This chapter's epigraph comes from a line in Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream. It's a line from the play "The Merchant of Venice," in which the king of the sea is defeated by the merchant of Venice. The king is defeated, and the merchant is left to his fate. In this passage, the king's fate is tied to the fate of the merchant. The merchant is the one who has the power to destroy the king. In other words, the merchant has the right to kill the king in any way he sees fit. This passage is a foreshadowing of the events that will take place in the rest of the play.