Want to know where The Merchant Of Venice is set?
Well, no prizes for guessing Venice! But read on for all the details of where each scene in the play is located.
Shakespeare’s The Merchant Of Venice is set in renaissance Venice, with a few scenes in a fictional Italian town called Belmont. The setting is important – Venice was one of the wealthiest towns in Europe, as it was right on the sea, with excellent shipping facilities for trading with the east.
There was a big Jewish population, and a ghetto, where they lived. They were hated by the Christian community although its members went to the Jewish money lenders when they needed to – as occurs in this play. The play is partly about the relationship between Jews and Christians who have to live side by side in a very small space. The story springs from that clash in Venice.
The map below shows all the locations Shakespeare used for The Merchant of Venice. You can zoom in on the map for a more detailed view of an area, and click the icons on the map for more information.
Braun & Hogenberg’s 1572 map of Venice
When is it set?
THIS DOES NOT SAY ANYTHING ABOUT WHEN IT WAS SET. NOT HELPFUL.
it says ‘where’, not ‘when’
Yes
Yes it does: Renaissance Venice.