Antonio, a leading merchant of Venice, is a wealthy, respected, and popular man.

Among his
many friends is a young man named Bassanio, who owes Antonio a good deal of money.
Bassanio would like to repay his friend, but so far he has been unable to do so. However, he now
feels that he may have found a way but he will again need a loan from Antonio. In Belmont,
Bassanio tells Antonio, there lives a beautiful and young and wealthy heiress. Bassanio feels sure
that he can win her hand in marriage, but he cannot go courting hands!hanging. If he is to
make a good impression, he has to appear at least as well off as her other wealthy suitors.
Antonio tells his young friend that he would gladly lend him whatever amount of money he
needs, but at the present time he himself is short of cash. All of his money is tied up in his
merchant ships, which are still at sea. However, Antonio will not disappoint Bassanio. He knows
of a moneylender who will probably lend him the necessary amount, and Bassanio can use
Antonio"s good name as security for the loan.
At Belmont, #ortia speaks to $erissa, her confidante, telling her how tired she is of the constant
stream of suitors, and how she wishes to be free of the perverse obligation of her father"s will%
#ortia cannot choose her own husband& she can marry only the man who chooses the correct one
of three caskets one gold, one silver, and one lead& one contains her portrait and that one is the
lucky casket. 'o far, none of her suitors has decided to risk choosing one of the caskets, which is
all for the good, because #ortia has no liking for any of them. However, when $erissa mentions
the name of Bassanio, a possible suitor, #ortia"s mood brightens. He was once a visitor at
Belmont, and #ortia was impressed with him.
(eanwhile in Venice, 'hylock, a rich )ewish moneylender who harbors a secret hatred for
Antonio, has agreed to lend Bassanio three thousand ducats for three months, on Antonio"s bond.
*oregoing his usual high interest rate, 'hylock demands instead that if the day for payment falls
due and the money is not returned, he may cut off one pound of flesh from Antonio"s body.
Antonio agrees because all of his ships are due back in Venice a full month before the bond falls
due.
A romantic subplot develops when +oren,o, a close friend of Antonio and Bassanio, falls in love
with 'hylock"s daughter, )essica. He manages to elope with her by disguising her as a boy, and
she manages to take with her a goodly amount of her father"s ducats. -f course, this infuriates
'hylock, and he vows revenge. 'hortly thereafter, Bassanio and .ratiano leave for Belmont,
where the fair #ortia has /ust sent away the #rince of (orocco and the #rince of Arragon, two
more disappointed, unsuccessful suitors. 0hen Bassanio asks to choose one of the caskets, #ortia
falls immediately in love with him, and she begs him to wait a few days before choosing one of
the caskets. He has fallen in love with #ortia and insists on taking his chances. He re/ects the
gold one, then the silver one& he chooses, finally, the lead casket, and on opening it, he finds a
portrait of #ortia. Both he and #ortia are over/oyed, and they make plans to be married at once,
along with $erissa and .ratiano, who have also fallen in love. Happiness reigns in Belmont until
Bassanio is brought a letter from Antonio bidding him farewell since his ships have been lost at
sea and since it is impossible that he will live after 'hylock collects his pound of flesh. Horrified,
Bassanio leaves instantly for Venice with money which #ortia gives him to pay the bond.
In Venice, 'hylock is no longer interested in the mere payment of the money due him. He wants
revenge. A 1hristian stole his daughter 2and she took his money3, and nothing will satisfy
'hylock e4cept the legal fulfillment of the bond. In the court of /ustice, presided over by the
5uke of Venice, 'hylock faces his enemy, Antonio. Antonio is surrounded by his friends and is
6uietly resigned to death. -n all sides, 'hylock is surrounded by enemies. Bassanio pleads with
'hylockto accept double the money due him, but 'hylock refuses.
At this point, #ortia, disguised as a lawyer, and $erissa, dressed as her law clerk, enter the court
and tell the 5uke that they have been sent from #adua by a learned attorney, 5octor Bellario, to
plead the defendant"s case. #ortia entreats 'hylock to be merciful, but he will not listen. 'he
offers the moneylender triple the amount owed him, but again 'hylock will have none of it. 'he
then solemnly informs the court that 'hylock is entirely within his lawful rights. 'he then
informs 'hylock that he must be very careful. He must cutoff exactly one pound of flesh, and he
must not spill one drop of Antonio"s blood. If he fails, all of 'hylock"s lands and goods will be
confiscated. 'hylock hastily decides that he will accept the triple payment of the bond, but #ortia
says no; 'hylock then offers to take only the original three thousand ducats, but again #ortia
refuses, reminding him that it was he himself who demanded the strict interpretation of the law.
*urthermore, she says, the law has another hold on him. 'ince he is an alien in Venice and since
he tried to seek the life of a Venetian citi,en, all his wealth can be divided between the citi,en
whom he attempted to destroy and the public treasury& in addition, 'hylock"s own life is in peril
because of what he attempted to do.
7he 5uke decides to spare 'hylock"s life, but he does give half of 'hylock"s money to Antonio,
and he gives the rest of it to the state. Antonio says that he will not accept the money if 'hylock
will agree to become a 1hristian and if, in his will, he will agree to leave his money to his
daughter, )essica, and her new husband, +oren,o. 'hylock, broken and defeated, agrees to all
these conditions and leaves the court. -ver/oyed, Antonio and his friends offer to pay the young
lawyer whatever they can, but, oddly enough, the lawyer wishes only a certain ring which
Bassanio is wearing. Bassanio is embarrassed because his wife gave this ring to him and asked
him to wear it always. But the lawyer insists and, finally, Bassanio reluctantly gives away
#ortia"s ring. $erissa likewise cleverly manages to get from .ratiano a ring she gave him. 7he
two ladies then hasten back to Belmont to tease their husbands about the rings.
0hen Bassanio and .ratiano, along with Antonio, return to Belmont, their wives in6uire about
the missing rings. #ortia and $erissa insist that the men no doubt gave the rings away to two
other women. 7he husbands swear that it is not true, and it is not until #ortia and $erissa have
put their husbands through some long, comically agoni,ing moments of discomfort that they
confess that they themselves were the learned doctor and the clerk to whom the rings were
given. 7hus all ends happily, as #ortia gives Antonio a letter informing him that three of his
ships have arrived safely in port.
*lying 7runk
A merchant"s son spends all his money and has nothing left but a trunk. +uckily, it"s a
magical trunk, so it flies him to 7urkey. -nce there, he flies up to a tower where there"s
an eye!catching princess.
He falls in love with her, and lies and says he"s .od of the 7urks. 'he agrees to marry
him, but he has to come back in a week and meet her parents.
Apparently the king and 6ueen love fairy tales, so he has to tell them one. He tells them a
story about a family of matches that gets split up and talks to the other household tools.
7he king and 6ueen en/oy the story, so they give permission for their daughter to marry
the guy 2that was easy, huh83.
7he merchant"s son flies around setting off fireworks from his trunk prior to the wedding,
but then his trunk burns up so he can"t get back to his bride. 'he waits for him on the
roof, and continues to wait, telling fairy tales 2but not happy ones3.
)essica
)essica had in her all the rudiments of a very lovely womanhood& but a deal of cultivation was
needed to develop them to anything like perfection. It is highly improbable that 'hylock had ever
consciously given her any training whatever, save such as might be conveyed to her through
numerous in/unctions to fast bind in order that she might fast find. 7hough his evil influence
had failed to in/ure to a really dangerous e4tent her innate truth and purity, yet it had had such an
effect upon her character as to make it perfectly easy and natural to her to deceive and desert her
unloving father, who made her home a hell, and to cling in preference to her 1hristian lover.
7rue to the precepts which had been dinged in her ears through her whole life, she did not make
her escape without a fair supply of the needful gold. But though this general principle has been
imparted to her by 'hylock, she has failed to learn the lesson of the value of money& and she
spends his hard!earned ducats with a freedom and recklessness that is positive torture to her
grasping father.
7o me, one of the most pitiful evidences of )essica"s lack of proper home training is the way in
which she speaks of her father after her arrival at Belmont. 7hat she should have lost all respect
and love for him, and that she should have voluntarily deserted him without apparently feeling
the slightest compunction, is perhaps no more than natural& but when she listens to, and even
/oins in, the accusations of wickedness and cruelty made against him, we cannot but deplore the
blemish which ignorance of the good and the beautiful has left upon her character. Had she had
the refining influences thrown around her which #ortia en/oyed in her home life, though she
might never have been the force which the latter was, she might have been, as she doubtless
afterwards became, as true, beautiful, and loyal as her instincts would direct.