TN6

Source
Oxford | Roma Gill. London: Oxford University Press, 1979

PORTIA
Away, then! I am lock’d in one of them:
If you do love me, you will find me out.
Nerissa and the rest, stand all aloof.
Let music sound while he doth make his choice;
Then, if he lose, he makes a swan-like end,
Fading in music: that the comparison
May stand more proper, my eye shall be the stream
And watery death-bed for him. He may win;
And what is music then? Then music is
Even as the flourish when true subjects bow
To a new-crowned monarch: such it is
As are those dulcet sounds in break of day
That creep into the dreaming bridegroom’s ear,
And summon him to marriage. Now he goes,
With no less presence, but with much more love,
Than young Alcides, when he did redeem
The virgin tribute paid by howling Troy
To the sea-monster: I stand for sacrifice
The rest aloof are the Dardanian wives,
With bleared visages, come forth to view
The issue of the exploit. Go, Hercules!
Live thou, I live: with much, much more dismay
I view the fight than thou that mak’st the fray.

Thought Counts
Oxford | 1979

Short: 5
Medium: 1
Long: 3
Total: 9

End-stopped: 4
Mid-line: 5

Periods: 6
Exclamations: 2
Questions: 1
Unfinished: 0

Thoughts
Oxford |1979

PORTIA
1. Away, then! 2. I am lock’d in one of them:
If you do love me, you will find me out.
3. Nerissa and the rest, stand all aloof.
4. Let music sound while he doth make his choice;
Then, if he lose, he makes a swan-like end,
Fading in music: that the comparison
May stand more proper, my eye shall be the stream
And watery death-bed for him. 5. He may win;
And what is music then? 6. Then music is
Even as the flourish when true subjects bow
To a new-crowned monarch: such it is
As are those dulcet sounds in break of day
That creep into the dreaming bridegroom’s ear,
And summon him to marriage. 7. Now he goes,
With no less presence, but with much more love,
Than young Alcides, when he did redeem
The virgin tribute paid by howling Troy
To the sea-monster: I stand for sacrifice
The rest aloof are the Dardanian wives,
With bleared visages, come forth to view
The issue of the exploit. 8. Go, Hercules!
9. Live thou, I live: with much, much more dismay
I view the fight than thou that mak’st the fray.

Line Analysis
Oxford | 1979

PORTIA
Away, then! I am lock’d in one of them:                10R
If you do love me, you will find me out.                10R
Nerissa and the rest, stand all aloof.                     10R
Let music sound while he doth make his choice;    10R
Then, if he lose, he makes a swan-like end,             10R | 10
Fading in music: that the comparison                          11
May stand more proper, my eye shall be the stream      11
And watery death-bed for him. He may win;             11
And what is music then? Then music is                   10R
Even as the flourish when true subjects bow           11
To a new-crownèd monarch: such it is                   10
As are those dulcet sounds in break of day                10R |
That creep into the dreaming bridegroom’s ear,         10R
And summon him to marriage. Now he goes,          10R
With no less presence, but with much more love,    10R
Than young Alcides, when he did redeem                 10R
The virgin tribute paid by howling Troy                  10R
To the sea-monster: I stand for sacrifice             11
The rest aloof are the Dardanian wives,               10R | 11
With blearèd visages, come forth to view             10R
The issue of the exploit. Go, Hercules!                 11
Live thou, I live: with much, much more dismay     10R
I view the fight than thou that mak’st the fray.       10R

Phrasing and Tempo
Oxford |1979

PORTIA
Away, then! I am lock’d in one of them:
If you do love me, you will find me out.    pause
Nerissa and the rest, stand all aloof.  pause
Let music sound while he doth make his choice;
Then, if he lose, he makes a swan-like end,
Fading in music: that the comparison
May stand more proper, my eye shall be the stream
And watery death-bed for him. He may win;
And what is music then? Then music is
Even as the flourish when true subjects bow
To a new-crowned monarch: such it is
As are those dulcet sounds in break of day
That creep into the dreaming bridegroom’s ear,
And summon him to marriage. Now he goes,
With no less presence, but with much more love,
Than young Alcides, when he did redeem
The virgin tribute paid by howling Troy
To the sea-monster: I stand for sacrifice
The rest aloof are the Dardanian wives,
With bleared visages, come forth to view
The issue of the exploit. Go, Hercules!  pause
Live thou, I live: with much, much more dismay
I view the fight than thou that mak’st the fray.

Sounds
Oxford | 1979

PORTIA
Away, then! I am lock’d in one of them:
If you do love me, you will find me out.
Nerissa and the rest, stand all aloof.
Let music sound while he doth make his choice;
Then, if he lose, he makes a swan-like end,
Fading in music: that the comparison
May stand more proper, my eye shall be the stream
And watery death-bed for him. He may win;
And what is music then? Then music is
Even as the flourish when true subjects bow
To a new-crowned monarch: such it is
As are those dulcet sounds in break of day
That creep into the dreaming bridegroom’s ear,
And summon him to marriage. Now he goes,
With no less presence, but with much more love,
Than young Alcides, when he did redeem
The virgin tribute paid by howling Troy
To the sea-monster: I stand for sacrifice
The rest aloof are the Dardanian wives,
With bleared visages, come forth to view
The issue of the exploit. Go, Hercules!
Live thou, I live: with much, much more dismay
I view the fight than thou that mak’st the fray.

Rhetoric
Oxford |1979

PORTIA
Away, then! I am lock’d in one of them:           (metaphor?)
If you do love me, you will find me out.
Nerissa and the rest, stand all aloof.
Let music sound while he doth make his choice;
Then, if he lose, he makes a swan-like end,          (simile)
Fading in music: that the comparison                   (comparison)
May stand more proper, my eye shall be the stream    (metaphor, imagery)
And watery death-bed for him. He may win;
And what is music then? Then music is                    (simile, comparison)
Even as the flourish when true subjects bow    (imagery)
To a new-crowned monarch: such it is               (simile, comparison)
As are those dulcet sounds in break of day      (imagery)
That creep into the dreaming bridegroom’s ear,  (personification)
And summon him to marriage. Now he goes,
With no less presence, but with much more love,     (comparison, antithesis)
Than young Alcides, when he did redeem      (imagery)
The virgin tribute paid by howling Troy
To the sea-monster: I stand for sacrifice       (comparison)
The rest aloof are the Dardanian wives,
With bleared visages, come forth to view      (imagery)
The issue of the exploit. Go, Hercules!  (comparison)
Live thou, I live: with much, much more dismay   (antithesis, comparison)
I view the fight than thou that mak’st the fray.

Before and After
Oxford | 1979

SCENE II. Belmont. A room in PORTIA’S house.

Enter BASSANIO, PORTIA, GRATIANO, NERISSA, and Attendants

PORTIA
I pray you, tarry: pause a day or two
Before you hazard; for, in choosing wrong,
I lose your company: therefore forbear awhile.
There’s something tells me, but it is not love,
I would not lose you; and you know yourself,
Hate counsels not in such a quality.
But lest you should not understand me well,–
And yet a maiden hath no tongue but thought,–
I would detain you here some month or two
Before you venture for me. I could teach you
How to choose right, but I am then forsworn;
So will I never be: so may you miss me;
But if you do, you’ll make me wish a sin,
That I had been forsworn. Beshrew your eyes,
They have o’erlook’d me and divided me;
One half of me is yours, the other half yours,
Mine own, I would say; but if mine, then yours,
And so all yours. O, these naughty times
Put bars between the owners and their rights!
And so, though yours, not yours. Prove it so,
Let fortune go to hell for it, not I.
I speak too long; but ’tis to peize the time,
To eke it and to draw it out in length,
To stay you from election.

BASSANIO
Let me choose
For as I am, I live upon the rack.

PORTIA
Upon the rack, Bassanio! then confess
What treason there is mingled with your love.

BASSANIO
None but that ugly treason of mistrust,
Which makes me fear the enjoying of my love:
There may as well be amity and life
‘Tween snow and fire, as treason and my love.

PORTIA
Ay, but I fear you speak upon the rack,
Where men enforced do speak anything.

BASSANIO
Promise me life, and I’ll confess the truth.

PORTIA
Well then, confess and live.

BASSANIO
‘Confess’ and ‘love’
Had been the very sum of my confession:
O happy torment, when my torturer
Doth teach me answers for deliverance!
But let me to my fortune and the caskets.

PORTIA
Away, then! I am lock’d in one of them:
If you do love me, you will find me out.
Nerissa and the rest, stand all aloof.
Let music sound while he doth make his choice;
Then, if he lose, he makes a swan-like end,
Fading in music: that the comparison
May stand more proper, my eye shall be the stream
And watery death-bed for him. He may win;
And what is music then? Then music is
Even as the flourish when true subjects bow
To a new-crowned monarch: such it is
As are those dulcet sounds in break of day
That creep into the dreaming bridegroom’s ear,
And summon him to marriage. Now he goes,
With no less presence, but with much more love,
Than young Alcides, when he did redeem
The virgin tribute paid by howling Troy
To the sea-monster: I stand for sacrifice
The rest aloof are the Dardanian wives,
With bleared visages, come forth to view
The issue of the exploit. Go, Hercules!
Live thou, I live: with much, much more dismay
I view the fight than thou that mak’st the fray.

Music, whilst BASSANIO comments on the caskets to himself

SONG.
Tell me where is fancy bred,
Or in the heart, or in the head?
How begot, how nourished?
Reply, reply.
It is engender’d in the eyes,
With gazing fed; and fancy dies
In the cradle where it lies.
Let us all ring fancy’s knell
I’ll begin it,–Ding, dong, bell.

ALL
Ding, dong, bell.

Definitions
Oxford |1979

PORTIA
Away, then! I am lock’d in one of them:
If you do love me, you will find me out.
Nerissa and the rest, stand all aloof.
Let music sound while he doth make his choice;
Then, if he lose, he makes a swan-like end,
Fading in music: that the comparison
May stand more proper, my eye shall be the stream
And watery death-bed for him. He may win;
And what is music then? Then music is
Even as the flourish when true subjects bow
To a new-crowned monarch: such it is
As are those dulcet sounds in break of day
That creep into the dreaming bridegroom’s ear,
And summon him to marriage. Now he goes,
With no less presence, but with much more love,
Than young Alcides, when he did redeem
The virgin tribute paid by howling Troy
To the sea-monster: I stand for sacrifice
The rest aloof are the Dardanian wives,
With bleared visages, come forth to view
The issue of the exploit. Go, Hercules!
Live thou, I live: with much, much more dismay
I view the fight than thou that mak’st the fray.

Translation
Oxford | 1979

PORTIA
Away, then! I am lock’d in one of them:
If you do love me, you will find me out.
Nerissa and the rest, stand all aloof.
Let music sound while he doth make his choice;
Then, if he lose, he makes a swan-like end,
Fading in music: that the comparison
May stand more proper, my eye shall be the stream
And watery death-bed for him. He may win;
And what is music then? Then music is
Even as the flourish when true subjects bow
To a new-crowned monarch: such it is
As are those dulcet sounds in break of day
That creep into the dreaming bridegroom’s ear,
And summon him to marriage. Now he goes,
With no less presence, but with much more love,
Than young Alcides, when he did redeem
The virgin tribute paid by howling Troy
To the sea-monster: I stand for sacrifice
The rest aloof are the Dardanian wives,
With bleared visages, come forth to view
The issue of the exploit. Go, Hercules!
Live thou, I live: with much, much more dismay
I view the fight than thou that mak’st the fray.