New Readings Of The Merchant Of Venice

The last decade has witnessed a spate of high-profile presentations of The Merchant of Venice: the 2004 Michael Radford film, 2010’s New York City “Shakespeare in the Park” production, as well as the play’s Tony Award-nominated 2010-11 Broadway run. Likewise, new scholarly works such as Kenneth Gross’s Shylock is Shakespeare (2006) and Janet Adelman’s Blood Relations (2008) have offered poignant insights into this play. Why has this drama garnered so much attention of late? What else can we learn from this contentious comedy? How else can we read the drama’s characters? Where do studies of The Merchant of Venice go from here? This collection offers readers sundry answers to these questions by showcasing a sampling of ways this culturally arresting play can be read and interpreted. The strength of this monograph lies in the disparate approaches its contributors offer – from a feminist view of Portia and Nerissa’s friendship to psychoanalytic readings of allegories between the play and Shakespeare’s Pericles to a reading of a Manga comic book version of The Merchant of Venice. Each essay is supported by a strong basis in traditional close reading practices. Our collection of scholars then buttresses such work with the theoretical or pedagogical frameworks that reflect their area of expertise. This collection offers readers different critical lenses through which to approach the primary text. Although Shakespeare scholars and graduate students will no doubt appreciate and employ the work of this collection, the primary audience of this anthology is undergraduate students and the professors who work with them. Many budding scholars have had the experience of checking out a monograph from the library and then finding it was a waste of time because the author spends three hundred pages discussing a perspective of which they have no interest. With this collection, students will not only see how multi-faceted interpretations of the play can be but they also are more likely to find essays that appeal to their own research interests.

This volume is an essential companion to The Merchant of Venice and a significant contribution to Shakespearean criticism."--BOOK JACKET.

Easy Reading Shakespeare! Introduce your students to the famous literary accomplishments of William Shakespeare. Easy-reading adaptations will ignite the interest of reluctant and enthusiastic readers. Each of these condensed works is arranged in a ten-chapter format with key words designed and used in context. Multiple-choice questions require students to recall specific details, sequence events, draw inferences, develop new story names, and choose the main idea. Improves fluency, vocabulary and comprehension. Grade 3 reading level.

Arden Early Modern Drama Guides offer students and academics practical and accessible introductions to the critical and performance contexts of key Elizabethan and Jacobean plays. Essays from leading international scholars give invaluable insight into the text by presenting a range of critical perspectives, making the books ideal companions for study and research. Key features include: - Essays on the play's critical and performance history - A keynote essay on current research and thinking about the play - A selection of new essays by leading scholars A survey of resources to direct students' further reading about the play in print and online Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice has often been labelled a 'problem play', and throughout the ages it has been an object of both fascination and repulsion. Without neglecting the socio-political and religious issues that are at the heart of the play, this collection of critical essays invites readers to rediscover the variety of approaches that this multifaceted work calls for, exploring its gender aspects, its rich mythological background, its legal matters and the ways in which it has been adapted to the screen. Essays consider the play in relation to its sources, genre and religion, historical and socio-political context and its critical reception and performance history.

Unlock the more straightforward side of The Merchant of Venice with this concise and insightful summary and analysis! This engaging summary presents an analysis of The Merchant of Venice by William Shakespeare, which recounts the fierce legal battle that ensues when the Jewish moneylender Shylock seeks to claim a ‘pound of flesh’ from the Venetian merchant Antonio, who has defaulted on a loan. The character of Shylock is one of the most controversial in the Shakespearean canon – his cruelty and vengefulness have led many to criticise his characterisation as anti-Semitic, but his portrayal as a victim of prejudice and his eloquent speeches lend ambiguity to that reading, as well as bringing a more tragic dimension to the play as a whole, even though it is often classified as a comedy. The Merchant of Venice is one of Shakespeare’s most frequently discussed and debated plays even today, and has been consistently adapted for stage and screen since it was first performed in 1600. Find out everything you need to know about The Merchant of Venice in a fraction of the time! This in-depth and informative reading guide brings you: • A complete plot summary • Character studies • Key themes and symbols • Questions for further reflection Why choose BrightSummaries.com? Available in print and digital format, our publications are designed to accompany you on your reading journey. The clear and concise style makes for easy understanding, providing the perfect opportunity to improve your literary knowledge in no time. See the very best of literature in a whole new light with BrightSummaries.com!

Originally published in 1956, this two-volume work contains a survey of contemporary proposals for the restoration of the 'true text' of Shakespearean plays. This first volume assesses various points of contention in the Comedies and in Shakespeare's poems The Rape of Lucrece, Venus and Adonis, A Lover's Complaint, The Passionate Pilgrim and the well-known Sonnets.