...Arthur John Harris; Frankie Rubinstein Copyright © 2004 Regents of the University of Colorado 2004 December 2004 11 JESSICA S BAWDY INTERLUDE IN THE MERCHANT OF VENICE The unmaidenly witticisms of Beatrice, Rosalind, Celia, and even Portia no doubt reflect the general tone of conversation...

..., the Venetian court demands, must be merciful. But this is an impossible demand. As Portia admits, mercy "is an attribute to God himself"(4.1.190). W hat the Venetians demand from Shylock, w hat the "C hristians" seek from the "Jew," is what Jacques Derrida identifies as the impossible, the gift.4 As Lisa...

... the geom etry o f the courtroom . An imbalance in spatial form (or an exaggerated balance in form ) tells us w hat w ill happen if not exactly how it w ill happen. We know, for example, that Shylock w ill lose in The Merchant o f Venice w ell before Portia appears in disguise as a lawyer to challenge him...

... and an­ other. In The Merchant of Venice the riddle is how a wife (here Portia, though Nerissa too) can be both faithful and unfaithful to her husband, both sleeping with a m an and sleeping with herself alone. A nd the endings of Measure for Measure a n d A ll s Well That Ends Well ask of the bed-tricked...