The Merchant of Venice

The Merchant of Venice is one of Shakespeare´s best dramas. Antonio, a wealthy merchant of Venice, makes a strange contract in order to borrow money for his friend Bassanio. His creditor, the Jewish money-lender Shylock, makes it a condition of the loan that Antonio, if unable to repay the sum, will have to give him a pound of his flesh. Unfortunately, Antonio's ships suffer shipwreck, all his riches are lost with the ships, and Shylock, who hates Antonio because he has humiliated him many times, demands his due in court. Shylock is about to cut his pound of flesh when Portia, Bassanio's wife disguised as a lawyer, intervenes and cleverly outwits Shylock by a literal reading of the text of the contract. He may take a pound of flesh, but not a drop of blood.