Merchant of Venice, The

Aiton's Encyclopedia (1910)

The, a comedy by Shakespeare, written sometime between 1594 and 1598, and printed in 1600. The date of the first presentation is unknown. The material of the play was obtained in part from the Gesta Romanorum . Two stories seem to be united in The Merchant of Venice. The one, The Pound of Flesh, or The Bond Story, represents a merchant as having borrowed money, signing a bond that, if the debt is not paid at a certain date, the creditor may cut from his debtor's body a pound of flesh. The other is the story of The Three Caskets, one of gold, one of silver, one of lead. In one of these there is a treasure which he may possess who chooses the right casket. The first of these stories has been traced as far back as the Mahabharata, the great epic of India. Both stories are found in the Gesta Romanorum. Both have been told and retold in many languages, before and since the time of Shakespeare. It is believed that Shakespeare made use of an Italian novel for his version of The Bond Story. The character of Portia in this play is a favorite among Shakespeare's creations. Schelling speaks of her as "the sound-hearted, adorable . . . a creature of the poet's brain, wealthily endowed with a reality and an immortality beyond the fondest longings of actual men and women." Shylock, too, is a striking character, and in the presentation of the play is the figure about whom interest centers. What then remains to Shakespeare? and what is there to show that he is not a plagiarist? Every thing that makes The Merchant of Venice what it is. The people are puppets, and the incidents are all found in old stories. They are mere bundles of barren sticks that the poet's touch causes to bloom like Aaron's rod: they are heaps of dry bones till he clothes them with human flesh and breathes into them the breath of life.--Richard Grant White.