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Summary

In Belmont, Portia urges Bassanio to delay his choice of caskets, fearing he may choose incorrectly and lose her. Despite her pleas, Bassanio chooses the lead casket, revealing Portia's portrait and winning her hand in marriage. After their engagement, Bassanio learns of Antonio's troubles and rushes to Venice to help his friend.

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4 views1 page

Summary

In Belmont, Portia urges Bassanio to delay his choice of caskets, fearing he may choose incorrectly and lose her. Despite her pleas, Bassanio chooses the lead casket, revealing Portia's portrait and winning her hand in marriage. After their engagement, Bassanio learns of Antonio's troubles and rushes to Venice to help his friend.

Uploaded by

lailesh16
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Summary: Act III, scene ii

In Belmont, Portia begs Bassanio to delay choosing between the caskets for a day or
two. If Bassanio chooses incorrectly, Portia reasons, she will lose his company.
Bassanio insists that he make his choice now, to avoid prolonging the torment of living
without Portia as his wife. Portia orders that music be played while her love makes his
choice, and she compares Bassanio to the Greek hero and demigod Hercules. Like the
suitors who have come before him, Bassanio carefully examines the three caskets and
puzzles over their inscriptions. He rejects the gold casket, saying that “[t]he world is still
deceived with ornament” (III.ii.74), while the silver he deems a “pale and common
drudge / ’Tween man and man” (III.ii.103–104). After much debate, Bassanio picks the
lead casket, which he opens to reveal Portia’s portrait, along with a poem congratulating
him on his choice and confirming that he has won Portia’s hand.
The happy couple promises one another love and devotion, and Portia gives
Bassanio a ring that he must never part with, as his removal of it will signify
the end of his love for her. Nerissa and Gratiano congratulate them and
confess that they too have fallen in love with one another. They suggest a
double wedding. Lorenzo and Jessica arrive in the midst of this rejoicing,
along with Salarino, who gives a letter to Bassanio. In the letter, Antonio
writes that all of his ships are lost, and that Shylock plans to collect his
pound of flesh. The news provokes a fit of guilt in Bassanio, which in turn
prompts Portia to offer to pay twenty times the sum. Jessica, however,
worries that her father is more interested in revenge than in money.
Bassanio reads out loud the letter from Antonio, who asks only for a brief
reunion before he dies. Portia urges her husband to rush to his friend’s aid,
and Bassanio leaves for Venice.

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