The Merchant of Venice Annotated

The Merchant of Venice is a 16th-century play written by William Shakespeare in which a merchant in Venice named Antonio defaults on a large loan provided by a Jewish moneylender, Shylock.

It is believed to have been written between 1596 and 1599.Though classified as a comedy in the First Folio and sharing certain aspects with Shakespeare's other romantic comedies, the play is perhaps most remembered for its dramatic scenes, and is best known for Shylock and the famous "Hath not a Jew eyes?" speech.

Also notable is Portia's speech about "the quality of mercy".

The title character is the merchant Antonio, not the Jewish moneylender Shylock, who is the play's most prominent and most famous character.