This chapter's epigraph comes from a famous line in Shakespeare's play The Merchant of Venice. It's a quote from the play's protagonist, Shylock, who asks Shylock to help him escape from the Bastille. Shylock's response is that he can't, because the Bastille is too big for him to fit through the bars of the ship. He's too small for the Bastille, and he's not strong enough for the ship's crew. He tells Shylock that if he can get out, he'll be able to help the other crewmen escape. But Shylock doesn't want to do that, because he knows that they'll all die before he can help them.