The Merchant Of Venice - Frank Burbeck (1912)

Shylock's rebuke from The Merchant Of Venice by Shakespeare

Recited by Frank Burbeck

Victor 17163

1912

Spoken by Shylock

Act 1, Scene 3

Signior Antonio, many a time and oft
In the Rialto you have rated me
About my moneys and my usances:
Still have I borne it with a patient shrug,
For sufferance is the badge of all our tribe.
You call me misbeliever, cut-throat dog,
And spit upon my Jewish gaberdine,
And all for use of that which is mine own.
Well then, it now appears you need my help:
Go to, then; you come to me, and you say
‘Shylock, we would have moneys:’ you say so;
You, that did void your rheum upon my beard
And foot me as you spurn a stranger cur
Over your threshold: moneys is your suit
What should I say to you? Should I not say
‘Hath a dog money? is it possible
A cur can lend three thousand ducats?’ Or
Shall I bend low and in a bondman’s key,
With bated breath and whispering humbleness, Say this;
‘Fair sir, you spit on me on Wednesday last;
You spurn’d me such a day; another time
You call’d me dog; and for these courtesies
I’ll lend you thus much moneys’?

Bassanio has no money but he needs money so he can woo Portia, so Bassanio turns to his friend Antonio for a loan.

Antonio has invested his own money in ships and cannot furnish his friend with money, so he hopes to help Bassanio by going to Shylock for a loan.

Shylock is Jewish. The others are Christian.

Shylock is bitter that he is asked for money after being badly treated by Antonio in the past.

That bitter feeling is the basis for this famous monologue.