The Merchant of Venice Shakespeare Festival, the play also marked that 500 years had passed since the Venetian Ghetto was instituted. 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
Jessica (given name) Jessica (given name) Jessica (originally Iessica, also Jesica, Jesika, Jessicah, Jessika, or Jessikah) is a female given name. The oldest written record of the name with its current spelling is found as the name of the Shakespearean character Jessica, from the play "The Merchant of Venice". The name may have been an Anglicisation of the biblical Iscah (from the Hebrew: יִסְכָּה : yiskāh), the name of a daughter of Haran briefly mentioned in the Book of Genesis 11:29. Iscah was rendered "Iesca" (Jeska) in the Matthew Bible version available in Shakespeare's day. The original Hebrew name "Yiskāh", means "foresight", or