Shakespeare's Shylock: The Merciless Merchant

The Merchant of Venice is a play by William Shakespeare about a man called Antonio who borrows money from a rich Jewish moneylender called Shylock. When Antonio cannot pay back the money, Shylock demands the right to cut "a pound of flesh" from Antonio's body. A famous speech from the play, made by the main female character Portia, begins with the words "The quality of mercy is not strain'd, It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven upon the place beneath", by which Portia tells Shylock that he cannot be forced to show mercy (= forgiveness), but that this would be a morally good thing to do.
Argentine dramatist Agustín Cuzzani wrote a successful play called Una libra de carne (A Pound of Flesh, 1954), in which, inspired by the Merchant of Venice, he attacked the evils of capitalism.