The Merchant of Venice

Merchant of Venice, The William Shakespeare

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Merchant of Venice, The
William Shakespeare

William Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice was probably written
between 1596 and 1598, and was printed with the comedies in the First
Folio of 1623. Bassanio, an impoverished gentleman, uses the credit of
his friend, the merchant Antonio, to borrow money from a wealthy Jew,
Shylock. Antonio pledges to pay Shylock a pound of flesh if he defaults
on the loan, which Bassanio will use to woo a rich heiress, Portia. A
subplot concerns the elopement of Shylock’s daughter Jessica with a
Christian, Bassanio’s friend Lorenzo. In its focus on love and marriage,
the play shares certain concerns with Shakespeare’s other comedies. Yet
its depiction of the tensions between Jews and Christians in early
modern Venice — and its highly dramatic trial scene in Act 4 — create
darker currents in the play.

0 — Dramatis Personae — 00:02:27
1 — Act 1 — 00:25:40
2 — Act 2 — 00:38:35
3 — Act 3 — 00:36:50
4 — Act 4 — 00:26:29
5 — Act 5 — 00:16:15

Cover design by peegee from "Portia" by Henry Woods (1888)
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Merchant of Venice, The William Shakespeare

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