• Home
  • Emended Opening
  • The Lottery
  • The Three Sals
  • Bassanio's Soliloquy
  • Contact
The Merchant of Venice
The Merchant of Venice:
A Contemporary English Version, by Jonathan Star



ACT ONE - Scene One

    Venice.  Enter Antonio, Salarino, and Salanio.

    ______________________________________________________
                                                                                  EMENDED OPENING

{{—Antonio
I know this hatred mocks° all Christian virtue                          / hate befouls / hatred fouls
But they I loathe: their very sight abhors me.
They are° but vile infractions of nature,                                   / They’re none   
A plague on all that is righteous and good.  
And the contracts they use to loan out money,
Made ‘neath the guile of friendship and trust
Are none but instruments of fell deceit.
They would have men sign bonds to borrow money,                         
And if the sums are° not repaid on time                                    / loan is       
Then, as forfeit, they would take everything;
All that a man has earned in his lifetime   
Would come to naught and end in tearful ruin.               
‘Tis an obscene,° despisèd greed they show—                           / It is a foul
These heartless usurers.  There's a special place°                     / There is a place
In hell made just° for them.                                                        / reserved
                                          
— Salanio                           Those damnèd° Jews.                      / cursèd

—Antonio 
No, ‘tis no Jewish thing this usury—           
‘Tis but a godless thing; a cursèd° thing,                                    / godless / damnèd
An aberration felling Jew and gentile—°                                      / A thing bereft of all humanity
A wretched thing. Enough of my complaints       
You know them well.                                                                  
                                   
—Salarino                     And so we do, Antonio,
But here this face so sad, ‘tis not a sight°                                   / thing / face 
We know so well. Why look ye so, my friend? }}   
______________________________________________________ 
               
—Antonio
In sooth I know not why I am so sad.  ...