Renaissance and Reformation Primary Sources | William Shakespeare

Excerpt from The Merchant of Venice (1596)

Edited by Brents Stirling
Published in 1987

The playwright William Shakespeare (1564–1616) is considered the greatest of English writers and one of the most talented creators in history. Today he is the most quoted author in the English language. Shakespeare had established his career in London by 1592, when theater was flourishing in England. He was popular with audiences from a wide range of social classes, who flocked to see his plays. At the time of his retirement in 1613 he had made important innovations in all the major dramatic genres, or forms, of the Renaissance period—comedy (depiction of humorous characters and situations), romance (love story), chronicle (history play), and tragedy (drama portraying the downfall of a good man).

Shakespeare's earliest plays were comedies, which entertained audiences while depicting social...