The Merchant of Venice (opera) latter's flesh. Lorenzo kidnaps Jessica, together with much of Shylock's wealth. Shylock is taunted by the citizens of Venice. Act II takes place at Portia's residence at Belmont, where Bassanio is able to win her hand after defeating two foreign princes in choosing correctly between three caskets of gold, silver and lead. Act III is set in the Duke's courtroom; Antonio's business ventures seem to have failed, and Shylock claims his pound of flesh. Portia and her servant Nerissa, disguised as lawyers, successfully defend Antonio and force Shylock to forgo his loan, to accept Lorenzo as a son-in-law, and to
Timeline of Shakespeare criticism Jonson's concept of Shakespeare as the "child of nature." Bevill Higgons: From the preface to the revision of "The Merchant of Venice" (1701) by George Granville, 1st Baron Lansdowne. Here, Shakespeare is made both to recognize his own lack of sophistication and to approve the neoclassical polish added by Granville. Joseph Addison, 1712: "Among the English, Shakespeare has incomparably excelled all others. That noble extravagance of fancy, which he had in so great perfection, thoroughly qualified him to touch... his reader's imagination, and made him capable of succeeding, where he had nothing to support him besides the strength of his