Project Gutenberg 1997-11-01 Public domain in the USA. 214 Shakespeare, William 1564 1616 Shakspeare, William Shakspere, William The Merchant of Venice The First Folio, 1623 Wikipedia page about this book: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Merchant_of_Venice "The Merchant of Venice" by William Shakespeare is a play written in the late 16th century. The narrative explores themes of love, revenge, and mercy through the lives of various characters in Venice, notably focusing on Antonio, a merchant, and his bond with Shylock, a Jewish moneylender. As the story unfolds, conflicts arise from a mix of financial dealings and personal relationships, with love interests such as Bassanio and Portia taking center stage. At the start of the play, we are introduced to Antonio, who is inexplicably sad, a mood that is a subject of discussion among his friends Salarino and Salanio. They speculate that his melancholy stems from his precarious ventures at sea. Soon after, Bassanio arrives and discloses his intent to woo the wealthy heiress Portia by borrowing money from Antonio, even though Antonio’s funds are tied up in ship ventures. Meanwhile, Shylock, who holds a grudge against Antonio for lending without interest, agrees to lend the required sum on the condition that if Antonio defaults, Shylock will take a pound of his flesh. This sets the stage for the central tension of the play: the implications of love, loyalty, and the harshness of legal obligation. (This is an automatically generated summary.) Reading ease score: 82.0 (6th grade). Easy to read. en Comedy plays Jews -- Italy -- Drama Moneylenders -- Drama Venice (Italy) -- Drama PR Text Category: Plays/Films/Dramas Category: Classics of Literature Category: British Literature 175315 2025-09-01T08:30:11.847843 text/html 175132 2025-01-07T15:51:22.964346 text/html 131814 2025-09-01T08:30:18.956821 application/epub+zip 133313 2025-09-01T08:30:14.532767 application/epub+zip 259898 2025-09-10T07:25:26 image/jpeg 129747 2025-09-01T08:30:13.350819 application/epub+zip 266047 2025-09-01T08:30:21.620706 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 249570 2025-09-01T08:30:18.250704 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 204477 2022-08-01T08:05:56.203989 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 140710 2025-09-01T08:30:11.523757 text/plain; charset=us-ascii 121013 2025-09-10T07:24:50 text/plain; charset=us-ascii 17251 2025-09-01T08:30:21.762713 application/rdf+xml 13477 2025-09-01T08:30:13.923741 image/jpeg 3764 2025-09-01T08:30:13.633758 image/jpeg 131420 2025-09-01T08:30:11.864770 application/octet-stream application/zip Archives containing the RDF files for *all* our books can be downloaded at https://book.klll.cc/wiki/Gutenberg:Feeds#The_Complete_Project_Gutenberg_Catalog en.wikipedia