Between 1596 and 1598, William Shakespeare penned The Merchant of Venice following other timeless plays such as Romeo and Juliet and Richard III. While originally classified as a comedy, its dramatic scenes are what many remember most, especially the speech delivered by Shylock:

Hath not a Jew eyes? Hath not a Jew hands, organs,
dimensions, senses, affections, passions; fed with
the same food, hurt with the same weapons, subject
to the same diseases, heald by the same means,
warmd and coold by the same winter and summer
as a Christian is? If you prick us, do we not bleed?
If you tickle us,...