Venice was an important trading centre where merchants bought and sold all manner of goods from around the world. The characters Antonio (the merchant of the title), Bassanio, and Shylock ...

In 1596, in the liberal Venice, Bassanio asks for a large amount to his friend, the merchant Antonio, to travel to Belmont and propose the gorgeous Portia. Antonio has invested all his money in ...

As the various characters appear and the tale unfolds ... "The most excellent Histories of the Merchant of Venice. With the extreame crueltie of Shylock the Iewe towards the sayd ...