The Merchant of Venice

‘The Merchant of Venice’ (1599) by the English poet, playwright and actor, William Shakespeare, is a tragic comedy which centres on the themes of money, romance and Anti-semitism. In the play we have Bassanio going along with his dearest friend, Antonio to the Jewish usurer, Shylock, to ask for some money with which he, Bassanio, is going to use to travel to Belmont to present himself as a suitor to the lady Portia. They make a deal in which Antonio would have to give Shylock a pound of his flesh of he is unable to repay the lent money in the allotted time. Everything ends well for everyone in the end, except Shylock who lost his pound of flesh as well as his daughter and ‘ducats’.