Description
Book SynopsisThe Merchant of Venice is best known for its complex and ambiguous portrait of the Jewish moneylender Shylock—and of European anti-Semitism. Fascinating in its engagement with prejudice, the play is also a comedy of cross-dressing and disguise, and a dramatic exploration of justice, mercy, and vengeance.
This volume contains the full text of the play with explanatory footnotes and marginal glosses for contemporary readers. An extensive introduction and well-rounded selection of background materials not only illuminate anti-Semitism in early modern England but also provide context for other facets of the play, including its comic plot of love and marriage, its examination of commerce and international trade, and its themes of revenge and the law.
Trade Review“… extremely useful. The introductory materials are lucidly written and very thorough. Most impressive, I thought, was the range of background primary sources the editor provides…. The volume strikes me as suitable for courses not only in Shakespeare and early English drama but also those that look at the history of antisemitism and of Jewish-Christian relations in Europe…. The next time I teach Merchant I am definitely going to assign it!” — Lisa Lampert-Weissig, University of California, San Diego
“Students and their teachers will welcome this excellent new edition of The Merchant of Venice. Julie Sutherland’s introduction to the play sets up the major issues of and conflicts surrounding Shakespeare’s representation of his Jewish character, Shylock. The volume’s carefully chosen and excerpted supporting materials supply lively perspectives on the historical, social, religious, and theatrical contexts of Shakespeare’s enigmatic and always fascinating play.” — Judith Page, University of Florida
“With a sensitive scholarly introduction, well-chosen illustrations, and extensive annotations, this edition of The Merchant of Venice is accessible enough for secondary school students and challenging enough for undergraduate and even graduate students. The contextual materials on topics from ‘The Shakespearean Theater’ to ‘Jews and Christians’ to ‘Women, Family and Obedience,’ to name but a few, make this edition a superlative resource for teaching and researching one of Shakespeare’s most significant and controversial plays.” — Bernadette Andrea, University of Texas at San Antonio
“…a classroom-ready Broadview edition … presented along with a rich collection of source and contextualizing materials …” — Studies in English Literature 1500-1900
Table of Contents
- Acknowledgements
- Introduction
- The Merchant of Venice
- Appendix A: Sources and Context
- From Cursor Mundi (14th century)
- From Giovanni Fiorentino, The Simpleton (Il Pecorone) (1378)
- From Christopher Marlowe, The Jew of Malta (c. 1590)
- Appendix B: Jews, Christians, and the Religion of Revenge
- Jews and Christians
- 1. The Geneva Bible on Jews
- 2. From Edward I's Edict of Expulsion (1290)
- 3. Anonymous, Desecration of the Host (c. 1500)
- 4. From Richard Morrison, A Remedy for Sedition (1536)
- 5. From Thomas Coryate, Coryat's Crudities (1611)
- 6. From Edward Coke, The Second Part of the Institutes of the Laws of England (1642)
- Revenge
- 1.The Geneva Bible on Lex Talionis
- 2.Francis Bacon, ""Of Revenge,"" The Essays (1625)
- Appendix C: Commercial Life: Of Venice, Merchants, Usurers, and Debtors
- The Geneva Bible on Usury and Generosity
- Hieronymo Feruffino, Letter Regarding Expelling the Marranos from Venice (1550)
- From Zuane di Andrea Zane and Brothers, "The Activities and Misfortunes of a Merchant Family, The Zane" (1550)
- Pieter Brueghel, The Storm at Sea (1568)
- From Thomas Wilson, A Discourse upon Usury by way of Dialogue and Orations (1572)
- From Thomas Lupton, The Second Part and Knitting Up of the Book Entitled Too Good to Be True (1581)
- From Anthony Copley, Witts Fittes and Fancies (1595)
- From Thomas Lodge, Wit's Misery, and the World's Madness (1596)
- From Giovanni Botero, Relations, of the Most Famous Kingdoms and Common-weales Through the World (1611)
- Case 11: Courtney against Glanvil (1615; report printed 1791)
- From Francis Bacon, "Of Usury" (1625)
- Appendix D: Love and Family
- Friendship and Love
- 1.From Cicero, Of Friendship (44 BCE)
- 2.From Christopher Marlowe, Edward II (1594)
- 3.Richard Barnfield, Sonnet 8, Cynthia, with Certain Sonnets, and the Legend of Cassandra (1595)
- 4.From Michel de Montaigne, "Of Friendship," Essays (1580)
- Family and Obedience
- 1.From Juan Luis Vives, The Instruction of a Christian Woman (1524)
- 2.From Baldassare Castiglione, The Courtier (1528)
- 3.From Thomas Becon, The Catechism (c. 1550)
- 4.From Elizabeth Cary, The Tragedy of Mariam (1613)
- Works Cited and Recommended Reading
