Shylock's "Do we not bleed?" monologue, from Shakespeare's Merchant of Venice (Act III, Scene I):
He hath disgraced me, and hindered me half a million; laughed at my losses,
mocked at my gains, scorned my nation, thwarted my
bargains, cooled my friends, heated mine
enemies; and what's his reason? I am a Jew.
Hath not a Jew eyes? hath not a Jew hands, organs,
dimensions, senses, affections, passions?
Fed with the same food, hurt with the same weapons, subject
to the same diseases, healed by the same means,
warmed and cooled by the same winter and summer, as a Christian is?
If you prick us, do we not bleed?
if you tickle us, do we not laugh?
If you poison us, do we not die?
And if you wrong us, shall we not revenge?
If we are like you in the rest, we will resemble you in that.
If a Jew wrong a Christian, what is his humility?
Revenge. If a Christian wrong a Jew, what should his sufferance be by
Christian example? Why, revenge. The villany you
teach me, I will execute, and it shall go hard but I
will better the instruction.
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4 comments:
Just watched the Merchant at the weekend - the movie with Al Pacino as Shylock. I read the play in high school, but not since.
That guy Shakespeare sure had a way with words.
I also loved the monologue by the 'young doctor' - "The quality of mercy is not strained, ..."
In my city, the local Shakespeare group is putting on Shakespeare in the park - "A Midsummer Night's Dream" - this year.
I really liked the film. I never read the play, but I thought the film was well done. It's one of those beautiful films I should purchase on DVD so that I can say I have a copy of some great cinema. Granted, what I think is great cinema and what the rest of the world thinks is great cinema are two different things!
Frank McCourt wrote in "Angela's Ashes" that Shakespeare's words were like "jewels in the mouth". I think it's an apt description.
Shakespeare in the Park is a lot of fun; unfortunately, I don't think the experience is quite the same as going to a full production, even though Shakespeare in the Park is probably closer to how the play would have been produced back-in-the-day.
I'm planning to take my 3 nieces (22, 16, 13) and my nephew (11) to see AMND in a couple of weeks - I hope they enjoy it, and that it lives up to their expectations, because they are all excited about going.
Although I'm not a christian, I get the same kind of feeling of awe from the language of both Shakespeare and the KJV bible - I can't help but wonder if the people of the 17thC found it 'ordinary', and the language seems majestic just because we are 400 years removed from it as common usage.
A Midsummer Night's Dream should be a lot of fun! I haven't read it or seen a production but it's supposed to be one of the great comedies.
Have you read Beowulf? Even a modern translation (like Seamus Heaney's) sounds majestic to read aloud.
It's been a long time since I've read anything in the KJV Bible, but I can guess that there are probably some great passages.
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