) Good, good, good, good. I prithee
tell me more.
_Gratiano_ The fiends fly off with thee. Hast thou a heart
And canst thou hear the sorrows of thy child
In laughter and with joy?
_Shylock_ She is no child
Of mine. She is a wench who lied and stole
Repaid my love with treason. Broke my heart
And left me weakened for mine enemies
To ruin and to taunt. Tell me the rest,
Leave not a portion out. Describe her pain,
Her hunger, her remorse. I would know all.
_Portia_ The font has failed to change thy cruel soul;
Thou art a Christian, Shylock, but in name.
_Shylock_ Well, blame thy sacred water. Blame not me.
_Gratiano_ And so poor Jessica must starve and die?
_Shylock_ Why, no. For you and she (_pointing to Portia_) should be
her friends.
You Christians will not let a Christian fall.
_Gratiano_ Now there we cut the venom from thy tongue
For Jessica will not accept our aid.
_Portia_ Indeed, old man, we know not where she is.
We told you, that you might go search for her.
Bassanio did offer her employment
But she refused, belike because her shame
Would not permit that we should see her shame.
And so she fled.
_Gratiano_ And may not be alive.
_Shylock_ These circumstances you should tell unto
Lorenzo. 'Twas he took her upon himself
For better or for worse. Fare you well.
I have affairs that interest me more.
_Gratiano_ Come, Lady Portia. 'Tis a waste of time.
The Bible says that God did choose the Jews
But says not what it was He chose them for.
Our ancient friend hath made it clear to me
That they were chosen by our gracious Lord
To be a kind of warning and example
Of what a misbeliever may become.
_Portia_ Thou wilt not save thy daughter?
_Shylock_ Lady fair,
In this peculiar and imperfect world
The virtues are divided into parts:
For instance, mercy. Some do practice it,
And some do merely preach. A third there are
Whose only contribution is to be
The text from which the second sermons preach;
They neither preach nor practice. Such am I.
Farewell.
_Gratiano_ We but insult ourselves to stay. (_Exit Portia and
Gratiano. Shylock looks after them. Enter Antonio, sees
Shylock, walks over to him and touches him with his
stick. Shylock turns._)
_Antonio_ Hebrew, have I found thee out at last?
Once more thy promises are broken, eh?
_Shylock_ Yes, yes. I pray you----
_Antonio_ Pray me nothing more.
_Shylock_ Signor Antonio, wait another day.
_Antonio_ Another day. For what? Until you hide
A bag of ducats or a jewel case?
Your bonds are by a fortnight overdue
And day by day your fortune dwindles down.
If I should sell the roof above your head
And all your land and chattels, they would bring
Less than enough to pay me what you owe.
_Shylock_ I prithee not so loud. But you alone
Are cognizant of my disastrous state.
My name is good. Perchance I may obtain
A temporary loan to tide me through.
But if my losses come to other ears
Before my kinsmen and my ship arrive
A bankrupt's ending stares me in the face.
Wait, wait Antonio, surely he will come,
My cousin Issachar who sailed away.
_Antonio_ Thy cousin Issachar will come no more.
He promised to return three weeks ago.
_Shylock_ But think, remember, good Antonio,
The vessel could not founder. 'Twas my best,
Held in reserve, the last one of my fleet.
Issachar swore he knew the very spot
Where dusky natives mined the laughing gold
And that if I would furnish men and ships
The moiety of the cargo would be mine.
Perhaps he is a little while delayed.
_Antonio_ Perhaps another theory will fit.
Perhaps your kinsman filled the ship with gold
And then did point his helm another way.
Perhaps in England now he lives at ease
And deems the whole is better than a half.
Consider, sir, your kinsman is a Jew.
_Shylock_ He will not fail me, for he is my friend.
Patience, good sir, patience a day or two.
Deal with me kindly as so oft before
You treated many an unfortunate.
_Antonio_ Let's have no whining. See you pay my bills
No later than to-day. Expect no further time.
I have done more than doth in truth become
A Christian to oblige a Jew withal.
Think not to share the leniency I give
To men of Venice of my faith and blood.
This case is different.
_Shylock_ But did thy Lord
Not preach a creed of brotherhood and love
And bid thee treat thy neighbor as thyself?
_Antonio_ He meant our Christian neighbors who reside
By right of law and ancient heritage
Within the land, but not the tribe who do
Usurp the places of their betters. No!
_Shylock_ I am a Christian, made so by your Church.
Your own priest said so and it must be true.
_Antonio_ 'Twas but a form to bend thy haughty will.
In heart and manner thou art still a Jew.
They should be glad that they can here remain
To practice sacrilege, and cheat, and fawn.
I marvel we can be so tolerant.
_Shylock_ The God who made this land and you and me
Mocks at your selfish, mean, philosophy.
When you or yours can build a mountain peak
Or add a grain unto the universe
Then talk of this fair ground as your domain.
The earth is one and rests within His hand;
The great and small His erring children are,
But we who from Yisrael claim descent
Are now the eldest of the family.
The God of Justice never slumbereth.
Jehovah is His name; His will be done.
_Antonio_ Mumble thy prayers if that affords relief,
But if by sundown I am not repaid
Another Moses must thou be and bring
Another set of miracles from heaven
Or lose the very coat from off thy back.
By sundown--but a few short minutes hence. (_Exit Antonio_)
_Shylock_ Finished--almost finished--almost done.
I see the wave that soon above my hopes,
My fears, my sorrows, and my broken heart,
Will roll in cruel triumph. I'm content.
A long and troubled record I shall leave
Of struggles in the dark 'gainst many foes.
I begged for light to see my duty clear
To see the purpose of my suffering
To see the end that my Creator served
In heaping hills of torment on my head.
The light has never come. But now ere long
I must be called where all shall be made clear.
Till then a few weeks more of faith in Him
A few weeks more with an unfalt'ring tongue
To praise His wisdom though its end be hid.
A few weeks more to walk within His law.
(_Starts to walk off. Enter Jessica in disordered dress
and manner._)
_Jessica_ Father!
_Shylock_ Back! Away! Dare not to touch me.
_Jessica_ A word, a single word and I will go.
_Shylock_ (_trying to wrest his arm from her grasp_)
Let be I say.
_Jessica_ Nay, but I cannot leave.
I know not how much time I have to live.
I marvel that this body thin and frail
Has so long stood th' innumerable shocks
Which in my married life it hath endured.
Death must be near, it stretcheth out its arms,
And I in answer have extended mine.
_Shylock_ Come not to me for money. Had I all
The wealth of Sheba's mines I would not pay
A mite to save thy fallen soul from hell.
The potter's field may have thy rotten bones
And owls and jackals pray for thy repose.
_Jessica_ 'Tis not for gold I beg but for thy love.
I threw it from me like an orange sucked
And turned to grasp the shining fruit that he,
Lorenzo, pictured to mine eyes. Ah me,
How bitter, hard and worthless to the taste
Hath been that substitute. The marriage moon
Had scarce grown full before my body bore
The marks of coward blows.
_Shylock_ Ha! Ha! That's well.
_Jessica_ I have not known a single kindly word,
I scarce have heard him call me by my name
Since less than four weeks after we were wed.
_Shylock_ (_gloatingly rubbing his hands_) Hm!
_Jessica_ Oh father, why was I not told before
That we and all our people are accurst;
That those to whom we give our love and trust
Curse us and loathe us with a dreadful hate,
A hate that neither reason can assuage
Nor conduct make amends for. Awful fate,
That makes the very children of the street
With circle eyes point at us in contempt,
And people who have never heard our names
Thirst for our blood and menace us with death!
_Shylock_ So thou didst think a priestly comedy
Could make Lorenzo love his Jewish wife?
_Jessica_ I could have died for him. For him I fled
And stole your wealth and helped your enemies.
Why could he not have been a little kind?
_Shylock_ (_chuckling_) Come tell me how he beat you. Tell me that.
_Jessica_ Have pity, father.
_Shylock_ Tell me how he swore.
_Jessica_ Oh, torture me no further. Take me back.
Love me not now, but let me win your love
A little at a time. No day shall pass
But in it I shall do some tiny act
That will in time make up a wealth of deeds,
And if we both are living long enough
The balance will be as it was before.
_Shylock_ Thy pleadings are but wasted, Jessica,
Thou canst not gain the end that thou dost seek.
For even if I have the foolish will
(And I assure thee that I have it not)
To bring thee back to all the luxury,
The silken clothes, the soft and perfumed beds,
The shining jewels of thy girlhood days,
I could not. I am almost penniless.
_Jessica_ Poor, and alone, and old! Nay, father dear,
Thou couldst not drive me from thee after this
Hadst thou the strength of ten. Let us go forth
And find a little corner of the earth
Where I may work and you may live at peace.
_Shylock_ I need no aid. I want no help from thee.
_Jessica_ Then give me thine. I starve for sympathy.
I shall go mad. I saw my baby die
And all around me were my husband's friends
Who spoke in terms of polished elegance.
With formal platitudes and commonplace
Regarding me as something curious,
A vulgar, noisy creature, lacking taste
And proper self-control. While on its bier
Lay all the joy that life in promise held.
Dead, and my heart within it. (_Weeps_)
(_Shylock turns to go, looks back after a step
or two, and returns_)
_Shylock_ I did not know the little one was dead.
Was it a pretty child?
_Jessica_ A pretty child!
A cherub could not be more beautiful.
Blue eyes and golden hair. A tiny mouth
A dimple in her chin. (_Shylock puts his arm around
Jessica_)
_Shylock_ Thy mother's face belike. So did she look.
And how old when it--died?
_Jessica_ A year, a year.
(_Enter Antonio and Gratiano. Antonio touches
Shylock on the shoulder_)
_Antonio_ Well, let us have an end. The time is up.
I now demand the payment of my bonds.
_Shylock_ I have not moved since last you spoke to me.
_Antonio_ All's one for that. You had no move to make.
Your whole estate is in the bailiff's hands
And you yourself may come along with me.
_Shylock_ Where would you take me?
_Antonio_ Why, before the Duke.
_Shylock_ What need of trials? Freely I confess
The debts I owe you. Take what you can find.
Take ev'ry rag and counter. Take them all.
Myself and Jessica must go away.
_Antonio_ Not quite so fast. The law expressly states
That I may put you in the debtor's gaol
And so I mean to do.
_Shylock_ But good Signor--
_Antonio_ No protest will avail. I know you Jews.
You hang together in calamity
And help each other while the Christians starve.
Let them redeem you and repay my loss.
_Shylock_ Good sir, my kin are very far away
And poor as I.
_Antonio_ 'Twill do no good to lie.
Write letters. I will see them promptly sent.
_Shylock_ I swear to you Antonio--
_Gratiano_ Wait a while.
First tell us if the oath thou art to make
Is sworn as Christian or in Hebrew style;
Though truly which to give the preference
Is matter to discuss. A Jewish oath
Thou canst not take for thou hast been baptised,
And sooth to say I have a sort of doubt
About thy reverence for Christian forms.
_Shylock_ By that great Power who can humble both
Hebrew and Christian, I do swear to you
That not in all this universe's span
Have I a claim on friends or relatives
As large as this. Much more have I the right
To claim assistance from Antonio
Who though he found me keen for my revenge
And steadfast in assertion of my rights
Can bring no accusation on my head
Of underhanded trickery or crime.
_Gratiano_ Because we watch you pretty carefully.
_Shylock_ What say you, sir? You will not keep us here?
_Antonio_ I warned thee once cajoling will not serve.
Write out the letters. That's the only way.
I'll see that while you tarry in the gaol
Your comfort shall not be too much disturbed.
Your food shall be according to your wish
And other things in reason you may have.
_Jessica_ Good sir, I think you know me, do you not?
_Antonio_ Why, are you not my friend Lorenzo's wife?
_Jessica_ I am the Jessica who married him,
But not his wife if wifehood is a state
That presupposes more than legal rights.
I and Lorenzo are as strangers now
And less than strangers, less than enemies.
_Antonio_ I grieve to hear it.
_Jessica_ I would have your grief
Not for myself but for my father here.
He speaks the truth. He has no more to give.
_Antonio_ Then let him call upon his wealthy friends,
The other Jews will trust him if he asks.
_Jessica_ You heard him say he knows not where to sue.
_Antonio_ O, that was but the cunning of his race.
_Jessica_ Unfeeling man! If his deserts are dumb
What of your obligation due to me?
The Court's decree as you no doubt recall
Was that the half of his estate should go
To you to hold in trust for me and mine.
I charge you now upon your Christian faith
To give my father all the residue
That will be mine when he shall pass away
Or take it for yourself and let him go.
_Antonio_ Three obstacles prevent your sacrifice.
The first is that though my intent was fair
By bad investments more than half the fund
Has disappeared, and all that doth remain
Would not suffice to satisfy the bonds.
The second, that the sum is payable
Upon your father's death, which is not yet.
But third and most of all the money goes
To you and to your husband, not to you.
The gift is joint and neither can alone
Claim all himself or any several part.
Indeed, I own it frankly, my desire
In asking that the Duke should so decree
Was not to benefit Lorenzo's wife,
A Jewess, who was never aught to me,
But solely to befriend Lorenzo's self
My coreligionist and distant kin.
To give you anything of Shylock's gold
Without Lorenzo's will would be a wrong,
A breach of trust, a patent injury.
And if your separation from his love,
As shrewdly I suspect, be fault of yours
And growing from thy Jewish wilfulness,
It would be most unfaithful and untrue
That I should thus reward inconstancy.
You see, in honor and before the law
I must refuse to do as you request.
_Jessica_ I see that Jesus died in vain for you.
His Jewish heart, with pity for the low
And meek and humble broke upon the cross
And for a time the magic of his words
Restrained the beast in Gentile followers,
But soon the kindly Stoic lost his sway
And cruel bigots in his Jewish name,
By his offenceless, mild authority
Took fire and sword and hatred for their flag.
_Antonio_ My girl, there is a law 'gainst blasphemy.
_Gratiano_ Why stand we here and listen to her spleen?
Away with Shylock. Take him to the gaol.
_Antonio_ Come on.
_Jessica_ No! No!
_Shylock_ Resist no more, my child.
_Jessica_ Oh, father, we may never meet again;
Your age and suffering cannot endure
The shock of this disgrace.
_Shylock_ 'Tis better so.
I pray for death. It cannot come too soon.
Farewell.
_Jessica_ Farewell. (_Throws her arms around him_)
Yet not a long farewell,
I shall not far survive. It is no sin
To end a life of misery and shame.
_Isaac_ (_behind scenes_) Where is my master? Where has Shylock gone?
(_Enter Isaac._)
_Gratiano_ Here fellow, here he is. With Jessica
He poses like a model for the arts.
_Isaac_ Great news and wonderful. His ship is here
And laden full of gold. The mine is found
And Issachar and he are princely rich.
This cargo is the greatest that has come
To Venice since the city first began.
_Antonio_ I do rejoice to hear it. Truly Jew
I have no wish to do thy body harm
But thou and thy relations are well known
To be so deep in craft and villainy
That to recover what is justly due
We Christians must resort to rigid means.
Go freely with thy daughter. Later on
When ev'rything's in order I'll return
And you may pay me what the balance is.
(_Exit Antonio and Gratiano, followed by Isaac. Shylock
still stands expressionless with Jessica's arms around
him._)
[Illustration: Signature: Wmln. Blatt]