Project Gutenberg 1999-06-01 Public domain in the USA. 116 Shakespeare, William 1564 1616 Shakspeare, William Shakspere, William The Merchant of Venice There is an improved edition of this title, eBook #1515 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 during the late 16th century. The work explores themes of love, friendship, prejudice, and mercy, centered particularly on the characters Antonio, a merchant, and his friend Bassanio, who seeks to woo the wealthy heiress Portia. The tension builds around a loan from Shylock, a Jewish moneylender, which sets the stage for conflicts that test the bonds of friendship and the nature of mercy. At the start of the play, we are introduced to Antonio, who is strangely melancholic, prompting his friends Salerio and Solanio to speculate on the reasons for his sadness. The audience learns that his wealth is tied up in merchant ships, leading to uncertainty about his financial status. Meanwhile, Bassanio seeks to court Portia, who is bound by her deceased father's will to marry whoever chooses correctly from among three caskets. This complex arrangement sets the stage for future romantic entanglements and dramatic confrontations, particularly with Shylock, who harbors deep resentment towards Christians like Antonio. The opening deftly establishes the themes of risk and sacrifice that will resonate throughout the play. (This is an automatically generated summary.) Reading ease score: 80.2 (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 204088 2025-07-01T10:42:34.682571 text/html 203905 2025-01-07T18:27:02.140679 text/html 139144 2025-07-01T10:42:41.110526 application/epub+zip 140629 2025-07-01T10:42:37.315555 application/epub+zip 137062 2025-07-01T10:42:36.186530 application/epub+zip 289540 2025-07-01T10:42:43.568507 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 262685 2025-07-01T10:42:40.324533 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 204900 2022-08-01T10:32:02.087189 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 165677 2025-07-01T10:42:34.361596 text/plain; charset=us-ascii 145880 2019-05-22T09:19:20 text/plain; charset=us-ascii 55197 2019-05-22T09:19:30 text/plain; charset=us-ascii application/zip 18342 2025-07-01T10:42:43.792509 application/rdf+xml 13477 2025-07-01T10:42:36.673540 image/jpeg 3764 2025-07-01T10:42:36.427551 image/jpeg 137514 2025-07-01T10:42:34.698525 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