... 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.
回复 '暖冬cool夏' 的评论 : As I re-read your comments, I looked up the dictionary on my laptop and it explained "mine" as a determiner:
possessive determiner archaic
(used before a vowel) my: tears did fill mine eyes.
回复 '暖冬cool夏' 的评论 : Thank you my friend very much for reading and raising the questions, especially when you are not his fan. I don't have ready answers, however, except that English should have changed much since his time.
I think it's often a mistake to ask young people to appreciate his plays. They can't. They need more life lessons, more defeats, and irrecoverable losses first.
I myself was first introduced to Shakespeare in college and a few passages (including the 2nd paragraph above) left indelible memory. The older I grew, the more attracted I became. Maybe I should write about why as there is much to say. Thanks for the inspiration.
I am not a fan of Shakespeare:)) When my daughter was in High School, one Shakespeare's play was assigned to read as homework. I tried but too hard to understand:)) I guess, like 红楼梦，one has to be really into it:))
Questions here, if you know the answer:
1. Why "heated mine enemies"= not "heated my enemies"? Is Old English different?
2. "If a Jew wrong a Christian, If a Christian wrong a Jew", why it is not "wrongs or wronged"?
Thanks for sharing though.
