Merchant of Venice Workbook Answers Act 3, Scene 3 – ICSE Class 10 & 9 English
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Passage – 1 (Act III, Sc.Ill, Lines 19-36)
Paraphrase :
ANTONIO : Let him alone;I won’t follow him any more with useless prayers. He wants my life; I know his reasons well: Often I saved many who have, at times, complained to me, From defaulting on his loans. So he hates me.
SALANIO : I am sure the Duke Will never enforce this default.
ANTONIO : The Duke cannot deny the course of law, Because of the benefits that strangers have With us in Venice, if it is denied, it will reflect very badly on the justice of the state, Because the trade and profit of the city Is from all nations. So, go; These griefs and losses have so upset me That I shall hardly have a pound of flesh Tomorrow give to my bloody creditor. Well, jailer, let’s go on; I pray good Bassanio comes To see me pay his debt, and then I won’t care.
Word Meaning With Annotation
Bootless : fruitless; vain, from his forfeitures : out of his clutches, into which they had fallen by borrowing money, made moan : told their sad story, will never grant this forfeiture to hold : will never allow this penalty to be exacted, for the commodity that strangers have, With us in Venice, if it be denied, Will much impeach the justice of the state, Since that the trade and profit of the city, Consisteth of all nations : because to refuse Shylock the privilege, at present enjoyed by all aliens, of having the same rights in law as the citizens of Venice, would injure the reputation of the state for impartial justice, bated : abated red: lessened in bodily weight.
Read the above passage and answer the following questions
Question 1.
About whom is Antonio talking to SALANIO?
Answer:
Antonio is talking to SALANIO about Shylock.
Question 2.
Where is this conversation taking place?
Answer:
This conversation takes place outside the jail to which Antonio had been sent as a consequence of Shylock’s filing a suit against Antonio over his failure failure to repay Shylock the loan which he had taken from Shylock. The jailer has brought Antonio outside the jail at Antonio’s request because Antonio wanted to speak to Shylock in an effort to appease him and to request him to withdraw his case.
Question 3.
What reason does Antonio give for his hatred of the person who seeks his life? Is this the only reason?
Answer:
Antonio says that Shylock hates him because he had rescued many debtors from Shylock’s clutches. Many debtors, who had forfeited the bonds signed by them to repay their debts to Shylock, had approached Antonio with their complaints against Shylock’s cruelty; and Antonio had helped those debtors with money.
Question 4.
Why does Antonio want Bassanio to come, and from where?
Answer:
Antonio wants Bassanio to come back from Belmont in order to see him paying his debt to Shylock in the form of a pound of his flesh. Having failed to repay to loan in terms of money to Shylock, Antonio has now to let Shylock cut off a pound of his flesh; and he would like Bassanio to be present to witness the Jew’s exaction of the penalty.
Question 5.
Explain the following lines:
These griefs and losses have so bated me
That I shall hardly spare a pound of flesh
Tomorrow, to my bloody creditor.
Answer:
Antonio says that his losses, and the grief which those losses have caused him, have greatly been weighing upon his mind. He has been feeling so worried and distressed that he has been losing his bodily weight. He says that he has been reduced almost to a skeleton, and that he does not have enough flesh on his body to make it possible for the Jew to obtain a full pound of flesh from his body. He describes Shylock as a bloody creditor because Shylock is a blood-thirsty man who, having failed to receive the repayment of the loan which he had given to Antonio, now wants to kill him by cutting off a pound of his flesh from nearest his heart.
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