begin with a simple conversation, showing a state of affairs from which
the crisis develops with more or less rapidity, but in which it is as
yet imperceptibly latent. In no case does he plunge into the middle of
his subject, leaving its antecedents to be stated in what is technically
called an "exposition." Neither in tragedy nor in comedy, indeed, was
this Shakespeare's method. In his historical plays he relied to some
extent on his hearers' knowledge of history, whether gathered from books
or from previous plays of the historical series; and where such
knowledge was not to be looked for, he would expound the situation in
good set terms, like those of a Euripidean Prologue. But the
chronicle-play is a species apart, and practically an extinct species:
we need not pause to study its methods. In his fictitious plays, with
two notable exceptions, it was Shakespeare's constant practice to bring
the whole action within the frame of the picture, opening at such a
point that no retrospect should be necessary, beyond what could be
conveyed in a few casual words. The exceptions are _The Tempest_ and
_Hamlet_, to which we shall return in due course.

How does _The Merchant of Venice_ open? With a long conversation
exhibiting the character of Antonio, the friendship between him and
Bassanio, the latter's financial straits, and his purpose of wooing
Portia. The second scene displays the character of Portia, and informs
us of her father's device with regard to her marriage; but this
information is conveyed in three or four lines. Not till the third scene
do we see or hear of Shylock, and not until very near the end of the act
is there any foreshadowing of what is to be the main crisis of the play.
Not a single antecedent event has to be narrated to us; for the mere
fact that Antonio has been uncivil to Shylock, and shown disapproval of
his business methods, can scarcely be regarded as a preliminary outside
the frame of the picture.