An excerpt from The Merchant of Venice
The play has a double plot 1. an impoverished young Venetian, Bassanio, asks his friend Antonio, for a loan so that he might gain in marriage the hand of Portia, a rich and beautiful heiress of Belmont. When Bassanio and Portia meet, they all in lover at first sight. but before she can surrender herself, Bassanio has to pass the test of the caskets, ordained by her dead father. The test is to choose from among a god, a sliver, a lead casket the right one that contains her portrait. Portia's joy is as great as that of Bassanion when he has chosen correctly. But their rejoicing is interrupted by the arrival of a letter from Antonio;
