Enter Portia, Nerissa, Lorenzo, Jessica, and Balthazar,
a man of Portia’s. LORENZO
Madam, although I speak it in your presence,
You have a noble and a true conceit
Of godlike amity, which appears most strongly
In bearing thus the absence of your lord.
But if you knew to whom you show this honor, 5
How true a gentleman you send relief,
How dear a lover of my lord your husband,
I know you would be prouder of the work
Than customary bounty can enforce you. PORTIA
I never did repent for doing good, 10
Nor shall not now; for in companions
That do converse and waste the time together,
Whose souls do bear an equal yoke of love,
There must be needs a like proportion
Of lineaments, of manners, and of spirit; 15
Which makes me think that this Antonio,
Being the bosom lover of my lord,
Must needs be like my lord. If it be so,
How little is the cost I have bestowed
In purchasing the semblance of my soul 20
From out the state of hellish cruelty!
This comes too near the praising of myself;
Therefore no more of it. Hear other things:
Lorenzo, I commit into your hands
The husbandry and manage of my house 25
Until my lord’s return. For mine own part,
I have toward heaven breathed a secret vow
To live in prayer and contemplation,
Only attended by Nerissa here,
Until her husband and my lord’s return. 30
There is a monastery two miles off,
And there we will abide. I do desire you
Not to deny this imposition,
The which my love and some necessity
Now lays upon you. 35 LORENZO Madam, with all my heart.
I shall obey you in all fair commands. PORTIA
My people do already know my mind
And will acknowledge you and Jessica
In place of Lord Bassanio and myself. 40
So fare you well till we shall meet again. LORENZO
Fair thoughts and happy hours attend on you! JESSICA
I wish your Ladyship all heart’s content. PORTIA
I thank you for your wish, and am well pleased
To wish it back on you. Fare you well, Jessica. 45 Lorenzo and Jessica exit. Now, Balthazar,
As I have ever found thee honest true,
So let me find thee still: take this same letter,
And use thou all th’ endeavor of a man
In speed to Padua. See thou render this 50
Into my cousin’s hands, Doctor Bellario. She gives him a paper. And look what notes and garments he doth give
thee,
Bring them, I pray thee, with imagined speed
Unto the traject, to the common ferry 55
Which trades to Venice. Waste no time in words,
But get thee gone. I shall be there before thee. BALTHAZAR
Madam, I go with all convenient speed. He exits. | At Belmont, Lorenzo compliments Portia for bearing the absence of her new husband so graciously and nobly. If Portia knew what a great guy Antonio is, and how good he's been to Bassanio, she'd be even happier to do her wifely duty. Portia says, "No worries." Bassanio's BFF is her BFF. Besides, Bassanio's brief absence is a small price to pay to get Antonio (and by proxy, herself) out of hellish cruelty. Portia tells Lorenzo that she and Nerissa are going to a nearby monastery to pray and contemplate for two days while the men are gone. In the meantime, will he housesit? Keep in mind, Portia has a mansion, tons of money, and a boatload of servants. We bet her flatscreen TV goes wall to wall. Lorenzo generously says yes, and well wishes are made to Nerissa and Portia all-around from Jessica and Lorenzo. When Jessica and Lorenzo exit, Portia sends Balthazar off with some instructions: he's to take some letters to Padua and deliver them to Portia's cousin, a Doctor Bellario. The Doctor will likely give Balthazar some letters and clothes in return, and he is to take them and rush over to the ferry that goes to trade with Venice. Portia will be there waiting to meet him. |
PORTIA
Come on, Nerissa, I have work in hand
That you yet know not of. We’ll see our husbands 60
Before they think of us. NERISSA Shall they see us? PORTIA
They shall, Nerissa, but in such a habit
That they shall think we are accomplishèd
With that we lack. I’ll hold thee any wager, 65
When we are both accoutered like young men,
I’ll prove the prettier fellow of the two,
And wear my dagger with the braver grace,
And speak between the change of man and boy
With a reed voice, and turn two mincing steps 70
Into a manly stride, and speak of frays
Like a fine bragging youth, and tell quaint lies
How honorable ladies sought my love,
Which I denying, they fell sick and died—
I could not do withal!—then I’ll repent, 75
And wish, for all that, that I had not killed them.
And twenty of these puny lies I’ll tell,
That men shall swear I have discontinued school
Above a twelvemonth. I have within my mind
A thousand raw tricks of these bragging jacks 80
Which I will practice. NERISSA Why, shall we turn to men? PORTIA Fie, what a question’s that,
If thou wert near a lewd interpreter!
But come, I’ll tell thee all my whole device 85
When I am in my coach, which stays for us
At the park gate; and therefore haste away,
For we must measure twenty miles today. They exit. | Alone with Nerissa, Portia announces that the two women will see their husbands sooner than they think. And their husbands will indeed see them, but they won't recognize them. That's because the women will be dressed convincingly as men. The other men (including their husbands) will think the disguised girls are accomplished men. Portia is clearly going to have some fun with this one—she promises to be a prettier, daintier-looking boy than Nerissa. She says she's studied many young fools and can mimic their foolish mannerisms quite convincingly: boasting of the fights they've been in, bragging of the women they've spurned—she's got them down. She'll work convincingly to portray a recently graduated man who's a pompous idiot—as all young men tend to be. Nerissa asks why. (Good question.) Portia says they have twenty miles to cover. She'll explain on the way. |