rocks can tear them apart, and pirates can blast them apart. Moreover, Shylock is well aware that not all men can be trusted. The men who sail Antonio’s ships might just as easily steal the goods on the ship for themselves. Merchant shipping was often a huge risk. And Antonio, as Shylock well knows, has all of his wealth invested in these several shipping ventures.Ifall of the ships failed to return, Antonio would be ruinedfinancially.
So, before he will loan the money to Bassanio, Shylock asks to speak with Antonio directly.
Bassanio agrees and invites Shylock to join them for dinner.
In anaside(a comment that indicates his thoughts but is not actual dialogue: so Bassanio does not hear it) Shylock comments on the problem betweenChristians and Jews. Although Jews may walk and talk with Christians, they do not eat with them or pray with them. Jews do not eat pork because they believe that the animals are unclean (physically and spiritually). The restriction against pork probably originated at a time when pigs suffered from some plague or other terrible disease that made their meat dangerous or deadly to any who ate it. However, the restriction later took the form of a religious rule; and the meat from pigs was viewed as unholy or evil. So, Jews do not eat pork. However, Christians frequently eatpork.
In his aside, Shylock refers to an old superstition that Jesus Christ (the Nazarite prophet) turned devils into swine or pigs. Shylock is hinting