The Merchant of Venice
Antonio was a rich and prosperous merchant of Venice.
His ships were on nearly every sea, and he traded with Portugal, with Mexico, with England,
and with India.
Although proud of his riches, he was very generous with them, and delighted to use them
in relieving the wants of his friends, among whom his relation, Bassanio, held the first
place.
Now Bassanio, like many another gay and gallant gentleman, was reckless and extravagant, and
finding that he had not only come to the end of his fortune, but was also unable to pay
his creditors, he went to Antonio for further help.
"To you, Antonio," he said, "I owe the most in money and in love: and I have thought of
a plan to pay everything I owe if you will but help me."
"Say what I can do, and it shall be done," answered his friend.
Then said Bassanio, "In Belmont is a lady richly left, and from all quarters of the
globe renowned suitors come to woo her, not only because she is rich, but because she
is beautiful and good as well.
She looked on me with such favor when last we met, that I feel sure that I should win
her away from all rivals for her love had I but the means to go to Belmont, where she
lives."
"All my fortunes," said Antonio, "are at sea, and so I have no ready money; but luckily
my credit is good in Venice, and I will borrow for you what you need."
There was living in Venice at this time a rich money-lender, named Shylock.
Antonio despised and disliked this man very much, and treated him with the greatest harshness
and scorn.
He would thrust him, like a cur, over his threshold, and would even spit on him.
Shylock submitted to all these indignities with a patient shrug; but deep in his heart
he cherished a desire for revenge on the rich, smug merchant.
For Antonio both hurt his pride and injured his business.
"But for him," thought Shylock, "I should be richer by half a million ducats.
On the market place, and wherever he can, he denounces the rate of interest I charge,
and—worse than that—he lends out money freely."
So when Bassanio came to him to ask for a loan of three thousand ducats to Antonio for
three months, Shylock hid his hatred, and turning to Antonio, said—"Harshly as you
have treated me, I would be friends with you and have your love.
So I will lend you the money and charge you no interest.
But, just for fun, you shall sign a bond in which it shall be agreed that if you do not
repay me in three months' time, then I shall have the right to a pound of your flesh, to
be cut from what part of your body I choose."
"No," cried Bassanio to his friend, "you shall run no such risk for me."
"Why, fear not," said Antonio, "my ships will be home a month before the time.
I will sign the bond."
Thus Bassanio was furnished with the means to go to Belmont, there to woo the lovely
Portia.
The very night he started, the money-lender's pretty daughter, Jessica, ran away from her
father's house with her lover, and she took with her from her father's hoards some bags
of ducats and precious stones.
Shylock's grief and anger were terrible to see.
His love for her changed to hate.
"I would she were dead at my feet and the jewels in her ear," he cried.
His only comfort now was in hearing of the serious losses which had befallen Antonio,
some of whose ships were wrecked.
"Let him look to his bond," said Shylock, "let him look to his bond."
Meanwhile Bassanio had reached Belmont, and had visited the fair Portia.
He found, as he had told Antonio, that the rumor of her wealth and beauty had drawn to
her suitors from far and near.
But to all of them Portia had but one reply.
She would only accept that suitor who would pledge himself to abide by the terms of her
father's will.
These were conditions that frightened away many an ardent wooer.
For he who would win Portia's heart and hand, had to guess which of three caskets held her
portrait.
If he guessed aright, then Portia would be his bride; if wrong, then he was bound by
oath never to reveal which casket he chose, never to marry, and to go away at once.
The caskets were of gold, silver, and lead.
The gold one bore this inscription:—"Who chooseth me shall gain what many men desire";
the silver one had this:—"Who chooseth me shall get as much as he deserves"; while on
the lead one were these words:—"Who chooseth me must give and hazard all he hath."
The Prince of Morocco, as brave as he was black, was among the first to submit to this
test.
He chose the gold casket, for he said neither base lead nor silver could contain her picture.
So he chose the gold casket, and found inside the likeness of what many men desire—death.
After him came the haughty Prince of Arragon, and saying, "Let me have what I deserve—surely
I deserve the lady," he chose the silver one, and found inside a fool's head.
"Did I deserve no more than a fool's head?" he cried.
Then at last came Bassanio, and Portia would have delayed him from making his choice from
very fear of his choosing wrong.
For she loved him dearly, even as he loved her.
"But," said Bassanio, "let me choose at once, for, as I am, I live upon the rack."
Then Portia bade her servants to bring music and play while her gallant lover made his
choice.
And Bassanio took the oath and walked up to the caskets—the musicians playing softly
the while.
"Mere outward show," he said, "is to be despised.
The world is still deceived with ornament, and so no gaudy gold or shining silver for
me.
I choose the lead casket; joy be the consequence!"
And opening it, he found fair Portia's portrait inside, and he turned to her and asked if
it were true that she was his.
"Yes," said Portia, "I am yours, and this house is yours, and with them I give you this
ring, from which you must never part."
And Bassanio, saying that he could hardly speak for joy, found words to swear that he
would never part with the ring while he lived.
Then suddenly all his happiness was dashed with sorrow, for messengers came from Venice
to tell him that Antonio was ruined, and that Shylock demanded from the Duke the fulfilment
of the bond, under which he was entitled to a pound of the merchant's flesh.
Portia was as grieved as Bassanio to hear of the danger which threatened his friend.
"First," she said, "take me to church and make me your wife, and then go to Venice at
once to help your friend.
You shall take with you money enough to pay his debt twenty times over."
But when her newly-made husband had gone, Portia went after him, and arrived in Venice
disguised as a lawyer, and with an introduction from a celebrated lawyer Bellario, whom the
Duke of Venice had called in to decide the legal questions raised by Shylock's claim
to a pound of Antonio's flesh.
When the Court met, Bassanio offered Shylock twice the money borrowed, if he would withdraw
his claim.
But the money-lender's only answer was— "If every ducat in six thousand ducats,
Were in six parts, and every part a ducat, I would not draw them,—I would have my bond."
It was then that Portia arrived in her disguise, and not even her own husband knew her.
The Duke gave her welcome on account of the great Bellario's introduction, and left the
settlement of the case to her.
Then in noble words she bade Shylock have mercy.
But he was deaf to her entreaties.
"I will have the pound of flesh," was his reply.
"What have you to say?" asked Portia of the merchant.
"But little," he answered; "I am armed and well prepared."
"The Court awards you a pound of Antonio's flesh," said Portia to the money-lender.
"Most righteous judge!" cried Shylock.
"A sentence: come, prepare."
"Tarry a little.
This bond gives you no right to Antonio's blood, only to his flesh.
If, then, you spill a drop of his blood, all your property will be forfeited to the State.
Such is the Law."
And Shylock, in his fear, said, "Then I will take Bassanio's offer."
"No," said Portia sternly, "you shall have nothing but your bond.
Take your pound of flesh, but remember, that if you take more or less, even by the weight
of a hair, you will lose your property and your life."
Shylock now grew very much frightened.
"Give me my three thousand ducats that I lent him, and let him go."
Bassanio would have paid it to him, but said Portia, "No!
He shall have nothing but his bond."
"You, a foreigner," she added, "have sought to take the life of a Venetian citizen, and
thus by the Venetian law, your life and goods are forfeited.
Down, therefore, and beg mercy of the Duke."
Thus were the tables turned, and no mercy would have been shown to Shylock had it not
been for Antonio.
As it was, the money-lender forfeited half his fortune to the State, and he had to settle
the other half on his daughter's husband, and with this he had to be content.
Bassanio, in his gratitude to the clever lawyer, was induced to part with the ring his wife
had given him, and with which he had promised never to part, and when on his return to Belmont
he confessed as much to Portia, she seemed very angry, and vowed she would not be friends
with him until she had her ring again.
But at last she told him that it was she who, in the disguise of the lawyer, had saved his
friend's life, and got the ring from him.
So Bassanio was forgiven, and made happier than ever, to know how rich a prize he had
drawn in the lottery of the caskets.