Shakespeare in the Theatre Part 7

THE MERCHANT OF VENICE.[10]

The story of this play is as follows. In the opening scene, the words of Antonio to Ba.s.sanio--

"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?"

And Lorenzo's apology for withdrawing--

"My lord Ba.s.sanio, since you have _found_ Antonio We two will leave you:"

and that of Salarino--

"We'll make our leisures to attend on _yours_"--

lead us to suppose that Ba.s.sanio has come by appointment to meet Antonio, and that Antonio should be represented on his entrance as somewhat anxiously expecting his friend, and we may further presume from Solanio's words to Salarino in Act II., Scene 8--

"I think he only loves the world for _him_"--

that there is a special cause for Antonio's sadness, beyond what he chooses to admit to his companions, and that is the knowledge that he is about to lose Ba.s.sanio's society.

With regard to Ba.s.sanio, we learn, in this first scene, that he is already indebted to Antonio, that he desires to borrow more money from his friend, to free himself from debt, before seeking the hand of Portia, a rich heiress, and that Portia has herself encouraged him to woo her. In fact, we are at once deterred from a.s.sociating purely sordid motives with Ba.s.sanio's courts.h.i.+p by his glowing description of her virtues and beauty, as also by Antonio's high opinion of Ba.s.sanio's character.

Antonio, however, has not the money at hand, and it is arranged that Ba.s.sanio is to borrow the required sum on Antonio's security. The entrance of Gratiano is skilfully timed to dispel the feeling of depression that Antonio's sadness would otherwise leave upon the audience, and to give the proper comedy tone to the opening scene of a play of comedy.

In Scene 2 we are introduced to the heroine and her attendant, and learn, what probably Ba.s.sanio did not know, that Portia by her father's will is powerless to bestow her hand on the man of her choice, the stratagem, as Nerissa supposes, being devised to insure Portia's obtaining "one that shall rightly love." This we may call the first or casket-complication.

Portia's strong sense of humour is revealed to us in her description of the suitors "that are already come," and her moral beauty in her determination to respect her father's wishes. "If I live to be as old as Sibylla, I will die as chaste as Diana, unless I be obtained by the manner of my father's will." The action of the play is not, however, continued till Nerissa questions Portia about Ba.s.sanio, in a pa.s.sage that links this scene to the last, and confirms, in the minds of the audience, the truth of the lover's statement--

"Sometimes from her eyes I did receive fair speechless messages."

A servant enters to announce the leave-taking of four of the suitors, who care not to submit to the conditions of the will, and to herald the arrival of a fifth, the Prince of Morocco.

We now come to the third scene of the play. Ba.s.sanio enters conversing with one, of whom no previous mention has been made but whose first utterance tells us he is the man of whom the required loan is demanded, and before the scene has ended, we discover further that he is to be the chief agent in bringing about the second, or pound-of-flesh-complication.

There are no indications given us of Shylock's personal appearance, except that he has been dubbed "old Shylock," which is, perhaps, more an expression of contempt than of age, for he is never spoken of as old man, or old Jew, and is chiefly addressed simply as Shylock or Jew; but the epithet is one recognized widely enough for Shylock himself to quote--

"Well, thou shalt see, thy eyes shall be thy judge, The difference of _old Shylock_ and Ba.s.sanio:"

as also does the Duke--

"Antonio and _old Shylock_ both stand forth."

So was it with Silas Marner. George Eliot writes: "He was so withered and yellow that though he was not yet forty the children always called him 'old master Marner.'" However, the language that Shakespeare has put into the mouth of Shylock does not impress us as being that of a man whose physical and mental faculties are in the least impaired by age; so vigorous is it at times that Shylock might be pictured as being an Edmund Kean-like figure, with piercing black eyes and an elastic step. From Shylock's expression, "the _ancient_ grudge I bear him," and Antonio's abrupt manner towards Shylock, we may conclude that the two men are avowed enemies, and have been so for some time previous to the opening of the play. This fact should, from the very first, be made evident to the audience by the emphasis Shylock gives to Antonio's name, an emphasis that is repeated every time the name occurs till he has made sure there is no doubt about who the man is that shall become bound.

The dramatic purpose of this scene is to show us Shylock directly plotting to take the life of Antonio, and the means he employs to this end are contrived with much skill. Shylock, in his opening soliloquy, discloses his intention to the audience, and at once deprives himself of its sympathy by admitting that his motives are guided more by personal considerations than by religious convictions--

"I hate him for he is a Christian, But _more_ for that in low simplicity He lends out money gratis and brings down The rate of usance here with us in Venice."

The three first scenes should be so acted on the stage as to accentuate in the minds of the audience (1) that Ba.s.sanio is the very dear friend of Antonio; (2) that Portia and Ba.s.sanio are in love with each other; (3) that Antonio and Shylock are avowed enemies; (4) that Shylock conspires against Antonio's life with full intent to take it should the bond become forfeit.

We are again at Belmont and witness the entrance of the Prince of Morocco, and the whole scene has a poetic dignity and repose which form a striking contrast to the preceding one. We get in the character of the Prince of Morocco a preliminary sketch of Shakespeare's Oth.e.l.lo, and certainly the actor, to do justice to the part, should have the voice and presence of a Salvini. The second scene shows us the Jew's man about to leave his rich master to become the follower of Ba.s.sanio, and the latter, now possessed of Shylock's money, preparing his outfit for the journey to Belmont, whither Gratiano also is bent on going. There is, besides, some talk of merrymaking at night-time, which fitly leads up to our introduction to Jessica in the next scene, and prepares us to hear of her intrigue with Lorenzo. Jessica is the third female character in the play, and the dramatist intends her to appear, in contrast to Portia and Nerissa, as a tragic figure, dark, pale, melancholy, demure, yet chaste in thought and in action, and with a heart susceptible of tender and devoted love. She plans her elopement with the same fixedness of purpose as the father pursues his revenge. In Scene 4 the elopement incident is advanced a step by Lorenzo receiving Jessica's directions "how to take her from her father's house," and a little further in the next scene, by Shylock being got out of the way, when we hear Jessica's final adieu. It is worth noting in this scene that, at a moment when we are ready to sympathize with Shylock, who is about to lose his daughter, the dramatist denies us that privilege by further ill.u.s.trating the malignancy of the man's character.

He has had an unlucky dream; he antic.i.p.ates trouble falling upon his house; he is warned by Launcelot that there are to be masques at night; he admits that he is not invited to Ba.s.sanio's feast out of love, but out of flattery, and still he can say--

"But yet I'll go _in hate_, to feed upon The prodigal Christian."

No personal inconvenience must hinder the acceleration of Antonio's downfall.

In Scene 6 the elopement takes place, but is almost prevented by the entrance of Antonio, whose solemn voice ringing clear on the stillness of the night is a fine dramatic contrast to the whispering of the lovers.

Shakespeare now thinks it time to return to Belmont, and we are shown the Prince of Morocco making his choice of the caskets, and we learn his fate.

But he bears his disappointment like a hero, and his dignified retreat moves Portia to exclaim: "A _gentle_ riddance!"

Scene 8 is one of narration only, but the speakers are in an excited frame of mind. The opening lines are intended to show that Antonio was not concerned in the flight of Jessica, and our interest in his character is further strengthened by the touching description of his farewell to Ba.s.sanio.

Scene 9 disposes of the second of Portia's remaining suitors, and, being comic in character, is inserted with good effect between two tragic scenes. The keynote to its action is to be found in Portia's words: "O, these _deliberate_ fools!" The Prince of Morocco was a warrior, heroic to the tips of his fingers; the Prince of Arragon is a fop, an affected a.s.s, a man "full of wise saws and modern instances," and the audience should be prepared for a highly amusing scene by the liveliness with which Nerissa announces his approach. His mannerism is indicated to us in such expressions as "Ha! let me see," and "Well, but to my choice." He should walk deliberately, speak deliberately, pause deliberately, and when he becomes sentimental, "pose." Highly conscious of his own superiority, and unwilling to "jump with _common_ spirits" and "rank me with the _barbarous_ mult.i.tudes," he a.s.sumes superiority, and gets his reward in the shape of a portrait of a blinking idiot. In fact, the whims of this Malvolio are intended to put everyone on and off the stage into high spirits, and even Portia is carried away by the fun as she mimics the retiring suitor in her exclamation to the servant. The scene ends with the announcement that Ba.s.sanio, "Lord Love," is on his way to Belmont, and we go on at once to Act III., Scene 1, which, I take it, is a continuation of Act II., Scene 8, and which, therefore, should not form part of another act.

The scene opens with Salarino and Solanio hurrying on the stage anxiously questioning each other about Antonio's rumoured loss at sea. Shylock follows almost immediately, to whom they at once turn in the hope of hearing news. It is usual on the stage to omit the entrance of Antonio's man, but apart from the dramatic effect produced by a follower of Antonio coming on to the stage at that moment, his appearance puts an end to the controversy, which otherwise would probably continue. Salarino and Solanio leave the stage awed almost to breathlessness, and Tubal enters. Then follows a piteous scene as we see Shylock's outbursts of grief, rage, and despair over the loss of his gold; yet is his anguish aggravated by the one from whom of all others he had a right to expect sympathy. But Shylock, after Tubal's words, "But Antonio is certainly undone," mutters, "Nay, that's true, that's very true," and takes from his purse a coin, and with a countenance and gesture expressive of indomitable purpose, continues: "_Go_, Tubal, fee me an officer; bespeak him a _fortnight_ before. I will have the _heart_ of him if he forfeit.... _Go_, Tubal, and meet me at our synagogue. _Go_, good Tubal; at our synagogue, Tubal."

Shylock's misfortunes in this scene would arouse sympathy were it not for the d.a.m.ning confession to Tubal of his motive for hating Antonio "for were he out of Venice I can make what merchandise I will." Words that Jessica's lines prove are not idle ones.

"When I was with him I have heard him swear To Tubal and to Chus, his countrymen, That he would rather have Antonio's flesh Than twenty times the value of the sum That he did owe him."

Act III., Scene 2, brings us to the last stage of the casket complication, and here Shakespeare, to avoid sameness, directs that a song shall be sung while Ba.s.sanio is occupied in deciding his fate; so that his long speech is spoken after the choice has been made, the leaden casket being then in his hands, and his words merely used to justify his decision. That Ba.s.sanio must win Portia is realized from the first. Moreover, his success, after Shylock's threats in the last scene, has become a dramatic necessity, and is thus saved from an appearance of unreality, so that his love adventure develops naturally. His good fortune is Gratiano's; then news is brought of Antonio's bankruptcy and Ba.s.sanio is sent to his friend's relief. Scene 3 does no more than show in action what was previously narrated by Solanio in the preceding one, for the Elizabethan dramatists, differing in their methods from the Greeks, rarely allowed narration to take the place of action on the stage. Perhaps this was on account of the mixed character of the audience, the "groundlings" being too busy cracking nuts to take in an important situation merely from its narration. To them Antonio's danger would not become a fact till they actually saw the man in irons and the jailor by his side. In the fourth scene we go back to Belmont to hear that Portia and Nerissa are to be present at the trial, though with what object we are not told. We hear, also, of Portia's admiration for Antonio, whose character she compares with that of her husband. Scene 5 being comic, well serves its purpose as a contrast to the tragic intensity displayed in the scene which follows.

Here, too, Portia and Ba.s.sanio win golden opinions from Jessica:

"It is very meet, The Lord Ba.s.sanio live an upright life; For having such a blessing in his lady, He finds the joys of heaven here on earth; ...

Why, if two G.o.ds should play some heavenly match, And on the wager lay two earthly women, And Portia one, there must be something else p.a.w.n'd with the other, for the poor rude world Hath not her fellow."

The trial scene is so well known that I shall not dwell upon it except to mention that I think the dramatist intended the scene to be acted with more vigour and earnestness on the part of all the characters than is represented on the modern stage, and with more vehemence on the part of Shylock. Conscious of his lawful right, he defies the duke and council in language not at all respectful,

"What if my house be troubled with a rat, And I be pleased to give _ten_ thousand ducats To have it baned?"

When Shylock is worsted the traditional business is for him to leave the stage with the air of a martyr going to his execution, and thus produce a tragic climax where none is wanted. We seem to get an indication of what should be Shylock's behaviour in his hour of adversity by reading the Italian version of the story, with which Shakespeare was familiar.

"Everyone present was greatly pleased and deriding the Jew said: 'He who laid traps for others, is caught himself.' The Jew seeing he could gain nothing, tore in pieces the bond _in a great rage_." Indeed, Shylock's words,

"Why, then the devil give him good of it!

I'll stay no longer question,"

are exactly suited to the action of tearing up the bond. Certain it is that only by Shylock being "in a great rage," as he rushes off the stage, can the audience be greatly pleased, and in a fit humour to be interested in the further doings of Portia. Scene 2 of this act is generally omitted on the stage, though it seems to me necessary in order to show how Nerissa gets possession of Gratiano's ring; it also affords an opportunity for some excellent business on the part of Nerissa, who walks off arm in arm with her husband, unknown to him.

The last act is the shortest fifth act in the Globe edition, and if deficient in action Shakespeare gives it another interest by the wealth and music of its poetry, a device more than once made use of by him to strengthen undramatic material. Shakespeare's knowledge of the value of sound, in dramatic effect, is shown by Launcelot interrupting the whispering of the lovers, and profaning the stillness of the night with his halloas, which have a similar effect to the nurse's calls in the balcony scene of Romeo and Juliet; it is also shown by the music, and in the tucket sound; while the picture brought to the imagination, by allusion to the light burning in Portia's hall, gives reality to the scene.

ROMEO AND JULIET.[11]

The argument that Arthur Brooke affixes to his poem, "Romeus and Iuliet,"

runs as follows:

"Loue hath inflamed twayne by sodayn sight, And both do graunt the thing that both desyre: They wed in shrift, by counsell of a frier.

Yong Romeus clymes fayre Iuliets bower by night, Three monthes he doth enjoy his cheefe delight.