The Gentleman of Venice is a Caroline era stage play, a tragicomedy written by James Shirley, and first published in 1655.
In 1655, The Gentleman of Venice was published twice in alternative quarto and octavo formats by the bookseller Humphrey Moseley, who issued the play both as a solo work and bound together with Shirley's The Politician.
)[3] These publications were unusual in that the lists of dramatis personae were furnished with short descriptions of each of the important characters, an atypical feature in the printing of plays at that time.
Giovanni decides to serve as a soldier in Venice's war with Genoa; Bellaura equips him with armor and with a letter of introduction to the military commander, who is her relative.
Cornari's nephew Malipiero, however, is arrested for participating in Thomazo's treasonous plot, and eventually comes to a sincere reformation of his ways, making him suitable as his uncle's heir.