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.
Title page of the first quarto (1600)
Gilbert's Shylock After the Trial, an illustration to The Merchant of Venice
A depiction of Jessica, from The Graphic Gallery of Shakespeare's Heroines
The title page from a 1565 printing of Giovanni Fiorentino's 14th-century tale Il Pecorone
William Shakespeare was an English playwright, poet, and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon". His extant works, including collaborations, consist of some 39 plays, 154 sonnets, three long narrative poems, and a few other verses, some of uncertain authorship. His plays have been translated into every major living language and are performed more often than those of any other playwright. Shakespeare remains arguably the most influential writer in the English language, and his works continue to be studied and reinterpreted.
The Chandos portrait, likely Shakespeare, early 17th century
John Shakespeare's house, believed to be Shakespeare's birthplace, in Stratford-upon-Avon
Shakespeare's coat of arms, from the 1602 book The book of coates and creasts. Promptuarium armorum. It features spears as a pun on the family name.
Shakespeare's funerary monument in Stratford-upon-Avon
