Jessica (The Merchant of Venice) intends to collect on the "pound of flesh". Jessica informs them that she has heard her father speaking with his fellows, saying he "would rather have Antonio's flesh / Than twenty times the value of the sum / That he did owe him." Portia dispatches Bassanio to Venice to assist his friend, pausing only long enough for them to be married. Then announces that she and Nerissa, her maid, will stay in a nearby convent while their husbands are away. In her absence she asks Lorenzo and Jessica to manage her estate. In Act 3, Scene 5, Jessica and Gobbo
The Merchant of Venice (opera) The Merchant of Venice (opera) The Merchant of Venice is an opera by André Tchaikowsky (1935–1982) to a libretto, based on the Shakespeare play, by John O'Brien. Written between 1968 and 1982, it was first performed in 2013 at the Bregenz Festival. The British premiere was presented by the Welsh National Opera in September 2016. Tchaikowsky, who was based in England after the 1950s, was a great admirer of Shakespeare, and was able to recite large stretches of his works from memory. His compositions include settings of seven of Shakespeare's "Sonnets", songs from "The Tempest", and incidental music for "Hamlet".