Merchant Of Venice-Parts II

Bassanio and Antonio wanted to show the young lawyer that they were very grateful for his help. 'Please accept the 3,000 ducats owed to Shylock,' Antonio said. But Portia would not accept the money. Bassanio was also very anxious to give the lawyer something. So Portia thought she would trick her husband, for a joke. 'If you insist, give me your gloves,' she told Bassanio. Bassanio took off his gloves, showing the ring on his hand. 'As a sign of your thankfulness, give me that ring on your finger.' Bassanio immediately drew his hand away. This ring was the one Portia had given him when she promised to marry him. He had promised never to give it away. He pretended that the ring had no value, and was too small to give as a present. But Portia asked for it again. Bassanio then told her it was his wife's ring, and she had made him promise never to give it away.

"That is a common excuse,' replied Portia. "That is what men say when they do not want to give a present. Your wife will not be angry with you for long. You can tell her how much I deserved the ring.'

Portia and Nerissa, still dressed as a lawyer and a clerk, turned to go. Almost immediately, Antonio persuaded Bassanio to give up the ring. Bassanio felt ashamed to seem ungrateful, so he gave it to Portia. Nerissa also cleverly managed to persuade Gratiano to give her the ring that she had given to him. He too had promised never to give it away.

Portia and Nerissa left Venice, and went as quickly as possible to Belmont. They wanted to get there before their husbands returned. When they got back to Portia's house, they changed their clothes at once. Soon they were sitting down, dressed in their ordinary clothes, waiting for their husbands to come back to them. Not long after, the two men arrived, with Antonio. Bassanio introduced Antonio to his wife. 'This is the friend,' he told her, 'who has helped me so much.' So Portia welcomed Antonio to her house.

While she was doing this, she saw Gratiano and Nerissa quarrelling in a corner of the room. 'What is happening?' cried Portia. 'Are you quarrelling already? What is the matter?'

'We are arguing about a ring which Nerissa gave me, Gratiano explained. "The ring had these words written on it: "Love me and never leave me".

'I am annoyed because Gratiano promised faithfully that he would keep it,' Nerissa said, 'and now he has given it away to a lawyer's clerk. It does not matter whether it was a valuable ring or not. He should not have given it away.'

Everything Is Put Right Again

Portia was now determined to enjoy the trick she had played on her husband. 'Of course Gratiano was wrong to give away his wife's first present. I, too, gave my husband a ring, and made him promise to keep it. If he gave that ring away, I would be very angry with him indeed.'

Then Gratiano replied, 'But Bassanio did give his ring away - he gave it to the young lawyer who asked for it. And then the boy, his clerk, asked me for my ring.'

When she heard this, Portia pretended to be very angry. She asked Bassanio, 'Which ring did you give him? I hope it was not the ring that you accepted from me.'

Bassanio felt very unhappy when he saw how angry his wife was. But he had to admit the truth, and tell her that he had given the ring away. 'I wish you knew how unwilling I was to give the ring to this man, and why I gave it to him.'

But Portia still pretended to be angry. She accused him of giving the ring to a woman. Bassanio thought Portia must think he was very unkind. He told her he had given the lawyer the ring because he was so grateful to him for saving Antonio's life. 'If you had been there,' he said, 'I think you would have told me to give him the ring.'

Then Antonio turned to Portia and said, "These unhappy quarrels have all been caused by me!” Do not treat this matter so seriously,' replied Portia. She took the ring from her bag and said, 'Give him this ring, and tell him to keep it better than he kept the last one.'

Antonio passed the ring to Bassanio, who looked at it. He was surprised to see that it was the one he had given away. Portia then showed her husband the letter from Dr Bellario, and so he discovered that the clever lawyer was really Portia, his wife. Bassanio realized that his own wife's courage and cleverness had saved the life of his dear friend Antonio. He was surprised and delighted.

Soon afterwards, Antonio received good news about his own affairs. Portia handed him some letters which had just arrived. These told Antonio that the ships which he thought were lost had returned to Venice, and had brought back their valuable cargoes. Antonio was a wealthy man again.

Thus the story of the Merchant of Venice ended with good news for the merchant, and with laughter between the husbands and wives over the joke about the rings.