Bassanio asks his best friend Antonio for a 3,000-ducat loan to fund his courtship of the wealthy heiress Portia in Belmont.

Portia explains to her maid Nerissa the strange casket scheme her deceased father devised to determine who she must marry.

Shylock offers to lend the 3,000 ducats interest-free but demands a pound of Antonio's flesh if the loan goes unpaid in three months.

Antonio agrees to Shylock's pound-of-flesh bond, confident his shipping ventures will return enough money well before the deadline.

Jessica drops Shylock's gold and jewels from his window and slips away in disguise alongside Lorenzo.

The Prince of Morocco chooses the gold casket and discovers nothing inside but a skull and a mocking scroll.

Shylock vows to collect Antonio's pound of flesh after learning the merchant's ships may have been lost at sea.

Shylock delivers a passionate speech demanding to know whether a Jew has eyes, blood, and feelings like any Christian man.

Bassanio rejects the gold and silver caskets and opens the lead casket to find Portia's portrait confirming she will be his wife.

A letter from Antonio arrives at Belmont revealing all his ships have failed and Shylock is demanding his pound of flesh.

Portia gives Bassanio 9,000 ducats and instructs him to rush back to Venice to save Antonio's life.

Portia enters the Venetian courtroom disguised as a male lawyer sent by Doctor Bellario to mediate the case between Shylock and Antonio.

Portia rules that Shylock may take flesh but cannot spill a single drop of Antonio's blood, defeating his entire claim.

Antonio offers Shylock conditional mercy — he may keep his assets if he converts to Christianity and bequeaths everything to Jessica and Lorenzo.

Portia and Nerissa reveal to their stunned husbands that they were the lawyer and clerk who saved Antonio in Venice.

Antonio agrees to a dangerous bond with Shylock that stakes a pound of his own flesh to help his friend Bassanio court the heiress Portia. While Bassanio sails to Belmont, Shylock's daughter Jessica robs her father and elopes, and rumors arrive that Antonio's ships may have sunk at sea. Bassanio wins Portia's hand by correctly choosing the lead casket, but his joy is cut short by a letter revealing Antonio cannot repay Shylock and now faces death. Portia sends Bassanio back to Venice with money and secretly follows, disguising herself as a lawyer to argue Antonio's case before the duke of Venice. Through a brilliant legal loophole, Portia defeats Shylock's claim and forces him to accept terms that include converting to Christianity. The play ends with Portia and Nerissa finally revealing their disguises to their bewildered husbands.

The headline events of the bond, courtship, and trial.

Antonio is found among his friends in Venice in an unexplained state of deep melancholy.

Portia and Nerissa fondly recall a Venetian nobleman named Bassanio, agreeing he is the most worthy suitor Portia has encountered.

Shylock reveals in an aside that he despises Antonio for his antisemitism and his practice of lending money without interest.

Launcelot Gobbo, Shylock's unhappy servant, decides to abandon his master and offer his services to Bassanio instead.

Gratiano asks Bassanio's permission to sail with him to Belmont, and Bassanio agrees on condition that Gratiano subdues his rowdy nature.

Jessica secretly passes a letter through Launcelot to Lorenzo, outlining her plan to rob Shylock and flee his home that night.

Launcelot delivers an invitation luring Shylock to dinner at Bassanio's house, a ruse designed to empty Shylock's home for Jessica's escape.

Solanio and Salarino report that Shylock discovered Jessica's escape and ran through Venice screaming for his daughter and his stolen ducats.

The Prince of Arragon selects the silver casket, finds a portrait of an idiot inside, and departs in shame and anger.

Tubal tells Shylock that Jessica traded the ring his late wife Leah gave him in exchange for a monkey.

Gratiano announces to the assembled company at Belmont that he and Nerissa have fallen in love and wish to be married.

Antonio begs Shylock in Venice to release him from the bond, but Shylock simply repeats that he will have his bond.

Portia sends her servant to cousin Doctor Bellario to collect the legal notes and garments needed for her disguise as a lawyer.

Shylock argues in court that the duke's ownership of enslaved people is no different from his own legal claim on Antonio's flesh.

Portia tells Lorenzo and Jessica that they will inherit Shylock's entire fortune upon his death.

While the main plot unfolds, a web of secondary events reveals the true texture of life in Venice and Belmont. Antonio's unexplained melancholy sets a somber tone from the outset, and Portia and Nerissa's fond recollection of Bassanio quietly foreshadows the romance to come. Shylock's hatred of Antonio is shown to be rooted in years of antisemitic humiliation, and his anguish when Jessica trades his late wife's ring for a monkey reveals an unexpected human depth beneath his hard exterior. Failed suitors, scheming servants, and a raging Shylock fill the play's middle acts, while the courtroom drama exposes the hypocrisy at the heart of Christian claims to mercy and justice. The play closes with Portia granting Jessica and Lorenzo a future inheritance that quietly completes Shylock's dispossession.

The supporting events behind Venice's comic and tragic undercurrents.

Bassanio pleads with Antonio not to accept Shylock's pound-of-flesh terms, but Antonio dismisses his concerns and agrees to the bond.

Jessica privately vows to rob her father Shylock, elope with Lorenzo, and convert from Judaism to Christianity.

Antonio informs Gratiano that favorable winds mean Bassanio must cancel the evening's masquerade and set sail for Belmont immediately.

Salarino shares a rumor that a ship matching one of Antonio's vessels has wrecked somewhere in the English Channel.

A messenger arrives at Portia's estate announcing that a young Venetian nobleman is approaching to present himself as a suitor.

Tubal informs Shylock that a second Antonio ship has wrecked near Tripoli, all but guaranteeing Antonio cannot repay the loan.

Portia urges Bassanio to delay his casket choice, confessing she cannot bear the thought of losing him to a wrong decision.

Portia gives Bassanio a ring as a wedding gift and he solemnly vows never to remove it from his finger.

Portia reveals to Nerissa that the two of them will disguise themselves as men and travel to Venice to help Antonio.

Portia delivers a speech in court declaring that mercy is not strained but falls as gently as rain, urging Shylock to show compassion.

Bassanio offers Shylock three times the original bond — 9,000 ducats — but Shylock refuses to abandon his claim to the flesh.

After ruling on the case, the disguised Portia requests Bassanio's ring as the only payment she will accept for her services.

Bassanio refuses at first to surrender Portia's ring, but Antonio's personal plea finally convinces him to send it with Gratiano.

The disguised Nerissa persuades Gratiano to give up the ring she herself placed on his finger on their wedding day.

Portia produces a letter confirming that three of Antonio's ships survived their voyages and have returned home safely.

Every major turn in the story is triggered by a decision made under pressure or a discovery that changes everything. Bassanio's failed plea against the bond sets Antonio's fate in motion, while Jessica's private vow launches her betrayal of her father. The slow confirmation of Antonio's financial ruin — first a rumor, then a second shipwreck — builds the play's central tension to a breaking point. In Belmont, Portia gives Bassanio a ring he swears never to remove, while secretly hatching her plan to disguise herself as a man and save Antonio in court. The courtroom hinges on a series of refusals and reversals, with mercy offered, rejected, and weaponized in turn, culminating in the rings being surrendered and then revealed as the final twist of the comedy plays out.