Quotations about money

Question 1

Antonio says his finances are healthy initially

Answer 1

“Believe me, no. I thank my fortune for it - / My ventures are not in one bottom trusted, / Nor to one place” (1.1.41)

Question 2

Bassanio admits initially that his finances are terrible

Answer 2

“How much I have disabled mine estate, / By something showing a more swelling port / Than my faint means would grant continuance” (1.1.123)

Question 3

The first mentioning of Portia is by Bassanio who emphasises her wealth first

Answer 3

“In Belmont is a lady richly left” (1.1.161)

Question 4

Nerissa mentions Portia’s wealth early on

Answer 4

“if your miseries were in the / same abundance as your good fortunes are” (1.2.3)

Question 5

Shylock is knowledgeable about money and the financial affairs of Antonio

Answer 5

“He hath an argosy bound to / Tripolis, another to the Indies. I understand moreover, / upon the Rialto, he hath a third at Mexico, a fourth for / England” (1.3.15)

Question 6

Shylock says he can make his money grow as fast as sheep, implying he is a skilled moneylender

Answer 6

“I make it breed as fast” (1.3.92)

Question 7

Despite Shylock’s wealth, Launcelot who works for Shylock claims he is starved by him

Answer 7

“I am famished in his service. You may tell every / finger I have with my ribs” (2.2.97)

Question 8

Bassanio suggests the people in Belmont, presumably who have lots of wealth, act more formally than the less rich people like him and Gratiano

Answer 8

“lest through thy wild behavior / I be misconst’red in the place I go to” (2.2.169)

Question 9

Lorenzo hears from Jessica of what gold and jewels she owns

Answer 9

“What gold and jewels she is furnished with” (2.4.31)

Question 10

Shylock knows and seems to care a lot about money, as he even dreams of it

Answer 10

“For I did dream of money bags tonight” (2.5.18)

Question 11

Shylock is careful and tries to ensure his possessions aren’t stolen

Answer 11

“Fast bind, fast find. / A proverb never stale in thrifty mind” (2.5.52)

Question 12

Jessica steals a lot of money from Shylock

Answer 12

“I will make fast the doors and gild myself / With some more ducats, and be with you straight” (2.6.49)

Question 13

The Prince of Morocco states that the entire world wants Portia, implying she has vast amounts of wealth in addition to her other good qualities

Answer 13

“All the world desires her. / From the four corners of the earth they come” (2.7.39)

Question 14

Shylock seems torn on whether the loss of his money or his daughter is a greater tragedy

Answer 14

“My daughter! O my ducats! O my daughter, / Fled with a Christian! O my Christian ducats!” (2.8.15)

Question 15

Antonio loses a ship full of valuables in the English Channel

Answer 15

“it lives there unchecked that Antonio hath a / ship of rich landing wrecked on the narrow seas” (3.1.2)

Question 16

Shylock emphasises that Antonio’s debt to him is what gives him the upper hand in the play’s situation

Answer 16

“He was wont to call me usurer; let him look to / his bond” (3.1.38)

Question 17

Shylock greatly suffers due to the loss of his money, to the point that he even brings up the suffering of Jews in general

Answer 17

“the curse never fell / upon our nation till now! I never felt it till now - Two / thousand ducats in that, and other precious, precious / jewels” (3.1.72)

Question 18

Tubal mentions that Jessica spent great amounts of money once she had fled

Answer 18

“Your daughter spent in Genoa, as I heard, in one night / fourscore ducats” (3.1.91)

Question 19

Portia has vast amounts of money and the amount that Antonio owes Shylock seems tiny to her

Answer 19

“What, no more? / Pay him six thousand and deface the bond! / Double six thousand, and then treble that” (3.2.298)

Question 20

Shylock seems obsessed with getting his pound of flesh from Antonio, to the point that it seems like he doesn’t care about the money he lost or could get

Answer 20

“I’ll have my bond. Speak not against my bond” (3.3.4)

Question 21

The Duke denying the law could cause legal issues and threaten how Venice makes its money, which prevents him from helping Antonio directly

Answer 21

“if it be denied, / Will much impeach the justice of his state, / Since that the trade and profit of the city” (3.3.28)

Question 22

Shylock doesn’t want money in the trial, but only his pound of flesh from Antonio

Answer 22

“If every ducat in six thousand ducats / Were in six parts, and every part a ducat, / I would not draw them. I would have my bond” (4.1.85)

Question 23

Bassanio is willing to give up a lot of money to save Antonio, though this is likely because he has the money from Portia

Answer 23

“I will be bound to pay it ten times o’er” (4.1.209)

Question 24

At the end of the play, Antonio learns that some of his ships did come safely to harbour after all, and that his finances are somewhat saved

Answer 24

“For here I read for certain that my ships / Are safely come to road” (5.1.287)