The Merchant of Venice

Product details

Binding: Paperback

128 pages

Publisher: Wordsworth

Language: English

Level: Advance

Full text

Package Dimensions: 5 x 0.8 x 8 inches

Edited, introduced and annotated by Cedric Watts, M.A., Ph.D., Emeritus Professor of English, University of Sussex

The Wordsworth Classics’ Shakespeare Series presents a newly-edited sequence of William Shakespeare’s works. The textual editing takes account of recent scholarship while giving the material a careful reappraisal

The Merchant of Venice is one of Shakespeare’s most popular comedies, but it remains deeply controversial
The text may seem anti-Semitic; yet repeatedly, in performance, it has revealed a contrasting nature
Shylock, though vanquished in the law-court, often triumphs in the theatre. In his intensity he can dominate
the play, challenging abrasively its romantic and lyrical affirmations. What results is a bitter-sweet drama

Though The Merchant of Venice offers some of the traditional pleasures of romantic comedy, it also exposes
the operations of prejudice. Thus Shakespeare remains our contemporary