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
The Merchant of Venice 1989, and follows the events in "The Merchant of Venice". In this play Shylock gets his wealth back and becomes a Jew again. The "Star Trek" franchise sometimes quote and paraphrase Shakespeare, including "The Merchant of Venice". One example is the Shakespeare-aficionado Chang in "" (1991), a Klingon, who quotes Shylock. Steven Spielberg's "Schindler's List" (1993) depicts SS Lieutenant Amon Göth quoting Shylock's "Hath Not a Jew eyes?" speech when deciding whether or not to rape his Jewish maid. In David Fincher's 1995 crime thriller "Seven", a lawyer, Eli Gould, is coerced to remove a pound of his own flesh