ACT 5, SCENE 1 l


Next, Bassanio returns to Belmont, accompanied by Gratiano and Antonio. Bassanio is quick to flatter Portia, claiming that she is so radiant that it would appear like the daytime if Portia ‘would walk in absence of the sun’ (line 128). Portia quips (jokes):


Let me give light, but let me not be light; For a light wife doth make a heavy husband (lines 129–130)


Portia is suggesting that a ‘light’ or unfaithful wife causes a ‘heavy’ or sad husband. l


Bassanio introduces Antonio to Portia, while Nerissa and Gratiano argue about Nerissa’s missing ring. Gratiano considers the ring nothing more than ‘a hoop of gold, a paltry ring’ (line 147), but Nerissa argues that he had sworn that he would keep it until he died. Portia agrees that it was very remiss (careless/negligent) of him to give the ring away:


You were to blame, I must be plain with you, To part so slightly with your wife’s first gift (lines 166–167)


l


Unsurprisingly, Portia now brings up the topic of her own ring that she gave to Bassanio. A shamefaced Bassanio is forced to reveal the truth: that he gave the ring away as payment to a civil doctor (lawyer). When Portia accuses him of giving the ring to another woman, he pleads with her to believe him. Bassanio says Portia would have begged him to give the ring away if she had been there: Pardon me, good lady,


For by these blessèd candles of the night, Had you been there, I think you would have begged The ring of me to give the worthy doctor. (lines 219–222)


l


Bassanio asks Portia to forgive him this one ‘fault’ and he will never again break a promise to her. Antonio is quick to vouch for his friend Bassanio once more, saying that he will bet his soul that Bassanio will never deliberately break his word to Portia:


I dare be bound again,


My soul upon the forfeit, that your lord Will never more break faith advisedly. (lines 251–253)


l


Portia then gives Antonio a ring to give Bassanio – the same ring that he gave to the doctor. Portia and Nerissa now engage in teasing their husbands, claiming that they slept with the doctor and his clerk in exchange for the rings. This absurd, outrageous claim shocks their husbands. Gratiano wonders:


What, are we cuckolds ere we have deserved it? (line 265) l


Portia doesn’t keep up the charade (pretence) long, however, and soon reveals her part in the court case. She produces a letter from her cousin, the lawyer Bellario, which corroborates (supports/backs up) both her own and Nerissa’s involvement in the trial. This unravelling of the plot is known as the denouement.


l


However, the surprises don’t stop there. Portia produces yet another letter, this one for Antonio, which reveals that three of his merchant ships (argosies) have safely landed in the harbour. Antonio is overjoyed, thanking Portia for her assistance:


Sweet lady, you have given me life and living (line 286) l


Portia’s generosity continues when Nerissa announces that she has a ‘special deed of gift’ (line 292) from Shylock for Lorenzo and Jessica, which entitles them to all his possessions after his death. Considering Portia’s benevolence (goodness/generosity) in this scene in bringing news of good fortune to all, it is fitting when Lorenzo remarks:


Fair ladies, you drop manna in the way Of starvèd people. (lines 294–295)


This conveys the amount of good deeds Portia has done for all, especially Lorenzo, Jessica and Antonio.


214


The Merchant of Venice


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