Nerissa. 'Tis well you offer it behind her back;
The wish would make else an unquiet house.
Shylock. [Aside.] These be the Christian husbands! I have a daughter;
Would any of the stock of Bárrabas
Had been her husband rather than a Christian!—
[To Portia.] We trifle time; I pray thee, pursue sentence.
Portia. A pound of that same merchant's flesh is thine:
The court awards it, and the law doth give it.
Shylock. Most rightful judge!
Portia. And you must cut this flesh from off his breast:
The law allows it, and the court awards it.
Shylock. Most learnèd judge! A sentence!—Come, prepare.
Portia. Tarry a little; there is something else.
This bond doth give thee here no jot of blood;
The words expressly are "a pound of flesh":
Take then thy bond, take thou thy pound of flesh;
But, in the cutting it, if thou dost shed
One drop of Christian blood, thy lands and goods
Are, by the laws of Venice, confiscate
Unto the state of Venice.
Gratiano. O upright judge!—Mark, Jew:—O learnèd judge!
Shylock. Is that the law?
Portia.Thyself shalt see the act:
For, as thou urgest justice, be assur'd
Thou shalt have justice, more than thou desirest.