If you prick us, do we not bleed? if you tickle us, do we not laugh? if you poison us, do we not die? and if you wrong us, shall we not revenge?

This line is spoken by Shylock, the Jewish moneylender, in William Shakespeare’s play The Merchant of Venice. It occurs in Act 3, Scene 1, after Shylock has been mocked and abused by Venetian Christians and learns that his daughter Jessica has eloped with Lorenzo, taking his money and jewels. In a heated exchange with Salerio and Solanio, Shylock argues that Jews share the same human capacities for pain, pleasure, and mortality as Christians. The speech culminates in the claim that, since Christians seek revenge when wronged, Jews will do the same—framing his pursuit of Antonio’s “pound of flesh” as a grim imitation of Christian example.

Shylock’s questions insist on common humanity—physical vulnerability, emotional response, and the inevitability of death—undercutting the dehumanizing stereotypes used against him. The rhetorical structure moves from universal bodily facts to a moral conclusion: if Christians justify retaliation, Shylock’s desire for revenge is not an alien monstrosity but a learned, socially mirrored behavior. The passage is often read as Shakespeare’s most forceful articulation of empathy for an outsider, while also exposing how persecution can harden into vindictiveness. Its power lies in the tension between a plea for recognition and the turn toward retribution, complicating any simple moral reading of Shylock.