together in such a way as to create a new and wholly original work of literature. Shakespeare does not just insert a subplot that runs alternately with his main plot. Rather, the characters of one plot are also integral and vital to the otherplot. Shakespeare’s storytelling art involves the blending of two (and sometimes even more than two) plots in such awaythat every scene and even every line becomes vital to the meaning and understanding of both plots and to the overall play. The result, then, is an entirely new plot (as in the case of a tragedy likeKing Lear) or at least a thoroughly revised plot (as in the case ofMerchant of Venice) that is most assuredly creative in the sense of organization and integration.
In The Merchant of Venice the two connectedplotsortalesare,ascriticsrefertothem,