The Merchant of Venice/Trivia

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


  • Beam Me Up, Scotty: A popular quote from the play is "So shines a good deed in a weary world," although this is actually a misquote of "So shines a good deed in a naughty world," popularized by Willy Wonka and The Chocolate Factory.
  • Fan Nickname: Salerio and Solanio – or Salerino, Solanio and Salerio, depending on which version of the script you're reading – have long been known to actors and editors as "the Sallies" or "the Salads".
  • Reality Subtext: The play was first written and produced in the wake of Roderigo Lopez, a Portuguese doctor of Jewish descent, being accused of trying to poison Queen Elizabeth I. Anti-Semitic sentiment was running rampant, and a number of playwrights, including Shakespeare, sought to capitalize on it by writing plays about villainous Jews.
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