-
Summary[
edit
]
< br>
Bassanio, a young
Venetian
of noble rank,
wishes to woo the beautiful and wealthy
Belmont. Having squandered his estate,
he needs 3,000
ducats
to
subsidise his expenditures as a
suitor.
Bassanio approaches his friend
Antonio
, a wealthy merchant
of Venice who has previously
and
repeatedly bailed him out. Antonio agrees, but
since he is cash-poor
–
his
ships and
are busy at sea
–
he promises to cover a
bond if Bassanio can find a lender, so Bassanio
turns to
Jewish moneylender Shylock and
names Antonio as the loan's guarantor.
Antonio has already made an enemy of
Shylock through his
outspoken
antisemitism
, and
also
because Antonio's habit of lending
money without interest forces Shylock to charge
lower rates.
Shylock is at first
reluctant to grant the loan, citing abuse he has
suffered at Antonio's hand, but
finally
agrees to lend the sum to Antonio without interest
upon one condition: if Antonio is unable
repay it at the specified date, Shylock
may take a
pound
of Antonio's
flesh. Bassanio does not want
Antonio
to accept such a risky condition; Antonio is
surprised by what he sees as the
generosity (no
–
interest
–
is asked for),
and he signs the contract. With money at hand,
Bassanio leaves for Belmont with his
friend Gratiano, who has asked to accompany him.
Gratiano
a likeable young man, but is
often flippant, overly talkative, and tactless.
Bassanio warns his
companion to
exercise self-control, and the two leave for
Belmont and Portia.
Meanwhile in
Belmont, Portia is awash with suitors. Her father
left a
will
stipulating each
of her
suitors must choose correctly
from one of three caskets
–
one each of gold, silver and lead. If he
picks the right casket, he gets Portia.
The first suitor, the luxurious Prince of Morocco,
chooses the
gold casket, interpreting
its slogan
to Portia. The second
suitor, the conceited Prince of Arragon, chooses
the silver casket, which
proclaims
merit. Both suitors leave empty-handed,
having rejected the lead casket because of the
baseness of
its material and the
uninviting nature of its slogan:
hath.
Bassanio ponders his
choice, members of Portia's household sing a song
which says that
(not true love) is
[1]
prompting Bassanio to
disregard
At Venice,
Antonio's ships are reported lost at sea. This
leaves him unable to satisfy the bond.
Shylock is even more determined to
exact revenge from Christians after his daughter
Jessica had
fled home and eloped with
the Christian Lorenzo, taking a substantial amount
of Shylock's wealth
with her, as well
as a turquoise ring which was a gift to Shylock
from his late wife, Leah. Shylock
has
Antonio brought before court.
At
Belmont, Bassanio receives a letter telling him
that Antonio has been unable to return the loan
taken from Shylock. Portia and Bassanio
marry, as do Gratiano and Portia's handmaid
Nerissa.
Bassanio and Gratiano then
leave for
Venice
, with money
from Portia, to save Antonio's life by
offering the money to Shylock. Unknown
to Bassanio and Gratiano, Portia has disguised
herself as
servant, Balthazar, to seek
the counsel of Portia's cousin, Bellario, a
lawyer, at
Padua
.
巴萨尼奥，
一个年轻的
威尼斯
出身高贵，
< br>希望向美丽的和富有的女继承人
鲍西娅
贝尔蒙特。
< br>有了他的财产，他需要
3000
块钱来资助他的
支出作为求婚。巴塞尼奥接近他的朋友
<
/p>
安东
尼奥，
一个富有的威尼斯商人曾多次
把他保释出来。
安东尼奥同意了，
但因为他是现金短缺
的
–
如果巴塞尼奥可以找到贷款人他的船和商品
在海上
–
他承诺支付债券忙，
巴塞尼奥
向犹太
放债人夏洛克和名称安东尼奥作为贷款的担保人。
安东尼奥已经通过他的
outspo
kenantisemitism
了夏洛克的敌人，
也因为安东
尼奥借钱的习惯
没有利率的夏洛克收取较低的利率。
夏洛克是起
初不愿意发放贷款，
以滥用他受到了安东尼
奥的手，
但最终同意借给和安东尼奥没有兴趣在一个条件：
如果安东尼奥无法偿还它
在指定
的日期，夏洛克可以以每磅
安
东尼奥的肉。他不想让安东尼奥接受这样一个危险的状态；
安东尼奥是由他所认为的放债
人的慷慨惊讶（没有
“
远期
”–
利益
–
要求），和他签合同。钱在
手，他离开贝尔蒙特和他的朋友葛劳提阿诺，谁问陪他。葛莱西安诺是一个可爱的年轻人，
但往往是轻率的，过于健谈的，
不老练的。他警告他的同伴练习自我控制
，
和两个离开贝尔
蒙特和鲍西娅。