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

Total: 48

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

1

I,1,78

You look not well, Signior Antonio;
You have too much respect upon the world:
They lose it that do buy it with much care:
Believe me, you are marvellously changed.

2

I,1,85

Let me play the fool:
With mirth and laughter let old wrinkles come,
And let my liver rather heat with wine
Than my heart cool with mortifying groans.
Why should a man, whose blood is warm within,
Sit like his grandsire cut in alabaster?
Sleep when he wakes and creep into the jaundice
By being peevish? I tell thee what, Antonio—
I love thee, and it is my love that speaks—
There are a sort of men whose visages
Do cream and mantle like a standing pond,
And do a wilful stillness entertain,
With purpose to be dress'd in an opinion
Of wisdom, gravity, profound conceit,
As who should say 'I am Sir Oracle,
And when I ope my lips let no dog bark!'
O my Antonio, I do know of these
That therefore only are reputed wise
For saying nothing; when, I am very sure,
If they should speak, would almost damn those ears,
Which, hearing them, would call their brothers fools.
I'll tell thee more of this another time:
But fish not, with this melancholy bait,
For this fool gudgeon, this opinion.
Come, good Lorenzo. Fare ye well awhile:
I'll end my exhortation after dinner.

3

I,1,114

Well, keep me company but two years moe,
Thou shalt not know the sound of thine own tongue.

4

I,1,117

Thanks, i' faith, for silence is only commendable
In a neat's tongue dried and a maid not vendible.

5

II,2,737

Where is your master?

6

II,2,740

Signior Bassanio!

7

II,2,742

I have a suit to you.

8

II,2,744

You must not deny me: I must go with you to Belmont.

9

II,2,755

Signior Bassanio, hear me:
If I do not put on a sober habit,
Talk with respect and swear but now and then,
Wear prayer-books in my pocket, look demurely,
Nay more, while grace is saying, hood mine eyes
Thus with my hat, and sigh and say 'amen,'
Use all the observance of civility,
Like one well studied in a sad ostent
To please his grandam, never trust me more.

10

II,2,765

Nay, but I bar to-night: you shall not gauge me
By what we do to-night.

11

II,2,772

And I must to Lorenzo and the rest:
But we will visit you at supper-time.

12

II,4,803

We have not made good preparation.

13

II,4,816

Love-news, in faith.

14

II,4,833

Was not that letter from fair Jessica?

15

II,6,909

This is the pent-house under which Lorenzo
Desired us to make stand.

16

II,6,912

And it is marvel he out-dwells his hour,
For lovers ever run before the clock.

17

II,6,917

That ever holds: who riseth from a feast
With that keen appetite that he sits down?
Where is the horse that doth untread again
His tedious measures with the unbated fire
That he did pace them first? All things that are,
Are with more spirit chased than enjoy'd.
How like a younker or a prodigal
The scarfed bark puts from her native bay,
Hugg'd and embraced by the strumpet wind!
How like the prodigal doth she return,
With over-weather'd ribs and ragged sails,
Lean, rent and beggar'd by the strumpet wind!

18

II,6,964

Now, by my hood, a Gentile and no Jew.

19

II,6,977

Signior Antonio!

20

II,6,983

I am glad on't: I desire no more delight
Than to be under sail and gone to-night.

21

III,2,1559

My lord Bassanio and my gentle lady,
I wish you all the joy that you can wish;
For I am sure you can wish none from me:
And when your honours mean to solemnize
The bargain of your faith, I do beseech you,
Even at that time I may be married too.

22

III,2,1566

I thank your lordship, you have got me one.
My eyes, my lord, can look as swift as yours:
You saw the mistress, I beheld the maid;
You loved, I loved for intermission.
No more pertains to me, my lord, than you.
Your fortune stood upon the casket there,
And so did mine too, as the matter falls;
For wooing here until I sweat again,
And sweating until my very roof was dry
With oaths of love, at last, if promise last,
I got a promise of this fair one here
To have her love, provided that your fortune
Achieved her mistress.

23

III,2,1582

Yes, faith, my lord.

24

III,2,1584

We'll play with them the first boy for a thousand ducats.

25

III,2,1586

No; we shall ne'er win at that sport, and stake down.
But who comes here? Lorenzo and his infidel? What,
and my old Venetian friend Salerio?
[Enter LORENZO, JESSICA, and SALERIO, a Messenger]
from Venice]

26

III,2,1612

Nerissa, cheer yon stranger; bid her welcome.
Your hand, Salerio: what's the news from Venice?
How doth that royal merchant, good Antonio?
I know he will be glad of our success;
We are the Jasons, we have won the fleece.

27

IV,1,2058

Not on thy sole, but on thy soul, harsh Jew,
Thou makest thy knife keen; but no metal can,
No, not the hangman's axe, bear half the keenness
Of thy sharp envy. Can no prayers pierce thee?

28

IV,1,2063

O, be thou damn'd, inexecrable dog!
And for thy life let justice be accused.
Thou almost makest me waver in my faith
To hold opinion with Pythagoras,
That souls of animals infuse themselves
Into the trunks of men: thy currish spirit
Govern'd a wolf, who, hang'd for human slaughter,
Even from the gallows did his fell soul fleet,
And, whilst thou lay'st in thy unhallow'd dam,
Infused itself in thee; for thy desires
Are wolvish, bloody, starved and ravenous.

29

IV,1,2235

I have a wife, whom, I protest, I love:
I would she were in heaven, so she could
Entreat some power to change this currish Jew.

30

IV,1,2259

O upright judge! Mark, Jew: O learned judge!

31

IV,1,2264

O learned judge! Mark, Jew: a learned judge!

32

IV,1,2271

O Jew! an upright judge, a learned judge!

33

IV,1,2281

A second Daniel, a Daniel, Jew!
Now, infidel, I have you on the hip.

34

IV,1,2288

A Daniel, still say I, a second Daniel!
I thank thee, Jew, for teaching me that word.

35

IV,1,2313

Beg that thou mayst have leave to hang thyself:
And yet, thy wealth being forfeit to the state,
Thou hast not left the value of a cord;
Therefore thou must be hang'd at the state's charge.

36

IV,1,2328

A halter gratis; nothing else, for God's sake.

37

IV,1,2349

In christening shalt thou have two god-fathers:
Had I been judge, thou shouldst have had ten more,
To bring thee to the gallows, not the font.

38

IV,2,2422

Fair sir, you are well o'erta'en
My Lord Bassanio upon more advice
Hath sent you here this ring, and doth entreat
Your company at dinner.

39

IV,2,2430

That will I do.

40

V,1,2607

[To NERISSA] By yonder moon I swear you do me wrong;
In faith, I gave it to the judge's clerk:
Would he were gelt that had it, for my part,
Since you do take it, love, so much at heart.

41

V,1,2612

About a hoop of gold, a paltry ring
That she did give me, whose posy was
For all the world like cutler's poetry
Upon a knife, 'Love me, and leave me not.'

42

V,1,2624

He will, an if he live to be a man.

43

V,1,2626

Now, by this hand, I gave it to a youth,
A kind of boy, a little scrubbed boy,
No higher than thyself; the judge's clerk,
A prating boy, that begg'd it as a fee:
I could not for my heart deny it him.

44

V,1,2644

My Lord Bassanio gave his ring away
Unto the judge that begg'd it and indeed
Deserved it too; and then the boy, his clerk,
That took some pains in writing, he begg'd mine;
And neither man nor master would take aught
But the two rings.

45

V,1,2704

Well, do you so; let not me take him, then;
For if I do, I'll mar the young clerk's pen.

46

V,1,2733

Why, this is like the mending of highways
In summer, where the ways are fair enough:
What, are we cuckolds ere we have deserved it?

47

V,1,2752

Were you the clerk that is to make me cuckold?

48

V,1,2773

Let it be so: the first inter'gatory
That my Nerissa shall be sworn on is,
Whether till the next night she had rather stay,
Or go to bed now, being two hours to day:
But were the day come, I should wish it dark,
That I were couching with the doctor's clerk.
Well, while I live I'll fear no other thing
So sore as keeping safe Nerissa's ring.

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