Der Kaufmann von Venedig

Volume 16. comedy. Antonio, a Venetian merchant, has invested his fortune in merchant ships. When his friend Bassanio, who is courting the rich and beautiful Portia, asks him for money, Antonio takes out a loan for him from the Jew Shylock. Shylock, who hates Christians because they treat him inhumanely, lends him the money in exchange for a promissory bill that entitles him to cut a pound of flesh from Antonio's body if the money is not repaid in time. Bassanio now courts Portia with two other suitors, who, according to her late father's wishes, is to marry the man who, out of three boxes of gold, silver and lead, chooses the one containing a picture of Portia. Bassanio chooses the leaden one and thus wins Portia, who has long been secretly in love with him. His friend Gratiano finds Portia's companion Nerissa. There meets a.