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Speeches (Lines) for Antonio
in "Merchant of Venice"

Total: 47

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# Act, Scene, Line
(Click to see in context)
Speech text

1

I,1,2

In sooth, I know not why I am so sad:
It wearies me; you say it wearies you;
But how I caught it, found it, or came by it,
What stuff 'tis made of, whereof it is born,
I am to learn;
And such a want-wit sadness makes of me,
That I have much ado to know myself.

2

I,1,43

Believe me, no: I thank my fortune for it,
My ventures are not in one bottom trusted,
Nor to one place; nor is my whole estate
Upon the fortune of this present year:
Therefore my merchandise makes me not sad.

3

I,1,49

Fie, fie!

4

I,1,66

Your worth is very dear in my regard.
I take it, your own business calls on you
And you embrace the occasion to depart.

5

I,1,82

I hold the world but as the world, Gratiano;
A stage where every man must play a part,
And mine a sad one.

6

I,1,116

Farewell: I'll grow a talker for this gear.

7

I,1,120

Is that any thing now?

8

I,1,126

Well, tell me now what lady is the same
To whom you swore a secret pilgrimage,
That you to-day promised to tell me of?

9

I,1,142

I pray you, good Bassanio, let me know it;
And if it stand, as you yourself still do,
Within the eye of honour, be assured,
My purse, my person, my extremest means,
Lie all unlock'd to your occasions.

10

I,1,160

You know me well, and herein spend but time
To wind about my love with circumstance;
And out of doubt you do me now more wrong
In making question of my uttermost
Than if you had made waste of all I have:
Then do but say to me what I should do
That in your knowledge may by me be done,
And I am prest unto it: therefore, speak.

11

I,1,184

Thou know'st that all my fortunes are at sea;
Neither have I money nor commodity
To raise a present sum: therefore go forth;
Try what my credit can in Venice do:
That shall be rack'd, even to the uttermost,
To furnish thee to Belmont, to fair Portia.
Go, presently inquire, and so will I,
Where money is, and I no question make
To have it of my trust or for my sake.

12

I,3,385

Shylock, although I neither lend nor borrow
By taking nor by giving of excess,
Yet, to supply the ripe wants of my friend,
I'll break a custom. Is he yet possess'd
How much ye would?

13

I,3,391

And for three months.

14

I,3,396

I do never use it.

15

I,3,401

And what of him? did he take interest?

16

I,3,417

This was a venture, sir, that Jacob served for;
A thing not in his power to bring to pass,
But sway'd and fashion'd by the hand of heaven.
Was this inserted to make interest good?
Or is your gold and silver ewes and rams?

17

I,3,424

Mark you this, Bassanio,
The devil can cite Scripture for his purpose.
An evil soul producing holy witness
Is like a villain with a smiling cheek,
A goodly apple rotten at the heart:
O, what a goodly outside falsehood hath!

18

I,3,432

Well, Shylock, shall we be beholding to you?

19

I,3,456

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.

20

I,3,480

Content, i' faith: I'll seal to such a bond
And say there is much kindness in the Jew.

21

I,3,484

Why, fear not, man; I will not forfeit it:
Within these two months, that's a month before
This bond expires, I do expect return
Of thrice three times the value of this bond.

22

I,3,499

Yes Shylock, I will seal unto this bond.

23

I,3,506

Hie thee, gentle Jew.
[Exit Shylock]
The Hebrew will turn Christian: he grows kind.

24

I,3,510

Come on: in this there can be no dismay;
My ships come home a month before the day.

25

II,6,976

Who's there?

26

II,6,978

Fie, fie, Gratiano! where are all the rest?
'Tis nine o'clock: our friends all stay for you.
No masque to-night: the wind is come about;
Bassanio presently will go aboard:
I have sent twenty out to seek for you.

27

III,3,1711

Hear me yet, good Shylock.

28

III,3,1719

I pray thee, hear me speak.

29

III,3,1729

Let him alone:
I'll follow him no more with bootless prayers.
He seeks my life; his reason well I know:
I oft deliver'd from his forfeitures
Many that have at times made moan to me;
Therefore he hates me.

30

III,3,1737

The duke cannot deny the course of law:
For the commodity that strangers have
With us in Venice, if it be denied,
Will much impeach the justice of his state;
Since that the trade and profit of the city
Consisteth of all nations. Therefore, go:
These griefs and losses have so bated me,
That I shall hardly spare a pound of flesh
To-morrow to my bloody creditor.
Well, gaoler, on. Pray God, Bassanio come
To see me pay his debt, and then I care not!

31

IV,1,1932

Ready, so please your grace.

32

IV,1,1937

I have heard
Your grace hath ta'en great pains to qualify
His rigorous course; but since he stands obdurate
And that no lawful means can carry me
Out of his envy's reach, I do oppose
My patience to his fury, and am arm'd
To suffer, with a quietness of spirit,
The very tyranny and rage of his.

33

IV,1,2002

I pray you, think you question with the Jew:
You may as well go stand upon the beach
And bid the main flood bate his usual height;
You may as well use question with the wolf
Why he hath made the ewe bleat for the lamb;
You may as well forbid the mountain pines
To wag their high tops and to make no noise,
When they are fretten with the gusts of heaven;
You may as well do anything most hard,
As seek to soften that—than which what's harder?—
His Jewish heart: therefore, I do beseech you,
Make no more offers, use no farther means,
But with all brief and plain conveniency
Let me have judgment and the Jew his will.

34

IV,1,2047

I am a tainted wether of the flock,
Meetest for death: the weakest kind of fruit
Drops earliest to the ground; and so let me
You cannot better be employ'd, Bassanio,
Than to live still and write mine epitaph.

35

IV,1,2120

Ay, so he says.

36

IV,1,2122

I do.

37

IV,1,2185

Most heartily I do beseech the court
To give the judgment.

38

IV,1,2209

But little: I am arm'd and well prepared.
Give me your hand, Bassanio: fare you well!
Grieve not that I am fallen to this for you;
For herein Fortune shows herself more kind
Than is her custom: it is still her use
To let the wretched man outlive his wealth,
To view with hollow eye and wrinkled brow
An age of poverty; from which lingering penance
Of such misery doth she cut me off.
Commend me to your honourable wife:
Tell her the process of Antonio's end;
Say how I loved you, speak me fair in death;
And, when the tale is told, bid her be judge
Whether Bassanio had not once a love.
Repent but you that you shall lose your friend,
And he repents not that he pays your debt;
For if the Jew do cut but deep enough,
I'll pay it presently with all my heart.

39

IV,1,2329

So please my lord the duke and all the court
To quit the fine for one half of his goods,
I am content; so he will let me have
The other half in use, to render it,
Upon his death, unto the gentleman
That lately stole his daughter:
Two things provided more, that, for this favour,
He presently become a Christian;
The other, that he do record a gift,
Here in the court, of all he dies possess'd,
Unto his son Lorenzo and his daughter.

40

IV,1,2366

And stand indebted, over and above,
In love and service to you evermore.

41

IV,1,2405

My Lord Bassanio, let him have the ring:
Let his deservings and my love withal
Be valued against your wife's commandment.

42

V,1,2603

No more than I am well acquitted of.

43

V,1,2706

I am the unhappy subject of these quarrels.

44

V,1,2719

I once did lend my body for his wealth;
Which, but for him that had your husband's ring,
Had quite miscarried: I dare be bound again,
My soul upon the forfeit, that your lord
Will never more break faith advisedly.

45

V,1,2726

Here, Lord Bassanio; swear to keep this ring.

46

V,1,2750

I am dumb.

47

V,1,2757

Sweet lady, you have given me life and living;
For here I read for certain that my ships
Are safely come to road.

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