Original: If to do were as easy as to know what were good to do, chapels had been churches and poor men’s cottages princes’ palaces.
Modern: If actually doing the right thing were as easy as knowing what the right thing is, small chapels would be grand churches and poor men’s shacks would be princes’ mansions.

Original: It is a good divine that follows his own instructions: I can easier teach twenty what were good to be done, than be one of the twenty to follow mine own teaching.
Modern: It’s a good priest who actually follows his own advice: I can more easily teach twenty people what they should do than be one of those twenty people following my own advice.

Original: The brain may devise laws for the blood, but a hot temper leaps o’er a cold decree: such a hare is madness the youth, to skip o’er the meshes of good counsel the cripple.
Modern: The mind may make rules for our passions, but strong emotions jump over logical decisions: young people’s wild impulses are like rabbits that leap over the net of good advice meant to trap them.

Original: But this reasoning is not in the fashion to choose me a husband.
Modern: But all this philosophizing isn’t going to help me find a husband.

Original: O me, the word ‘choose!’
Modern: Oh my, the word “choose”!

Original: I may neither choose whom I would nor refuse whom I dislike; so is the will of a living daughter curbed by the will of a dead father.
Modern: I can’t pick the man I want, and I can’t reject the man I don’t want; this is how a living daughter’s desires are controlled by her dead father’s wishes.

Original: Is it not hard, Nerissa, that I cannot choose one nor refuse none?
Modern: Isn’t it unfair, Nerissa, that I can’t choose anyone I want and I can’t refuse anyone I don’t want?

In Act I, Scene ii of The Merchant of Venice, the scene takes place at Portia’s estate in Belmont, where Portia is speaking with her waiting-woman, Nerissa. Portia expresses her weariness and frustration with her situation, explaining that she is bound by the terms of her late father’s will, which dictates that she cannot choose her own husband. Instead, any man who wishes to marry her must select correctly from among three caskets — one of gold, one of silver, and one of lead — with the correct casket containing her portrait. Portia feels trapped by this arrangement and laments that she is unable to act on her own desires, neither able to choose whom she would like nor refuse whom she dislikes.

Nerissa then proceeds to go through a list of Portia’s current suitors, each of whom is a nobleman from a different country, and Portia responds to each with witty and dismissive commentary, finding fault with all of them. The suitors discussed include a Neapolitan prince, a County Palatine, a French lord, an English baron, a Scottish lord, and a German duke. Portia finds each one lacking in some way, whether due to arrogance, dullness, poor manners, or excessive drinking. Nerissa then mentions a previous visitor to Belmont — a Venetian named Bassanio — and Portia responds warmly, suggesting she remembers him fondly. The scene closes with news that the current suitors intend to depart without attempting the casket challenge, bringing Portia some relief.

The Merchant of Venice centers on Bassanio, a young Venetian gentleman who needs money to court the wealthy heiress Portia in Belmont. His friend Antonio, a merchant, agrees to help but has no ready cash since his ships are at sea. Antonio borrows 3,000 ducats from Shylock, a Jewish moneylender, with the unusual condition that if the loan isn’t repaid within three months, Shylock may take a pound of Antonio’s flesh. Meanwhile, Shylock’s daughter Jessica elopes with the Christian Lorenzo, taking her father’s money and jewels.

In Belmont, Portia’s deceased father has decreed that her suitors must choose correctly among three caskets—gold, silver, and lead—to win her hand. The Prince of Morocco and the Prince of Arragon both choose incorrectly and depart. When Bassanio arrives and selects the lead casket, he wins Portia, while his friend Gratiano wins her maid Nerissa. Their celebrations are interrupted by news that Antonio’s ships have been lost and Shylock demands his pound of flesh.

Portia and Nerissa disguise themselves as a lawyer and clerk and travel to Venice for Antonio’s trial. In court, Portia grants Shylock his legal right to the flesh but warns he may take no blood and must cut exactly one pound—an impossible task. Defeated, Shylock loses his bond and, under Venetian law, must forfeit half his wealth and convert to Christianity. The disguised Portia requests Bassanio’s wedding ring as payment, which he reluctantly gives. Back in Belmont, Portia playfully scolds her husband for giving away his ring before revealing her disguise. The play concludes with news that Antonio’s ships have safely returned, restoring his fortune.