{"id":26386,"date":"2023-02-22T05:03:35","date_gmt":"2023-02-21T23:33:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/icsesolutions.com\/?p=26386"},"modified":"2023-02-23T09:40:43","modified_gmt":"2023-02-23T04:10:43","slug":"merchant-of-venice-act-4-scene-1-short-summary","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/icsesolutions.com\/merchant-of-venice-act-4-scene-1-short-summary\/","title":{"rendered":"Merchant of Venice Act 4, Scene 1 Short Summary"},"content":{"rendered":"

Summary of Merchant of Venice Act 4, Scene 1 ICSE Class 10, 9 English<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n

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Summary Act 4 Scene 1<\/strong><\/p>\n

The trial of Antonio in a Venetian court of justice begins. The Duke of Venice warns Antonio, the defendant, that the plaintiff (Shylock) is \u201ca stony adversary . . . uncapable of pity … [and] void … of mercy.\u201d Antonio declares that he is ready to suffer quietly. He knows that \u201cno lawful means\u201d can save him now. Shylock is called then, and when he enters, the duke says that everyone \u2014 \u201cthe world thinks, and I think so too\u201d \u2014 thinks that he should relent at the last moment and spare Antonio, taking \u201cpity on his losses.\u201d But Shylock is adamant; he prefers the penalty of a pound of flesh to repayment of three thousand ducats. Why? \u201cSay,\u201d says Shylock, \u201cit is my humor.\u201d In other words, Shylock wants the pound of flesh for no rational reason. He wants it only because of \u201ca lodged hate and a certain loathing\u201d for Antonio.<\/p>\n

Bassanio then tries to reason with Shylock’\u2014 but without success. Antonio tells Bassanio that he is wasting his time. He himself asks for no further pleas; he begs that judgment be quickly given. Bassanio cannot believe that his friend is serious. He offers six thousand ducats, but Shylock refuses. The duke then asks Shylock a question: \u201cHow shalt thou hope for mercy, rendering none?\u201d In reply, Shylock cites the mistreatment of many Venetian slaves by the Venetians themselves, justified by the fact that they bought the slaves and can treat them as they please; likewise, the pound of flesh which he has “dearly bought\u201d belongs to him, and he can do with it as he pleases. He therefore demands an immediate judgment confirming this right.<\/p>\n

The duke declares that he is waiting for a certain \u201cBellario, a learned doctor,\u201d to arrive from Padua before he makes a final decision concerning this case. This matter is too weighty for one man to render a single opinion on; therefore, Shylock\u2019s demand for judgment will have to wait, and he will have to cease his demand \u2014 or else the duke \u201cmay dismiss this court.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bassanio meanwhile tries to cheer up Antonio, vowing that he himself shall give Shylock his own life in place of Antonio\u2019s \u201cere [Antonio] shalt loose for me one drop of blood.\u201d Antonio, however, is without hope. He tells Bassanio to \u201clive still, and write mine [Antonio\u2019s] epitaph.\u201d<\/p>\n

At that moment, Nerissa enters the courtroom, dressed like a lawyer\u2019s clerk, and delivers a letter from Bellario to the duke. While the duke reads the letter, Shylock whets his knife on the sole of his shoe to the horror of Antonio\u2019s friends. The clerk of the court then reads aloud the letter from Bellario. The doctor is ill, but he has sent in his place \u201ca young doctor of Rome,\u201d named Balthasar, whose wisdom in the law belies his youth. Bellario says that he never knew \u201cso young a body with so old a head,\u201d and he asks the duke for his \u201cgracious acceptance\u201d of Balthasar in Bellario\u2019s stead.<\/p>\n

The duke welcomes young Balthasar, who is, of course, Portia \u201cdressed like a Doctor of Laws.\u201d Portia acknowledges that she is familiar with this case and its \u201cstrange nature,\u201d and she is equally acquainted with the integrity of Venetian law. She asks Antonio if his bond is a valid one, and he admits that it is. She then tells him that Shylock must be merciful. At this, Shylock is shocked: Why should he be merciful? Because, Portia answers, \u201cmercy is . . . [like] the gentle rain from heaven\u201d; mercy is \u201ctwice blest; \/ It blesseth him that gives and him that takes.\u201d She continues and says that mercy is an attribute of God. It is freely bestowed to temper justice, and those who grant mercy ennoble themselves, especially those people who have the power to dispense punishment and yet award mercy instead. She points out to Shylock that all people \u201cpray for mercy\u201d and \u201cthat same prayer\u201d should teach us all to \u201crender the deeds of mercy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Her speech is lost on Shylock. He \u201ccrave[s] the law\u201d and \u201cthe penalty and forfeit of [his] bond.\u201d He does not care that Bassanio has offered him \u201cthrice the sum\u201d of the bond or even \u201cten times o\u2019er\u201d; Shylock demands the penalty. Portia pronounces that Venetian law is indeed binding, and whenever decrees are established, alterations set a precedent and \u201cmany an error\u201d has been the result. Thus, Antonio\u2019s bond is legal, and Shylock can collect the pound of flesh.<\/p>\n

Shylock hails the wisdom of this young judge, calling him \u201cnoble,\u201d \u201cexcellent,\u201d \u201cwise and upright.\u201d He then produces the scales on which he will weigh the flesh, but he balks at Portia\u2019s suggestion that he himself personally pay a physician to attend Antonio to see that he does not bleed to death. A judgment is a judgment, and nothing in Antonio\u2019s bond mentioned Shylock\u2019s hiring a physician. Antonio then turns to Bassanio, bids him farewell, and asks to be commended to Bassanio\u2019s \u201chonorable wife,\u201d for whose cause the loan was arranged in the first place. He tells Bassanio to tell Portia that he, Antonio, loves Bassanio; Bassanio loses only a friend who loves him dearly. This is all, and \u201cif the Jew do cut but deep enough,\u201d death will come quickly. Both Bassanio and Gratiano assure Antonio that they would sacrifice everything they have \u2014 even their wives \u2014 to save him. Both Portia and Nerissa \u2014 the Doctor of Law and her clerk of law \u2014 comment on this; they doubt that the wives of these loyal friends would “give little thanks\u201d for that offer.<\/p>\n

Impatient to proceed, Shylock makes ready to begin, but before he can carry out the sentence, Portia stops him. \u201cThere is something else,\u201d she says. Shylock is legally entitled to take a pound of Antonio\u2019s flesh \u2014 but no more. That is, Shylock may not take even a single \u201cjot of blood.\u201d She then gives Shylock leave to begin his surgery, warning him that if “one drop of Christian blood\u201d is shed, Shylock\u2019s \u201clands and goods\u201d will be confiscated by \u201cthe state of Venice.\u201d<\/p>\n

Shylock realizes that he has been foiled. Thus he says that he is now willing to take Bassanio\u2019s offer of three times the amount of the bond. Portia decides otherwise. Shylock shall have \u201cnothing but the penalty\u201d \u2014 \u201cjust a pound of flesh\u201d \u2014 no more, no less. And if he takes even \u201cin the estimation of a hair\u201d more than a pound of flesh, he will die and all his goods will be confiscated. Gratiano jeers at the moneylender; now the tables are turned. Realizing that he is beaten at his own game, Shylock asks for only the amount of the bond \u2014 and Bassanio offers it \u2014 but Portia points out that all the court was witness to Shylock\u2019s refusing the money. Therefore, he can have \u201cnothing but the forfeiture,\u201d which he can still take, but at his own peril. In addition, Portia reminds Shylock that one of the laws of Venice forbids an alien from directly or indirectly attempting \u201cto seek the life of any citizen\u201d of Venice. She tells Shylock that she has seen sufficient proof that Shylock seeks Antonio\u2019s life both directly and indirectly. Thus, she’commands him to \u201cbeg mercy of the Duke.\u201d At this point, the duke speaks and pardons Shylock, sparing his life and adding that the penalty of the state\u2019s taking half of Shylock\u2019s goods will be reduced if Shylock evidences some \u201chumbleness.\u201d Shylock is adamant at such a proposal: \u201cNay, take my life and all,\u201d he declares.<\/p>\n

Following the duke\u2019s merciful example, Antonio says that he will take only half of Shylock\u2019s goods which are due to him (Shylock can have the other half) in trust in order to give them to Lorenzo (Shylock\u2019s son-in-law) upon Shylock\u2019s death, on two conditions: first, Shylock must become a Christian, and second, he must deed everything to Jessica and Lorenzo. Quietly, Shylock agrees to the settlement: \u201cI am content,\u201d he says, and asks permission to leave the court.<\/p>\n

The duke invites Portia to dinner, but she declines; she also declines Bassanio\u2019s offer of three thousand ducats as her legal fee. Both Antonio and Bassanio press Portia to take something; they are both exceedingly grateful for all she has done, and Portia finally agrees to take two tokens as a \u201cremembrance.\u201d She asks for Bassanio\u2019s gloves, and she also asks for his ring. Bassanio pales; she can ask for anything, he says, but ask not for his ring. It was a present from his wife, who made him promise never to part with it. Portia pretends indignation: She wants \u201cnothing else\u201d but the ring; \u201cmethinks I have a mind to it.\u201d She tells Bassanio that he is only \u201cliberal in offers.\u201d He is, in effect, asking her to beg for the ring \u2014 an insult. Turning, she leaves. Antonio pleads with his friend; surely the lawyer deserves the ring. At last, Bassanio yields and sends Gratiano after the lawyer to give him the ring. He then turns to Antonio and tells him that early the next morning they will \u201cfly toward Belmont.\u201d<\/p>\n

Analysis Act 4 Scene 1<\/strong><\/p>\n

We now reach the dramatic high point of the play. In this scene, the matter of the \u201cbond\u201d reaches its crisis and its resolution: Shylock is defeated, Antonio is saved, and the lovers are free to return to Belmont; thus, Shakespeare gives us the happy ending which a romantic comedy requires.<\/p>\n

In the introductory speeches by the duke and Antonio, we are reminded of the antithetical positions of the two adversaries. The Duke of Venice himself calls Shylock \u201can inhuman wretch, \/ Uncapable of pity,\u201d and Antonio characterizes himself as lost \u2014 \u201cno lawful means\u201d can save him. Sympathy surrounds Antonio, but dramatic sympathy is also structured around the solitary figure of Shylock. He is an intensely sympathetic figure here, alone in his solitude, surrounded on all sides by his enemies. This’will be even more striking at the moment of his defeat.<\/p>\n

By asking Shylock to show mercy toward Antonio, the duke provides Shylock with a final opportunity to restate his position and, dramatically, Shakespeare prolongs the suspense of whether or not Shylock will actually demand Antonio\u2019s life. Throughout this scene, Shylock is asked, both by the court and by his opponents, why he refuses to relent toward Antonio. In each case, his answers are themselves unanswerable; he \u201cstands upon the law\u201d; the law is a creation of those who are now asking him to break it. Shylock\u2019s principles are as good, and better, than his inquisitors; it is under their law that he has \u201csworn \/ To have the due and forfeit of my bond.\u201d However, Shylock goes beyond this and, in effect, he admits that his desire for revenge lies in the \u201clodged hate\u201d that he bears toward Antonio. Although he professes to stand on the letter of the law, Shylock reveals quite clearly that his real motive has nothing to do with right or wrong, justice or injustice, but with his desire to destroy another human being \u2014 a Christian who has publicly scorned and spit upon him. This admission is important, since it figures later in Portia\u2019s plea, in her powerful \u201cquality of mercy\u201d speech.<\/p>\n

Antonio knows that mercy is unlikely from Shylock, and Shakespeare tightens the tension of this scene by having Antonio beseech Bassanio to stop trying to win any sympathy from Shylock. It is no use; Shylock insists upon having justice carried out according to the law. Yet, while Shylock is demanding \u201cjustice,\u201d Shakespeare makes absolutely clear to the audience that Shylock\u2019s inhumanity, his obsession with revenge, is what motivates his demands. When Shylock says, \u201cthe pound of flesh … is dearly: bought, is mine, and I will have it,\u201d he is not speaking of \u201crights\u201d anymore; he is demanding his enemy\u2019s blood.<\/p>\n

Tension increases further when Nerissa (as the law clerk) is announced, and she presents the letter from Bellario to the duke. Tension increases almost unbearably as the duke reads the letter and Shylock pulls out his knife and begins to sharpen it on the sole of his shoe. It is an almost melodramatic touch, giving Shylock\u2019s inhumanity powerful, visible form. Shylock now seems in complete command, secure in the knowledge that, legally, he has bested everyone in the courtroom. He, an alien Jew, in a Christian community that has spurned him, has triumphed over prejudice and has won in a Venetian court because of the binding integrity of Venetian law.<\/p>\n

When Portia is brought on in disguise, Shakespeare sustains the tension still longer by having her question the legality of the bond \u2014 Antonio may not have agreed formally or he may have agreed to another set of conditions. Her question \u201cDo you confess the bond?\u201d emphasizes once more that no avenue of escape is possible for Antonio. He answers that hp agreed to the bond. The \u201cquality of mercy\u201d speech that follows is a last plea; seemingly, Portia sees no other hope for Antonio. Thus, she confirms the \u201cdecree established,\u201d and this gives her yet one moment more to think of some new strategy. In a moment of inspiration, she asks to see the bond; she inspects it, and she discerns a flaw: Antonio\u2019s flesh may be forfeit, but nothing has been stipulated concerning the letting of blood. Thus she, like Shylock, decides to stand on the absolute letter of Venetian law: Shylock may indeed claim “a pound of flesh, to be by him cut off \/ Nearest the merchant\u2019s heart.\u201d She can declare this, knowing full well that Shylock\u2019s knife will never touch Antonio. This explains her surprisingly legal coldness; Portia knows exactly what she is doing. At this point, however, the audience doesn\u2019t, and this, of course, adds to the tension of the scene.<\/p>\n

Thus she proceeds with methodical legality \u2014 until the last moment, when she says, understatedly, \u201cTarry a little; there is something else,\u201d words which will reverse the whole situation. Now it can be demonstrated anew that Shylock remains merciless in order to justify the punishment which he finally receives. Portia\u2019s delay demonstrates this and shows us Shylock\u2019s insistence on the absolute letter of the law, for it will be in accordance with the law that Shylock will punish Antonio. When Portia orders Antonio to \u201clay bare your bosom,\u201d Shylock is able to quote from the bond; \u201cSo says the bond. . . . \u2018Nearest his heart\u2019; those are the very words.\u201d And when Portia humanely asks Shylock to \u201chave . . . some surgeon … to stop his wounds,\u201d Shylock is appalled at Portia\u2019s lack of legalese: \u201cIs it so nominated in the bond? … I cannot find it; \u2019tis not in the bond.\u201d Clearly, Portia is leading Shylock slowly into a trap which he has prepared for himself with his reply to her plea for mercy, \u201cMy deeds upon my head! I crave the law.\u201d<\/p>\n

At this point, the dignity which Shylock possessed at the scene\u2019s beginning and the sympathy which Shakespeare evoked for him has now gone, as he exults over Antonio\u2019s approaching death. As an avenger of past wrongs by Antonio, Shylock gained some sympathy from the audience; now, whetting his knife and anticipating with relish the moment when he will be able to use it, he becomes a butcher and loses that sympathy. All of this is necessary for the total effect of the play; this is why Shakespeare wisely makes Portia delay final pronouncements and then ingeniously begin to reveal new interpretations of absolute justice. Shakespeare is manipulating, with genius, the sympathy of the audience.<\/p>\n

Antonio\u2019s seemingly last speech at line 263 has a dignified nobility; he declares once more his love for Bassanio; he asks him neither to grieve nor repent. At this point, the situation is a potentially tragic one, and once more Shakespeare needs to remind his audience that this play is not, finally, tragic. He achieves this at the moment of greatest tension when he allows the drama to slacken for a moment, and we listen in on the little exchange between the disguised wives (Portia and Nerissa) as their husbands declare their love and loyalty for one another; we chuckle when we hear Portia and Nerissa comment on these \u201clast\u201d words between Antonio and Bassanio. The \u201cjudge\u201d and the \u201cclerk\u201d agree that the wives of these two gentlemen would not be happy to hear their husbands exchange such avowals of ready sacrifice of lives for one another.<\/p>\n

The turning point of this act and of the play occurs at line 304: \u201cTarry a little; there is something else.\u201d Obviously, Shylock has come toward Antonio and now stands with his knife raised to strike, while the group on stage stands transfixed. Portia\u2019s voice, still calm, cuts through the silence. With Portia\u2019s pronouncement that the law allows \u201cno jot of blood,\u201d Shylock\u2019s case is lost. He is almost struck dumb; \u201cIs that the law?\u201d is all he can ask. He was absolutely certain that his trust in the law was inviolate. The law that he believed to be so solid crumbles before him, and he realizes that his case is now absolutely, irrevocably reversed.<\/p>\n

The law goes on to condemn him, reversing his position so completely that he himself is threatened with death. Shylock\u2019s last appearance before us, in total defeat, can, in some cases, depending on the actor, win back some of the sympathy lost earlier in this scene. But he is given little to say in comment upon the judgment passed upon him. Here, silence is the most powerful kind of eloquence, One can hardly imagine his next-to-the-last line, \u201cI am content,\u201d uttered in any other way than in almost a’ whisper. He has been defeated \u2014 he, a Jew \u2014 in a Venetian, Christian court of law, and as part of his punishment, he has had to agree to become a Christian. This is an ultimate punishment for so orthodox a Jew; he is so stunned that he begs his judges: \u201cI pray you give me leave to go from hence: \/1 am not well. Send the deed after me, \/ And I will sign it.\u201d This is a masterstroke of simple, understated pathos. Now, Shylock has lost everything. He has shown us, however, how hate breeds hate, and Shakespeare has demonstrated how hate is finally, ultimately, defeated. Through Shylock\u2019s extreme behavior, Shakespeare dramatizes the way in which the laws of justice and property on which society is based can be, without charity and mercy and humanity, as ferocious as the law of any jungle. This, then, rather than the legal quibbles, is what is important in this scene. There is no denying that the rule of law is necessary. But law, when it is not tempered with mercy, is, as Shakespeare vividly s’nov\/s us, both inhuman and destructive.<\/p>\n

Since this is the central scene of the play and since it turns on our interpretation of Shylock, it follows that the way we see Shylock here determines the way we see the whole play. If he is played as a near- tragic figure, the conflict between mercy and justice is to some extent obscured. Shylock is left stripped of his daughter, his property, and his religion. That seems a harsh judgment; at times, it is difficult to see Shylock as anything but a figure of pathos. We tend to agree with the nineteenth-century writer Hazlitt, who wrote that \u201ccertainly our sympathies are oftener with him than with his enemies. He is honest in his vices; they are hypocrites in their virtues.\u201d On this point, we ought to recall three things.^ First, for the Elizabethan audience, Shylock was not just a \u201ccharacterization\u201d; he was the \u201cvillain\u201d of a romantic comedy, and as such, he has to be punished. Second, Shylock\u2019s money, which he had hoarded for himself, is to go to Lorenzo and Jessica, two of the play\u2019s lovers. Love and hate are thematically opposed in this play, and since Shylock is slowly revealed to be the embodiment of hate, there is a satisfying kind of justice in his riches going to a pair of lovers. And third, the court\u2019s judgment that Shylock become a Christian would have pleased the Elizabethan audience immensely. They all genuinely believed that only a Christian could achieve salvation; they would see the court\u2019s decision as a chance for Shylock to achieve salvation. Thus the judgment was imposed, quite literally, for the good of Shylock\u2019s soul.<\/p>\n

After Shylock\u2019s exit, the play, which has, at times, come near to tragedy, and which has had, because of Shylock, an element of pathos, reverts completely to the tone of a romantic comedy. The barrier to the true fulfillment of love has been removed. It remains only for us to return to Belmont for the closing actof the play; the threats and conflicts of this act are removed and are replaced by an atmosphere of love and concord.<\/p>\n

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