Project Gutenberg 1998-11-01 Public domain in the USA. 2467 Shakespeare, William 1564 1616 Shakspeare, William Shakspere, William The Merchant of Venice Wikipedia page about this book: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Merchant_of_Venice the PG Shakespeare Team, a team of about twenty Project Gutenberg volunteers "The Merchant of Venice" by William Shakespeare is a play written during the late 16th century. The play explores themes of mercy, justice, and the complexity of human relationships, centering on the figures of Antonio, a melancholic merchant, and Shylock, a Jewish moneylender harboring a deep resentment against Christians. The narrative unfolds against the backdrop of Venice and Belmont, highlighting issues of love, loyalty, and prejudice. The opening of the play introduces us to Antonio, who expresses his unexplained sadness to his friends Salarino and Solanio, leading them to speculate whether he is in love. They discuss the dangers of venture at sea while he reassures them about his financial affairs. Soon, Bassanio arrives to seek Antonio's help in wooing the wealthy heiress Portia, hinting at the central pursuit that will drive the plot. Meanwhile, the audience is introduced to another key character, Portia, who laments the restrictions placed upon her by her deceased father's will regarding marriage. As the act unfolds, the themes of love intertwined with duty and the societal constraints of the time begin to take shape, foreshadowing the conflicts to come. (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 Banned Books from Anne Haight's list Category: Plays/Films/Dramas Category: Classics of Literature Category: British Literature 187568 2025-08-23T12:01:26.980634 text/html 162679 2025-08-23T09:25:08 text/html 488199 2025-08-23T12:01:41.035612 application/epub+zip 486810 2025-08-23T12:01:33.515593 application/epub+zip 194349 2025-08-23T12:01:29.265620 application/epub+zip 787238 2025-08-23T12:01:47.128569 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 766478 2025-08-23T12:01:40.435580 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 176208 2022-09-01T11:16:10.628450 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 146725 2025-08-23T12:01:26.130647 text/plain; charset=us-ascii 126932 2025-08-21T11:39:14 text/plain; charset=us-ascii 17545 2025-08-23T12:01:47.267567 application/rdf+xml 20352 2025-08-23T12:01:33.100594 image/jpeg 3541 2025-08-23T12:01:33.004603 image/jpeg 846380 2025-08-23T12:01:27.004647 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