he main source of the
dramatic fable is Fiorentino's story.

_The Fable._ Portia, the lady of Belmont, has three caskets, one of
gold, one of silver, one of lead. She is vowed to marry the man
who, on viewing the caskets, guesses which of them contains her
portrait. Various attempting suitors fail to guess rightly.

Bassanio, eager to try the hazard, obtains money from his friend
Antonio, to equip him. Antonio borrows the money from the Jew,
Shylock, on condition that, should he fail to repay the debt by a
fixed day, a pound of his flesh shall be forfeit to the Jew.

Bassanio guesses rightly and weds Portia.

Antonio fails to repay the debt, and is lodged in prison. Bassanio
hears of his friend's disaster. Portia bids him fly to Antonio with
money enough to pay the debt threefold. Shylock refuses the offer.
He clamours for his pound of flesh. The case comes to trial.

At the hearing of the case in the Duke's court, Portia, disguised
as a judge, gives sentence, that Shylock may have his pound of
flesh; but that if he shed Christian blood in the taking of it, his
life will be forfeit. Shylock is confounded further by a charge of
endangering a Christian's life. He is fined and humbled. Portia,
still in disguise, asks as her fee a ring that she has given to
Bassanio. Bassanio, hesitating, at last gives the ring, and returns
home without it. Portia's pretended indignation at the loss of the
ring ends the last act with comedy.

The play resolves itself into a simple form. It illustrates the clash
between the emotional and the intellectual characters, the man of heart
and the man of brain. The man of heart, Antonio, is obsessed by a
tenderness for his friend. The man of brain is obsessed by a lust to
uphold intellect in a thoughtless world that makes intellect bitter in
every age. Shylock is a man of intellect, born into a despised race. It
is his tragedy that the generous Gentiles about him can be generous to
everything except to intellect and Jewish blood. Intellect and Jewish
blood are too proud to attempt to understand the Gentiles who cannot
understand.

Shylock is a proud man. The Gentiles, who are neither proud nor
intellectual, spit upon him and flout him. One of them beguiles his
daughter and teaches her to rob him. Another of them signs a mad bond to
help an extravagant friend to live in idleness.