The Merchant of Venice

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 his seemingly universal plea for the rights of all people suffering discrimination.