Salarino's and Salanio's opening lines are hurried and excited. Here and elsewhere in the play, notably in Act I, Scene 1, these two act more or less like a chorus; that is to say, they discuss developments of the plot not shown on the stage so that the audience will be aware of them and also of their importance. Here, they are concerned about Antonio's fate, since Shylock is in a terrible temper, and the once "merry bond" is no longer "merry."
Salanio's speech, beginning at line 12, is introduced here for two reasons: First, Shylock's rage must be described before it is shown so that we can anticipate his state of mind at his next entrance. Second, Shylock's loss of both his daughter and much of his money are important for our understanding the extent of Shylock's desire for revenge. At the beginning of the play, he has only two real reasons for hating Antonio — a commercial hatred and a religious hatred. To these is now added a shattering personal loss — he has lost his daughter, his only child, to a Christian, a friend of Antonio — making plausible his implacable desire for revenge against all Venetian Christians in the person of a man whom he has legally cornered: Antonio. In a very real sense, our sympathy goes out to Shylock, yet Shakespeare keeps us from pitying the man by having Salanio enact a sort of exaggerated parody of Shylock's greedy, histrionic behavior as he tells his friend Salarino how Shylock was chased in the streets by young boys, howling after him. Shylock's repetitions of "O my ducats! O my daughter! . . . my ducats and my daughter" indicate that Jessica is simply, at this point, another possession, like his coins. Thus we are prevented from being too oversympathetic to an obsession which has blinded the old moneylender to the true difference between monetary and human values.
