Today’s Totally Random
Lines
I
had forgot, --three months, you told me so.
Well,
then, your bond; and let me see,--but hear you;
Methought
you said you neither lend nor borrow upon advantage
Shylock
The Merchant of Venice Act I, Scene
iii, Line 68
Today we have the scene where Bassanio has gone
to Shylock seeking a loan with Antonio’s credit. And now Antonio has shown up,
and he and Shylock are negotiating the terms of the loan (the bond). Shylock is pointing out that
Antonio just said that he makes it a habit to neither lend nor borrow upon advantage (with interest), and this
leads to further talk.
They get into a fairly complicated discussion about the interest, and if interest will be charged or not. It’s an important part of the play, because it lends insight into both Antonio’s and Shylock’s true motives. Unfortunately though, it would take years and cost millions of lives to do a proper analysis of the next hundred or so lines, and I’m not willing to pay that price this morning. Perhaps another time.
If you’re truly interested, here’s a link. The whole scene’s only about 175 lines, so it won’t kill you to read it. Let me know what you think.
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