This article is about Shakespeare's play. For other uses, see The Merchant of Venice (disambiguation).
The Merchant of Venice
Title page of the first quarto (1600)
Written by
William Shakespeare
Characters
Antonio
Shylock
Portia
Bassanio
Jessica
Original language
English
Series
First Folio
Subject
Debt
Genre
Shakespearean comedy
Setting
Venice, 16th century
The Merchant of Venice is a play by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1596 and 1598. A merchant in Venice named Antonio defaults on a large loan taken out on behalf of his dear friend, Bassanio, and provided by a Jewish moneylender, Shylock, with seemingly inevitable fatal consequences.
Although classified as a comedy in the First Folio and sharing certain aspects with Shakespeare's other romantic comedies, the play is most remembered for its dramatic scenes, and it is best known for the character Shylock and his famous demand for a "pound of flesh".
The play contains two famous speeches, that of Shylock, "Hath not a Jew eyes?" on the subject of humanity, and that of Portia on "the quality of mercy". Debate exists on whether the play is anti-Semitic, with Shylock's insistence on his legal right to the pound of flesh being in opposition to Shylock's seemingly universal plea for the rights of all people suffering discrimination.
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