conveniency


 

The word 'convenience' occurs five times in the Shakespearean corpus with an unremkarkable distribution. The variant form 'conveniency' appears only in The Merchant of Venice and Othello and has some unusual context restrictions. In both scenes it collocates in the same line with 'all' and is spoken by an impatient man, who makes a plea to get on with things. Antonio speaks about Shylock to the court; Roderigo speaks to Iago:

 

                               Therefore I do beseech you
 81   Make no moe offers, use no further means,
82   But with all brief and plain conveniency
 83   Let me have judgment and the Jew his will.
                                                              (Mev. 4.1.80-83)

175   Every day thou daff'st me with some device,
176   Iago, and rather, as it seems to me now, keep'st from
177   me all conveniency than suppliest me with the least
178   advantage of hope. I will indeed no longer endure it;
                                                            (Oth. 4.2.175-178

 

 

The resemblances, while not overwhelming, fit  into the pattern of Iago/Shylock echoes that many scholars have noted.

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