ENGL 2210 - Early British Literature: Merchant of Venice

Presents a collection of essays discussing aspects of William Shakespeare's comedy about Bassanio's quest for Portia's hand in marriage.

Bloom's Modern Critical Interpretations presents the best current criticism on the most widely read and studied poems, novels, and dramas of the Western world. Each volume opens with an introductory essay and editor's note by Harold Bloom and includes a bibliogaraphy, a chronology of the writer's life and works, and notes on the contributors.

Includes an introduction; a plot synopsis; a character list; a discussion of the work's principal themes; information about the style and literary devices used; a conversation about the work's historical context; and a critical overview.

This book includes a general overview on how to write critical essays and a chapter on how to read and write about Shakespeare in particular, with some brief background material on Elizabethan and Jacobean history and theater. The body of the book consists of chapters full of sound, practical advice, with a nice variety of suggested topics for each play, focusing on such subjects as themes, individual characters, form and genre, and compare/contrast essays, and Gleed's analyses of the plays are excellent.

What was Shakespeare's attitude to Semitism? The Introduction to this edition of The Merchant of Venice opens by addressing this vital issue raised by the play, and goes on to study the sources, background, and date, includuing a discussion of Sigmund Freud's essay on 'The Three Caskets'. Professor Halio interprets the play's contradictions, inconsistencies, and complementarities, especially as these relate to the overarching theme of bonds and bondage. A survey of the play's stage history ranges from discussions of its early staging to important twentieth-century productions andperformances outside England, particularly in Israel.The text, based on a fresh examination of the early editions, is presented in modernized spelling and punctuation. Unfailingly lucid and helpful, this is an ideal edition for students, actors, and the general reader.

Shakespeare's Style presents a detailed consideration of aspects of Shakespeare's writing style in his plays. Each chapter offers a detailed discussion about a single feature of style in a chosen Shakespeare play. Topics examined include: a discussion of a key image or images, both verbal and nonverbal; consideration of the way a character is put together; reflection of the changing audience response to a character; and audience response to an account of the speech rhythms of a single play.
Chapter 10: "Shylock's Mono maniacal Style in The Merchant of Venice"

This collection serves as a comprehensive introduction for the general reader. Tanner brings Shakespeare to life, explicating everything from big-picture issues such as the implications of shifts in Elizabethan culture to close readings of Shakespeare's deployment of complex words in his plays. Although these prefaces are written for a general audience, there is much value for the scholar as well. Tanner introduces some of the most significant recent and historical scholarship on Shakespeare to show the reader how certain critics frame large issues in a useful way.

Why is Shakespeare as highly regarded now as he ever has been? This book's answer to this question counters claims that Shakespeare's iconic status is no more than an accident of history. The plays, Belsey argues, entice us into a world we recognize by retelling traditional fairy tales with a difference, each chapter providing a detailed reading.
Chapter 9: "Cultural Difference as Conundrum in The Merchant of Venice"