<P> At Belmont, Bassanio receives a letter telling him that Antonio has been unable to repay the loan from Shylock . Portia and Bassanio marry, as do Gratiano and Portia's handmaid Nerissa . Bassanio and Gratiano leave for Venice, with money from Portia, to save Antonio's life by offering the money to Shylock . Unknown to Bassanio and Gratiano, Portia sent her servant, Balthazar, to seek the counsel of Portia's cousin, Bellario, a lawyer, at Padua . </P> <P> The climax of the play takes place in the court of the Duke of Venice . Shylock refuses Bassanio's offer of 6,000 ducats, twice the amount of the loan . He demands his pound of flesh from Antonio . The Duke, wishing to save Antonio but unable to nullify a contract, refers the case to a visitor . He identifies himself as Balthazar, a young male "doctor of the law", bearing a letter of recommendation to the Duke from the learned lawyer Bellario . The doctor is Portia in disguise, and the law clerk who accompanies her is Nerissa, also disguised as a man . As Balthazar, Portia repeatedly asks Shylock to show mercy in a famous speech, advising him that mercy "is twice blest: It blesseth him that gives and him that takes" (IV, i, 185). However, Shylock adamantly refuses any compensations and insists on the pound of flesh . </P> <P> As the court grants Shylock his bond and Antonio prepares for Shylock's knife, Portia deftly appropriates Shylock's argument for "specific performance". She says that the contract allows Shylock only to remove the flesh, not the "blood", of Antonio (see quibble). Thus, if Shylock were to shed any drop of Antonio's blood, his "lands and goods" would be forfeited under Venetian laws . She tells him that he must cut precisely one pound of flesh, no more, no less; she advises him that "if the scale do turn, But in the estimation of a hair, Thou diest and all thy goods are confiscate ." </P> <P> Defeated, Shylock concedes to accepting Bassanio's offer of money for the defaulted bond, first his offer to pay "the bond thrice", which Portia rebuffs, telling him to take his bond, and then merely the principal, which Portia also prevents him from doing on the ground that he has already refused it "in the open court". She cites a law under which Shylock, as a Jew and therefore an "alien", having attempted to take the life of a citizen, has forfeited his property, half to the government and half to Antonio, leaving his life at the mercy of the Duke . The Duke pardons Shylock's life . Antonio asks for his share "in use" until Shylock's death, when the principal will be given to Lorenzo and Jessica . At Antonio's request, the Duke grants remission of the state's half of forfeiture, but on the condition that Shylock convert to Christianity and bequeath his entire estate to Lorenzo and Jessica (IV, i). </P>

Where does the merchant of venice take place