Which he calls interest. Cursed be my tribe If I forgive him.(36-47)
Shylock describes Antonio as a “fawning publican.” A publican was a tax collector, and such men were frequently depicted as being proud, imperious, cold, cruel, and merciless. The wordfawning, though, indicates the action of a person who is seeking a favor by acting insincerely through flattery or some other means. The words are actually and ironically anallusionto theBible(Luke 18: 10-14). In that book a proud publican asks Jesus Christ for mercy. Jews do not read the Bible or consider it to be a sacred text. However, the line sweeps by so quickly that most people in an audience would not catch the allusion. Shylock, though, is implying that Antonio is a hypocrite. Shylock knows that Antonio hates him, but now Antonio will pretend to like him because he needs Shylock to lend the money to Bassanio.
In the aside, the wordgratismeans free; and the wordusancerefers to the act of loaning money out at interest. Because Antonio often loans money to others without accepting any interest, the money- lenders like Shylock often lose business and must drastically lower their interest rates in order to get any clients at all. To put it simply, Antonio causes Shylock to lose money. So, Shylock personally and deeply hates Antonio.
Shylock wants to get revenge; andbyloaning money to Bassanio, Shylock hopes to catch Antonio “upon the hip.”That is, he hopes to get