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The Merchant of Venice

Sort Name
Merchant of Venice, The
Type
Stage play
Language
English
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Wikipedia

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.

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Annotation

The Merchant of Venice is a comedy written by William Shakespeare possibly sometime between 1596 and 1599. It was first published in 1600.

Last modified: 2020-08-02 (revision #17285)

Editions

NameFormatISBNRelease Date
The Merchant of VeniceeBook?2022-02-15
The Complete Works of William ShakespeareeBook?1994-01-01
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Identifiers

LibraryThing Work
15110
MusicBrainz Work ID
9510289f-fde4-4899-bead-bb3414f3105e
OpenLibrary Work ID
OL259002W
Wikidata Work ID
Q206400

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Last Modified
2023-07-22