INTRODUCTION

ARGUMENT OF THE PLAY

"THE MERCHANT OF VENICE' is a grave but pleasant drama of manners, employing at least four distinct episodes, the pound of flesh, the choice of caskets, the elopement of the Jew's daughter, and the missing rings, and contrasting love with friendship, and the emotions with money values.

Antonio, a merchant of Venice, lends his cherished friend Bassanio a sum of money needed by the latter for a visit to Portia, an heiress with whom Bassanio is in love. The merchant, being then short of funds, obtains a loan from the Jew Shylock, and promises Shylock that the money will be paid on a certain day, or a pound of his flesh will be forfeit.

In Act II Shylock's daughter elopes with another of Antonio's friends -a circumstance which augments the Jew's secret hatred of the merchant.

Act III deals with Bassanio's arrival at the home of Portia, where he chooses the right one of three caskets which, according to a clause in her father's will, determines her successful suitor. Bassanio is accepted; but his joy is dulled by news that Antonio has been unable to pay his debt and that the Jew insists upon his pound of flesh.

In Act IV Antonio is tried before the Duke of Venice. Portia disguises herself as a lawyer and wins

the case against Shylock. Bassanio wishes to fee the supposed lawyer with the original amount of the debt; but Portia will not accept it, and asks instead for a ring from Bassanio's finger, it being the ring she had bestowed upon him when they plighted their troth.

He gives it to her, and (Act V) when they are returned to her home, and she has removed her disguise, she pretends to quarrel with him for his faithlessness, being supported by the parallel case of her maid and a friend of Bassanio's. The whole story at last leaks out, and all four are made happy. The merchant of Venice likewise escapes from his pecuniary difficulties by certain of his ships arriving in port.

SOURCES

By reason of the fourfold nature of this story, the tracing of sources becomes a tedious and uncertain matter. Numerous plots bearing one or more of the turning-points made use of by Shakespeare existed before his time in such variety as to make the playwright's direct sources confused.

He was indebted, either directly or indirectly, to an Italian story, Il Pecerone,' written by Giovanni Fiorentino as early as 1378. This story tells of a merchant of Venice, who lends money to a dear friend, and borrows in turn from a Jew on condition of a pound of flesh forfeiture for non-payment. The friend goes to pay court to a wealthy lady at Belmont, and wins her in a test (not that of the three caskets). He learns that the merchant is in the clutches of the Jew; the lady dresses as a judge and wins the case by the same argument used by Portia; she claims the ring in payment, and upbraids him on their return home.

The above outline shows how closely Shakespeare followed the Italian in two of his four themes — the pound of flesh and the missing ring. For a third theme, the choice of caskets, we find a general source in the Gesta Romanorum,' translated by Richard Robinson, and published in 1577.

The remaining theme, the elopement of the Jew's daughter, is seen in the Fourteenth Novel of Massuccio di Salerno (1470).

But only one probable source has been pointed out above for Shakespeare's leading themes, while, as a matter of fact, there are several others which may be cited. A Latin version of the bond of flesh is found in a manuscript Gesta Romanorum.' A Greek story

of the choice of caskets is found in the romance of Barlaam and Josaphat' (about 800). Coming nearer to Shakespeare's time, a play known as The Jew' which, according to Stephen Gosson, in his Schoole of Abuse' (1579), represented the greediness of worldly choosers, and the bloody minds of usurers' seems to have been a pre-Shakespearian blending of the casket and flesh stories. Edmund Spenser may have referred to this play in a letter to Gabriel Harvey in 1579, by signing himself He that is fast bound unto thee in more obligations than any merchant of Italy to any Jew there.' Another supposed source for Shakespeare's plot is cited in the Ballad of Gernutus,' published in Percy's Reliques,' and still accessible to the general reader. 'Gernutus' is similar in name to the Jew Gerontus, told of in The Three Ladies of London' (1584), who tries to recover a loan of three thousand ducats. Alexander Silvayn's Orator' may have suggested passages in Shylock's argument.

Marlowe's Jew of Malta' must also be taken into consideration in any study of Shakespeare's sources. The Jew Barabas has been placed by the side of Shylock by many critics, and numerous parallels and differences have been set forth. Barabas is more of a monster, and elicits no sympathy; but in his attitude with respect to his daughter he resembles Shylock.

To sum up the evidence from many conflicting sources, we find Shakespeare indebted not only for leading facts used by Fiorentino and others, but also for many minor episodes, situations, and expressions used, and used again, by several preceding writers. Nearly all the Merchant of Venice' material was old before Shakespeare took it up. What, then, of the play is his? Everything that makes his version live, while others are forgotten. He has not only skilfully blended the diverse elements into one harmonious whole, but has peopled it with living, real men and women, and breathed into its lines a sentiment and romance which stamps the play absolutely his own for all time.

DURATION OF THE ACTION

The time of the play is presumed to be a day or two more than three months, this being the period of Shylock's loan. The bond is signed at the end of Act I. Bassanio must have departed speedily for Belmont, and, once there, have lost no time in making his choice of caskets. But by Act III, scene ii, he has accomplished all this and received word from Shylock that his bond is forfeit. There is considerable time unaccounted for during these three months, but the scenes are crowded so full of events as to give the

effect of lapse of time. pressed into eight days: Day 1, Act I. Day 2, Act II, scenes i-vii. Day 3, Act II, scenes viii-ix. Day 4, Act III, scene i. Day 5, Act III, scenes ii-iv. Day 6, Act III, scene v, Act IV. Days 7 and 8, Act V. Intervals among the first five days, allowing for journeys, entertainments, and other delays, might be made to space out the allotted three months, but only by obvious stretching.

The action itself may be com

The period of the play cannot be arrived at even approximately, on account of its conflicting sources. The Venice of Shakespeare's own day would answer every purpose.

DATE OF COMPOSITION

Francis Meres mentions the play in his list given in Palladis Tamia,' of 1598. The play was therefore known before that year; and on the 22d of July in the same year it was entered upon the Stationers' Register.' In 1596 an English translation of Silvayn's 'Orator' appeared. If Shakespeare were indebted to Silvayn in any way, this would tend to fix The Merchant of Venice' between 1596 and 1598 - say 1597, a date which several early editors accept.

A bit of disturbing evidence is afforded, however, by an entry in Henslowe's Diary,' under date of August 25, 1594, which speaks of the Venesyon comodey' as a new play. Henslowe was manager of the theatre in which Shakespeare's company played in that year, and his entry may have referred to Merchant of Venice,' or a rougher acting version of the play which was afterward revised.

The

Internal evidence shows a blending of youth with