Understanding The merchant of Venice : a student casebook to issues, sources, and historical documents
"The Merchant of Venice, even in its own time, was considered Shakespeare's most controversial play. Now one of the most popularly read and performed works, the play raises even more important issues for our day, particularly anti-Semitism and the treatment of Jews. Shakespeare scholar Jay Halio brings together his fascinating literary insights and his considerable knowledge of Shakespeare's world to this student casebook. His analysis of the play helps students interpret Shakespeare's plot and interwoven subplots, the sources that helped shape the play and the characters, and the thematic issues relating to justice, mercy, and the myriad bonds of human relationships
Sources
xviii, 181 pages : illustrations ; 25 cm
9780313310119, 0313310114
43287689
Literary and dramatic analysis
Venice and its treatment of Jews
Attitudes toward Jews
Classical and Renaissance concepts of male frienship
Elizabethan marriage
Usury, interest, and the rise of capitalism
Contemporary applications and interpretation