This drama is about love and marriage. But the path to marriage in this play is unusually hazardous. ... To win Portia's hand, Bassanio must put his future at risk in an attempt to choose correctly among three caskets or chests of gold, silver, and lead. If he chooses rightly, he wins, in marriage, the beautiful, intelligent, and supremely resourceful Portia and her great wealth. If he chooses wrongly, he must forever abandon Portia and may never...