The Merchant of Venice, Act 4 Scene 2 runs 22 lines of dialogue, spoken by 3 speakers. That is shorter than the play’s average scene length of about 140 lines. This scene is part of Act 4 of The Merchant of Venice.
Full Dialogue
Portia ♀
Inquire the Jew's house out, give him this deed
And let him sign it: we'll away to-night
And be a day before our husbands home:
This deed will be well welcome to Lorenzo.
And let him sign it: we'll away to-night
And be a day before our husbands home:
This deed will be well welcome to Lorenzo.
Gratiano ♂
Fair sir, you are well o'erta'en
My Lord Bassanio upon more advice
Hath sent you here this ring, and doth entreat
Your company at dinner.
My Lord Bassanio upon more advice
Hath sent you here this ring, and doth entreat
Your company at dinner.
Portia ♀
That cannot be:
His ring I do accept most thankfully:
And so, I pray you, tell him: furthermore,
I pray you, show my youth old Shylock's house.
His ring I do accept most thankfully:
And so, I pray you, tell him: furthermore,
I pray you, show my youth old Shylock's house.
Gratiano ♂
That will I do.
Nerissa ♀
Sir, I would speak with you.
I'll see if I can get my husband's ring,
Which I did make him swear to keep for ever.
I'll see if I can get my husband's ring,
Which I did make him swear to keep for ever.
Portia ♀
[Aside to NERISSA] Thou mayst, I warrant.
We shall have old swearing
That they did give the rings away to men;
But we'll outface them, and outswear them too.
Away! make haste: thou knowist where I will tarry.
We shall have old swearing
That they did give the rings away to men;
But we'll outface them, and outswear them too.
Away! make haste: thou knowist where I will tarry.
Nerissa ♀
Come, good sir, will you show me to this house?
22 lines rendered verbatim from the dialogue corpus.
Who’s On Stage
Speaking characters in this scene
| Character | Lines | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Portia | 13 | 59.1% |
| Gratiano | 5 | 22.7% |
| Nerissa | 4 | 18.2% |
Line distribution
The top speaker in this scene delivers 13 lines, while the scene’s average per speaker is about 7 lines.
Total speakers on stage
3 named characters speak in this scene.
Scene in Context
Position within Act 4
This is Scene 2 of 2 in Act 4 of The Merchant of Venice.
Scene length vs. play average
At 22 lines, this scene is shorter than the The Merchant of Venice average scene in The Merchant of Venice (~140 lines).
Adjacent scenes
Previous: Act 4 Scene 1 · Next: Act 5 Scene 1