Merchant of Venice
Pound-of-flesh drama
The Merchant of Venice is a play by William Shakespeare, written around 1596–1598.
The plot centers on a Venetian merchant who borrows money from a Jewish moneylender, Shylock, agreeing to forfeit a pound of flesh if he defaults.
The play is famous for Shylock's "Hath not a Jew eyes?" speech and Portia's "quality of mercy" courtroom argument.
Its treatment of antisemitism remains controversial: Is The Merchant of Venice a critique of prejudice or an expression of it?
- poundWeight, strike, or kennel
- fleshSoft body matter
- AntonioRomance language name
- PortiaLatin-derived feminine name
- casketBurial container
Shylock · bond · usury · ducats · mercy · trial · gold · silver · lead · Rialto · Jewish · moneylender · pound of flesh · contract · revenge · rings · disguise · courtroom
- Renaissance LiteratureShakespeare, Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet, The Prince, Don Quixote
- Shakespeare studiesKing Lear, Romeo and Juliet, Julius Caesar, Twelfth Night, Much Ado
- legal fictionlegal drama, courtroom drama, crime fiction, detective stories, To Kill a Mockingbird
Merchant of Venicetragedies
Dramas with fatal endings
King Lear · Hamlet · Macbeth · Othello · Romeo and Juliet
Merchant of VeniceAs You Like It
Pastoral romantic comedy
A Midsummer Night's Dream · The Tempest · The Winter's Tale · King Lear · Arcadia
Merchant of VeniceMeasure for Measure
Elizabethan problem comedy
Antigone · Les Misérables · Twelve Angry Men · eye for an eye
merchant, merchants, mercantile, merchandise, mercury, commerce, commercial, commercially, commercialize