The Merchant of Venice has been performed more often than any other comedy by Shakespeare. Molly Mahood pays special attention to the expectations of the play's first audience, and to our modern experience of seeing and hearing the play. In a substantial new addition to the Introduction, Charles Edelman focuses on the play's sexual politics and recent scholarship devoted to the position of Jews in Shakespeare's time. He surveys the international scope and diversity of theatrical interpretations of The Merchant in the 1980s and 1990s and their different ways of tackling the troubling figure of Shylock.

This student friendly book draws together text, context, criticism and performance history to provide an integrated view of one of the most dazzling works of the early modern theatre.

Four hundred years after its first performance, The Merchant of Venice continues to draw audiences, spark debate, and elicit controversy. This collection of new essays examines the performance and study of Shakespeare's play from a broad range of contemporary critical approaches. The contributors, drawn from four continents, build upon recent scholarship in new historicism, feminism, performance theory, and postcolonial studies to present new perspectives on the play, and offer fresh insights into its critical legacy on stage and as a literary text. A substantial introductory essay provides important historical context and surveys major critical approaches to the play over the centuries. This volume is an essential companion to The Merchant of Venice and a significant contribution to Shakespearean criticism.

This large print title is set in Tiresias 16pt font as recommended by the RNIB.

Have you ever thought of Shakespeare as a fast-paced, comedy-filled, page-turning…novel?! Shakespeare plays on stage make for fantastic theatrics! But when you read it as a book…some of it’s glory can be lost. This novelization of The Merchant of Venice uses a more modern language and narration to capture the story as a novel. The story follows Bassanio, a young Venetian of noble rank, who wishes to woo the beautiful and wealthy heiress Portia of Belmont. This book is part of an expanding series that retells Shakespeare into fiction.

Have you ever thought of Shakespeare as a fast-paced, action-filled, page-turning…novel?! Shakespeare plays on stage make for fantastic theatrics! But when you read it as a book…some of it’s glory can be lost. This novelization of four Shakespeare plays uses a more modern language and narration to capture the story as a novel. The following plays (turned into novels) are included: Julius Caesar, Macbeth, Hamlet, and Merchant of Venice. This is a collection of previous published books, which may also be purchased separately.

The Merchant of Venice is a play whose central theme can be identified as the conflict between selflessness and self interest. This main theme drives the plot and moves the play forward, influencing the action of the central characters.

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Relates in comic strip form Macbeth by William Shakespeare.