The Merchant of Venice (The Pelican Shakespeare)
by William Shakespeare
List Price:
Our Price: $2.45
You Save: $3.55 (59%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $0.12 (click here)
Category: Book
See more book details and other editions
Book Summary Information
Author: William ShakespeareEditor: A. R. Braunmuller
Editor: Stephen Orgel
Edition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2000-08
ISBN: 0140714626
Number of pages: 160
Publisher: Penguin Classics
Product features:
- ISBN13: 9780140714623
- Condition: New
- Notes: BRAND NEW FROM PUBLISHER! 100% Satisfaction Guarantee. Tracking provided on most orders. Buy with Confidence! Millions of books sold!
Book Reviews of The Merchant of Venice (The Pelican Shakespeare)
Book Review: Context is the king of this comedy!
Summary: 5 Stars
THE MERCHANT OF VENICE can be described as a tragedy only if one follows the modern definition of "tragedy" and not the Greek. The genre of tragedy in which Shakespeare wrote required that all of the players, or at least all of the main players, die at the end, à la ROMEO AND JULIET, JULIUS CAESAR, MACBETH, and HAMLET. In fact, MERCHANT OF VENICE can only be described as a tragedy if Shylock is seen as the main character and not Antonio. (Note, in the list of players at the beginning of the play, only Antonio is called a "merchant of Venice".) In sum, THE MERCHANT OF VENICE can only be described as a tragedy if it is completely removed from its historical context.
Shakespeare intended that the actions taken by Antonio, by Shylock, by Bassanio, and even by Portia be seen as comically extreme. Antonio goes to the lengths of seeking help from a man he despises to help a man he loves. Shylock demands nothing but justice, even when the demands of the agreement he made is met and even doubled. Everywhere in this play is there action taken to the extreme.
Only a refusal to acknowledge the historical context would be blind to the comedy. There are stage plays, television shows, and screenplays aplenty which follow the example set forth in MERCHANT OF VENICE, showing how comical people can be when their actions are taken to the extreme. If MERCHANT OF VENICE can be view in THIS context, then the comedy shines through.
As a writer, I find it comical that anyone would use MERCHANT OF VENICE to point the finger of "racism" at Shakespeare. Part of a writer's challenge is to present convincingly views even he or she disagrees with. The best writer would try to dismantle and disprove the very beliefs he or she holds dear. That Shakespeare has often been judged a racist based on his portrayal of Shylock serves only as testimony to the continuing success of this play. Shylock's speech, complimented by another reviewer, is ample proof that Shakespeare's own views are well hid. Shylock's speech demonstrates magnificently that Shakespeare was able to get inside the head of any man (or woman) in his stories and write the words which that man would speak, faithfully render the thoughts which that man would think, have that man act as only that man would act, and all of it be believable. Simply put, unless you knew beforehand a writer's views on any subject, it would be difficult to find the needle of truth in his or her haystack of fiction if that writer has done their job well, and in this case Shakespeare was damned near flawless!
It is true that the movie, starring Al Pacino, does not present this play as a comedy, but that hardly detracts from its excellence. It shows, in fact, that MERCHANT OF VENICE plays well as both a drama and a comedy. In our age, however, given the importance of religious tolerance, I'll admit that it is probably best played as a drama.
As for the Pelican series of Shakespeare's plays, they are an excellent resource for anyone wanting to read and study the Bard's work. I've several volumes in this series and hope to eventually own them all. Each volume contains two identical essays, "The Theatrical World" (which provides a good understanding of the historical context, as well as an idea of just how much we know about Shakespeare as an individual) and "The Texts of Shakespeare" (which gives more historical context and also discusses some of the difficulties which editors have experienced in presenting these plays in print to modern audiences). There is then an introduction to each play, which is best left unread until afterwards if you aren't familiar with the play. The footnotes are few, but well-chosen, and do help in understanding words and phrases whose meanings have changed over the centuries.
Summary of The Merchant of Venice (The Pelican Shakespeare)
This collection of essays is aimed at students who are working on The Merchant of Venice and who are looking for new ways of thinking about Shakespeare's most controversial play and new ways of thinking about their own practice as critics. The collection offers a spectrum of the more recent writings on the play that open up its historical, cultural and political significance, and serve to demonstrate some of the ways in which contemporary criticism is both based upon critical theory and is also about the practice of criticism. This is an illuminating and helpful collection of essays by some of the liveliest critics working on Shakespeare today.Drama Books
Book Subjects
- Arts & Photography
- Biographies & Memoirs
- Business & Investing
- Children's Books
- Comics & Graphic Novels
- Computers & Internet
- Cooking, Food & Wine
- Entertainment
- Gay & Lesbian
- Health, Mind & Body
- History
- Home & Garden
- Horror
- Law
- Literature & Fiction
- Mystery & Thrillers
- Nonfiction
- Outdoors & Nature
- Parenting & Families
- Professional & Technical
- Reference
- Religion & Spirituality
- Romance
- Science
- Science Fiction & Fantasy
- Sports
- Teens
- Travel
Most talked about in Drama Books
A Midsummer Night's Dream (Cambridge School Shakespeare)by William Shakespeare
Cambridge University Press; Published: 1992-07-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $6.99
Price in other shops:
Macbeth (The New Cambridge Shakespeare)by William Shakespeare
Cambridge University Press; Published: 1997-08-28; Paperback; Book
Best price: $8.75
Price in other shops:
King Henry V (The New Cambridge Shakespeare)by William Shakespeare
Cambridge University Press; Published: 1992-08-28; Paperback; Book
Best price: $16.21
Untold Storiesby Alan Bennett
Farrar, Straus and Giroux; Published: 2006-04-04; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $13.96
Price in other shops:
The Orton Diariesby Joe Orton
Da Capo Press; Published: 1996-08-22; Paperback; Book
Best price: $10.48
Price in other shops:
Romeo and Juliet (Oxford World's Classics)by William Shakespeare
Oxford University Press, USA; Published: 2000-09-07; Paperback; Book
Best price: $0.01
Price in other shops:
Witchesby Roald Dahl
Puffin; Published: 2001-08-30; Paperback; Book
Best price: $6.02
Taming of the Shrew, The (Penguin) (Shakespeare, Penguin)by William Shakespeare
Penguin Classics; Published: 1981-12-17; Paperback; Book
Best price: $0.23
Price in other shops:
Julius Caesar (Penguin) (Shakespeare, Penguin)by William Shakespeare
Penguin Classics; Published: 1981-12-17; Paperback; Book
Best price: $10.63
Complete Works of William Shakespeare: The Alexander Text (Collins Classics)by William Shakespeare, Peter Alexander
Harpercollins Pub Ltd; Published: 1997-04; Paperback; Book
Best price: $105.06
Similar Books and other products
Much Ado About Nothing (Dover Thrift Editions)by William Shakespeare
Dover Publications; Dover Publications; Published: 1994-10-20; Paperback; Book
Best price: $0.01
Price in other shops:
The Taming of the Shrew (Dover Thrift Editions)by William Shakespeare
Dover Publications; Dover Publications; Published: 1997-07-11; Paperback; Book
Best price: $0.01
Price in other shops:
Hamlet (No Fear Shakespeare)by William Shakespeare
SparkNotes; Published: 2003-04-15; Paperback; Book
Best price: $2.86
Price in other shops:
The Essential Iliadby Homer, Sheila Murnaghan, Sheila Murnaghan
Hackett Publishing Co.; Published: 2000-09-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $5.00
Price in other shops:
The Norton Anthology of World Masterpieces (Expanded Edition) (Vol. One-Volume)W.W. Norton & Co.; Published: 1997-01-17; Paperback; Book
Best price: $65.00
Twelfth Night (Pelican Shakespeare)by William Shakespeare
Penguin Classics; Published: 2000-02-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $3.00
Price in other shops:
Othello (Pelican Shakespeare)by William Shakespeare
Penguin Classics; Published: 2001-05-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $2.97
Price in other shops:
A Midsummer Night's Dreamby William Shakespeare
CreateSpace; Published: 2009-09-28; Paperback; Book
Best price: $3.89
Price in other shops:
The Tempest (The Pelican Shakespeare)by William Shakespeare
Penguin Classics; Published: 1999-09-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $2.53
Price in other shops:
Romeo and Julietby William Shakespeare
CreateSpace; Published: 2010-03-17; Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.67
Price in other shops: