Portia is a beautiful, virtuous, wealthy woman who is being wooed by numerous suitors. She is not free to
decide on her
own whom she will marry because her late father stipulated in his will that she must marry the man who correctly picks the one casket (out of three) that contains her picture. One casket is gold, another is silver, and the third is made of lead
The Prince of Morocco is one in a long line of suitors who tries to win Portia's hand, and he decides that it would demean Portia to have her
picture in anything other than a gold casket, and so he chooses that one. As he unlocks it, he is dismayed to find a picture, not of Portia but of Death, with a message written in its hollow eye
''All that glisters is not gold;Often have you heard that told
Many a man his life hath sold
But my outside to behold
Gilded tombs do worms enfold
Had you been as wise as bold
Young in limbs, in judgment old
Your answer had not been inscroll'd
Fare you well; your suit is cold]
With a grieving heart the Prince takes hasty leave of Portia
Many a man his life hath sold
But my outside to behold
Gilded tombs do worms enfold
Had you been as wise as bold
Young in limbs, in judgment old
Your answer had not been inscroll'd
Fare you well; your suit is cold]
With a grieving heart the Prince takes hasty leave of Portia
