Scene 3

Shylock, Solanio, and Antonio enter with a jailor. Shylock tells the jailor to watch Antonio and not to feel pity for him because he foolishly lent money. Antonio attempts to speak to Shylock, but Shylock insists upon collecting what he is owed. Because Antonio has called him a dog without provocation, Shylock swears that Antonio will now see his fangs. Antonio protests again, but Shylock silences him, refusing to give in to any pleas from Christians such as Antonio. 

Solanio comments on how stubborn Shylock is, and Antonio gives up trying to speak to Shylock. He understands that his interest-free loans hurt Shylock’s business and that Shylock wants to see him dead. Solanio tries to comfort his friend, claiming that there is no way the duke of Venice will hold him to the contract. However, Antonio knows that the duke must uphold a contract, lest Venice be known for reneging on contracts and hurting foreign trade. He resigns himself to his fate, hoping that he will see Bassanio one last time. 

Scene 4

Portia, Lorenzo, Nerissa, Jessica, and Balthazar enter the stage. Lorenzo tells Portia that he respects her for letting her husband leave immediately to help Antonio. He assures her that if she knew Antonio, she would know just how good and kind she was being. She reasons that if Bassanio and Antonio are such good friends, then Antonio must be like Bassanio, and thus she has no qualms in sending Bassanio with money to help his friend. She then leaves Lorenzo in charge of her estate until Bassanio returns. Portia claims she is going to a monastery until his return, and she insists that Lorenzo and Jessica serve as the owners of her mansion. They agree, and Lorenzo and Jessica exit. 

Speaking to Balthazar, Portia hands him a letter and asks him to take it to Padua, making sure that it reaches her cousin Bellario. Balthazar is then to take whatever clothes he receives from Bellario and meet her back at the ferry bound for Venice. When he leaves, Portia tells Nerissa her plan: they will dress like men and meet their husbands in Venice. Portia describes how she will walk and talk like a man, telling stories about all of the women she has bedded and rejected. When Nerissa asks why they are doing this, Portia tells her that she will explain the full plan on the carriage ride to the ferry, and they exit.  

Scene 5

Launcelot and Jessica enter, and Launcelot teases Jessica for her relation to Shylock. He tells her that she is damned, and the only hope he feels exists for her is that she is not actually the daughter of Shylock and that her mother had slept with others. If that were the case, Jessica tells him, then she would be punished for the sins of her mother rather than her father. She says that she has converted to Christianity for her husband, but Launcelot says that there are too many Christians already, and they are eating all the pork, driving the price of pork higher. 

Lorenzo enters and jokes that he might become jealous of Launcelot and Jessica, but Jessica tells him about Launcelot’s jests—that she is damned for being a Jew’s daughter and that he is a bad person for creating more Christians to raise the price of pork. Lorenzo jabs back that Launcelot has impregnated one of Portia’s Moorish servants, and Launcelot puns that she is “more” than he took her for. Lorenzo tells Launcelot to fetch the servants for dinner, and Launcelot continues to make puns,...