The Merchant of Venice is a play by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1596 and 1598. Though classified as a comedy in the First Folio and sharing certain aspects with Shakespeare's other romantic comedies, the play is perhaps most remembered for its dramatic scenes, and is best known for Shylock and the famous "Hath not a Jew eyes?" speech. Also notable is Portia's speech about "the quality of mercy”. The title character is the merchant Antonio, not the Jewish moneylender Shylock, who is the play's most prominent and most famous character. This is made explicit by the title page of the first quarto: The most excellent History of the Merchant of Venice. With the extreme cruelty of Shylock the Jew towards the said Merchant etc. Antonio is a symbol of Christian kindness, generosity, and love. These attributes are usually shown towards Bassanio or his friends. “In this and other ways he is a romantic figure. To his contemporaries he may have had a broader significance. In a group of medieval tales called the Tale of Abraham and Theodore, the rescue of a borrower from the clutches of an usurer was a symbol of man’s redemption.” (Campbell) Antonio helped Bassanio and prevented him from having to borrow money from an usurer, taking his place as the borrower instead. Antonio’s symbolism as Jesus or the perfect lamb is brought to mind. In Judaism a perfect lamb is sacrificed for a sin offering killed to deflect the wrath of God. Antonio is the perfect lamb about to be killed to appease the vengeance of Shylock. In Christianity, Jesus dies in the place of sinners. Antonio—like Jesus—takes the place of Bassanio as the borrower and savior. The fundamental weakness in both of these allegories is that Antonio's character is marred by hatred unlike the lamb (chosen for its purity), and unlike Christ (declared sinless in the New Testament).