The Merchant of Venice The Merchant of Venice The Merchant of Venice is a 16th-century play written by William Shakespeare in which a merchant in Venice (Antonio) must default 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 most remembered for its dramatic scenes, and it is best known for Shylock and the famous "Hath not a Jew eyes?" speech on humanity. Also notable is Portia's speech about "the quality of
S. S. Rajendran S. S. Rajendran Sedapatti Suryanarayana Rajendran, commonly known by his stage name S. S. Rajendran (SSR) (; January 1928 – 24 October 2014), was an Indian film actor, director, producer and politician. Rajendran made his acting debut with the 1952 film "Parasakthi", directed by the directing duo Krishnan-Panju, with the character Gnanasekharan. He followed with "Mudhalali", "President Panchatcharam", "Pillai Kani Amudhu", "Thalai Koduthan Thambi", "Thedi Vandha Selvam", C. N. Annadurai's "Edhayum Thangum Idhayam", M. Karunanidhi's "Avan Pithana", "Poompuhar" and Modern Theatres "Kumudham". SSR acted with M. G. Ramachandran in "Raja Desingu" as Mohamed Khan and in "Kaanji Thalaivan" as Paranjothi.