Jessica (The Merchant of Venice) Jessica (The Merchant of Venice) Jessica is the daughter of Shylock, a Jewish moneylender, in William Shakespeare's "The Merchant of Venice" (). In the play, she elopes with Lorenzo, a pennyless Christian, and a chest of her father's money, eventually ending up in Portia and Bassanio's household. In the play's dramatic structure, Jessica is a minor but pivotal role. Her actions motivate Shylock's vengeful insistence on his "pound of flesh" from Antonio; her relationships with Lorenzo and Shylock serves as a mirror and contrast to Portia's with Bassanio and with her father; her conversion to Christianity is the end of
The Jew of Malta on 17 May 1594, the earliest surviving edition was printed in 1633 by the bookseller Nicholas Vavasour, under the sponsorship of Thomas Heywood. This edition contains prologues and epilogues written by Heywood for a revival in that year. Heywood is also sometimes thought to have revised the play. Corruption and inconsistencies in the 1633 quarto, particularly in the third, fourth, and fifth acts, may be evidence of revision or alteration of the text. Some critics have suggested that the play directly influenced Marlowe's contemporary, William Shakespeare, in the writing of his play "The Merchant of Venice." James Shapiro notes that