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The Merchant of Venice
by William ShakespeareANTONIO. In sooth, I know not why I am so sad. It wearies me; you say it wearies you; But how I caught it, found it, or came by it, What stuff 'tis made of, whereof it is born, I am to learn; And such a want-wit sadness makes of me That I have much ado to know myself. SALERIO. Your mind is tossing on the ocean; There where your argosies, with portly sail- Like signiors and rich burghers on the flood, Or as it were the pageants of the sea- Do overpeer the petty traffickers, That curtsy to them, do them reverence, As they fly by them with their woven wings.
The Merchant of Venice
by William Shakespeare"The Merchant of Venice" is the story of Antonio, the drama's title character, and his friend Bassanio. Bassanio is in need of money so that he may woo Portia, a wealthy heiress. Bassanio asks Antonio for a loan and Antonio agrees to this loan, however all his money is tied up in shipping ventures. Together the two go to Shylock, a Jewish moneylender, to request a loan for Bassanio to be guaranteed against Antonio's shipping ventures. Shylock agrees to the loan at no interest in the condition that if the debt is not repaid Shylock may collect a pound of Antonio's flesh. At the same time Portia, who is being wooed by various suitors, is upset over a curious stipulation in her father's will regarding the man that she may marry.
The Merchant of Venice
by William ShakespeareVenetian nobleman Antonio stands to lose a pound of flesh when he is unable to repay a loan due to the Jewish moneylender Shylock.
The Merchant of Venice
by William Shakespeare'The man who of all modern, and perhaps ancient poets, had the largest and most comprehensive soul' John DrydenAntonio, a Venetian merchant, wishes to help his friend get money to impress a rich heiress. But he is forced to borrow the sum from a cynical, abused Jewish moneylender, Shylock, and signs a chilling contract to honour the debt with a pound of his own flesh. An ambiguous, complex and controversial comedy, The Merchant of Venice explores prejudice, marriage, money and the true nature of justice in an unforgiving world.Used and Recommended by the National TheatreGeneral Editor Stanley WellsEdited by W. Moelwyn Merchant Introduction by Peter Holland
The Merchant of Venice (Folger Shakespeare Library)
by William Shakespeare Barbara A. Mowat Paul WerstineFolger Shakespeare Library The world's leading center for Shakespeare studies Each edition includes: Freshly edited text based on the best early printed version of the play Full explanatory notes conveniently placed on pages facing the text of the play Scene-by-scene plot summaries A key to famous lines and phrases An introduction to reading Shakespeare's language An essay by an outstanding scholar providing a modern perspective on the play Illustrations from the Folger Shakespeare Library's vast holdings of rare books Essay by Alexander Leggatt The Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, D.C., is home to the world's largest collection of Shakespeare's printed works, and a magnet for Shakespeare scholars from around the globe. In addition to exhibitions open to the public throughout the year, the Folger offers a full calendar of performances and programs.
The Merchant of Venice (SparkNotes Literature Guide Series)
by SparkNotesThe Merchant of Venice (SparkNotes Literature Guide) by William Shakespeare Making the reading experience fun! Created by Harvard students for students everywhere, SparkNotes is a new breed of study guide: smarter, better, faster. Geared to what today's students need to know, SparkNotes provides: *Chapter-by-chapter analysis *Explanations of key themes, motifs, and symbols *A review quiz and essay topicsLively and accessible, these guides are perfect for late-night studying and writing papers
The Merchant of Venice (The New Cambridge Shakespeare)
by William Shakespeare M. M. MahoodCharles Edelman focuses on the play's sexual politics and recent scholarship devoted to the position of Jews in Shakespeare's time in this new edition. He surveys the international scope of theatrical interpretations of The Merchant in the 1980s and 1990s as well as different ways of tackling the troubling figure of Shylock. First Edition Hb (1988): 0-521-22156-0 First Edition Pb (1988): 0-521-29371-5
The Merchant of Venice: Critical Essays (Shakespeare Criticism #26)
by John W. Mahon Ellen Macleod MahonThis volume is a collection of all-new original essays covering everything from feminist to postcolonial readings of the play as well as source queries and analyses of historical performances of the play. The Merchant of Venice is a collection of seventeen new essays that explore the concepts of anti-Semitism, the work of Christopher Marlowe, the politics of commerce and making the play palatable to a modern audience. The characters, Portia and Shylock, are examined in fascinating detail. With in-depth analyses of the text, the play in performance and individual characters, this book promises to be the essential resource on the play for all Shakespeare enthusiasts.
The Merchant of Venice: Critical Essays (Shakespearean Criticism)
by Thomas WheelerOriginally published in 1991. Essays here are arranged chronologically within sections: ‘The Play as Text’, ‘Shylock’ and ‘The Play in the Theatre.’ Collecting previously published important commentaries and scholarly articles, this volume in the Shakespearean Criticism set looks at one of the Bard’s most disturbing plays. These historical critical pieces give witness to the changing attitudes to the play and the characters and provide readers with a wide range of material relating both to performances and to textual readings.
The Merchant of Venice: With Contemporary Criticism (Ignatius Critical Editions)
by William ShakespeareThe Merchant of Venice is probably the most controversial of all Shakespeare's plays. It is also one of the least understood. Is it a comedy or a tragedy? What is the meaning behind the test of the caskets? Who is the real villain of the trial scene? Is Shylock simply vicious and venomous, or is he more sinned against than sinning? Can the play be described as anti-semitic? What exactly is the quality of mercy? Is Portia one of the great Christian heroines of western literature? And what of the comedy of the rings with which Shakespeare ends the play? These questions and many others are answered in this critical edition of one of the Bard's liveliest plays.
The Merchant of Venice: With The Extreme Cruelty Of Shylocke The Iew Towards The Saide Merchant, In Cutting An Iust Pound Of His Flesh; And The Obtaining Of Portia, By The Choyse Of Three Caskets (classic Reprint) (Dover Thrift Editions: Plays)
by William ShakespeareThe Merchant of Venice is an intriguing drama of love, greed, and revenge. At its heart, the play contrasts the characters of the maddened and vengeful Shylock, a Venetian moneylender, with the gracious, level-headed Portia, a wealthy young woman besieged by suitors. At the play's climax, Shylock insists on the enforcement of a binding contract that will cost the life of the merchant Antonio — inciting Portia to mount a memorable defense.In this richly plotted drama, Shylock, whom Shakespeare endowed with all of the depth and vitality of his greatest characters, is not alone in his villainy. In scene after scene, a large cast of ambitious and scheming characters demonstrates that honesty is a quality often strained where matters of love and money are concerned.The gravity and suspense of the play's central plot, together with its romance, have made The Merchant of Venice a favorite of audiences, and one of the most studied and performed of Shakespeare's plays. It is reprinted here from an authoritative text, complete with explanatory footnotes.
The Merchant of Venice: With The Extreme Cruelty Of Shylocke The Iew Towards The Saide Merchant, In Cutting An Iust Pound Of His Flesh; And The Obtaining Of Portia, By The Choyse Of Three Caskets (classic Reprint) (First Avenue Classics ™)
by William ShakespeareIn order to win the wealthy Portia's hand in marriage, Bassanio thinks he needs money to impress her. He goes to his friend Antonio for help, but Antonio's money is tied up in ships. Antonio brings him to Shylock, a Jewish moneylender. Shylock despises Antonio but agrees to lend Bassanio 3,000 ducats without interest...on one condition: that Antonio surrender a pound of flesh if Bassanio can't repay the loan. Set in Venice, this play addresses the problems that come from acting for one's own benefit, instead of out of love for others. This is an unabridged version of playwright William Shakespeare's dark comedy, first published in England in 1600.
The Merchant of Venice: With The Extreme Cruelty Of Shylocke The Iew Towards The Saide Merchant, In Cutting An Iust Pound Of His Flesh; And The Obtaining Of Portia, By The Choyse Of Three Caskets (classic Reprint) (Modern Library Classics)
by William ShakespeareANTONIO. In sooth, I know not why I am so sad. It wearies me; you say it wearies you; But how I caught it, found it, or came by it, What stuff 'tis made of, whereof it is born, I am to learn; And such a want-wit sadness makes of me That I have much ado to know myself. SALERIO. Your mind is tossing on the ocean; There where your argosies, with portly sail- Like signiors and rich burghers on the flood, Or as it were the pageants of the sea- Do overpeer the petty traffickers, That curtsy to them, do them reverence, As they fly by them with their woven wings.
The Merry Devil of Edmonton (Globe Quartos)
by AnonymousThe Merry Devil of Edmonton lay unperformed from the early seventeenth century until the 1980s. Dating from around 1604, it was first published in 1608 and was performed at the Globe Theatre by the King's Men. With its scenes of magic, deer poaching, and abduction from a nunnery, The Merry Devil of Edmonton combines romance and comedy in a highly entertaining way, and was a favorite production on the seventeenth century stage.
The Merry Wives of Windsor
by William Shakespeare Paul Werstine Dr Barbara MowatShakespeare's "merry wives" are Mistress Ford and Mistress Page of the town of Windsor. The two play practical jokes on Mistress Ford's jealous husband and a visiting knight, Sir John Falstaff. Merry wives, jealous husbands, and predatory knights were common in a kind of play called "citizen comedy" or "city comedy." In such plays, courtiers, gentlemen, or knights use social superiority to seduce citizens' wives. The Windsor wives, though, do not follow that pattern. Instead, Falstaff's offer of himself as lover inspires their torment of him. Falstaff responds with the same linguistic facility that Shakespeare gives him in the history plays in which he appears, making him the "hero" of the play for many audiences. The authoritative edition of The Merry Wives of Windsor from The Folger Shakespeare Library, the trusted and widely used Shakespeare series for students and general readers, includes: -Freshly edited text based on the best early printed version of the play -Full explanatory notes conveniently placed on pages facing the text of the play -Scene-by-scene plot summaries -A key to the play's famous lines and phrases -An introduction to reading Shakespeare's language -An essay by a leading Shakespeare scholar providing a modern perspective on the play -Fresh images from the Folger Shakespeare Library's vast holdings of rare books -An annotated guide to further reading Essay by Natasha Korda The Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, DC, is home to the world's largest collection of Shakespeare's printed works, and a magnet for Shakespeare scholars from around the globe. In addition to exhibitions open to the public throughout the year, the Folger offers a full calendar of performances and programs. For more information, visit Folger.edu.
The Merry Wives of Windsor
by William Shakespeare"The Merchant of Venice" is the story of Antonio, the drama's title character, and his friend Bassanio. Bassanio is in need of money so that he may woo Portia, a wealthy heiress. Bassanio asks Antonio for a loan and Antonio agrees to this loan, however all his money is tied up in shipping ventures. Together the two go to Shylock, a Jewish moneylender, to request a loan for Bassanio to be guaranteed against Antonio's shipping ventures. Shylock agrees to the loan at no interest in the condition that if the debt is not repaid Shylock may collect a pound of Antonio's flesh. At the same time Portia, who is being wooed by various suitors, is upset over a curious stipulation in her father's will regarding the man that she may marry.
The Merry Wives of Windsor
by William ShakespeareMistress Page and Mistress Ford set out to have some fun at the expense of John Falstaff, who courts both in the hopes of securing their fortunes.
The Merry Wives of Windsor
by William ShakespeareIn need of money, the fat and foolish Falstaff devises a scheme to seduce two married women and steal their husbands' wealth. By talking to each other, however, the wives soon discover his plan and begin to plot their own revenge. Relentlessly inventive, this comic humiliation of a foolish would-be seducer is a lively, compelling and ultimately joyous celebration of the all-conquering power of laughter.This book includes a general introduction to Shakespeare's life and the Elizabethan theatre, a separate introduction to Merry Wives of Windsor, a chronology, suggestions for further reading, an essay discussing performance options on both stage and screen, and a commentary.
The Merry Wives of Windsor (Modern Library Classics)
by William Shakespeare Jonathan Bate Eric Rasmussen"Why, then the world's mine oyster."--The Merry Wives of Windsor Eminent Shakespearean scholars Jonathan Bate and Eric Rasmussen provide a fresh new edition of this popular comedy of love, laughter, and merriment--along with more than a hundred pages of exclusive features, including * an original Introduction to The Merry Wives of Windsor* incisive scene-by-scene synopsis and analysis with vital facts about the work* commentary on past and current productions based on interviews with leading directors, actors, and designers* photographs of key RSC productions* an overview of Shakespeare's theatrical career and chronology of his plays Ideal for students, theater professionals, and general readers, these modern and accessible editions from the Royal Shakespeare Company set a new standard in Shakespearean literature for the twenty-first century.From the Trade Paperback edition.
The Merry Wives of Windsor (SparkNotes Literature Guide Series)
by SparkNotesThe Merry Wives of Windsor (SparkNotes Literature Guide) by William Shakespeare Making the reading experience fun! Created by Harvard students for students everywhere, SparkNotes is a new breed of study guide: smarter, better, faster. Geared to what today's students need to know, SparkNotes provides: *Chapter-by-chapter analysis *Explanations of key themes, motifs, and symbols *A review quiz and essay topicsLively and accessible, these guides are perfect for late-night studying and writing papers
The Merry Wives of Windsor (The Pelican Shakespeare)
by William Shakespeare Russ Mcdonald Stephen Orgel A. R. BraunmullerThe acclaimed Pelican Shakespeare series edited by A. R. Braunmuller and Stephen Orgel The legendary Pelican Shakespeare series features authoritative and meticulously researched texts paired with scholarship by renowned Shakespeareans. Each book includes an essay on the theatrical world of Shakespeare’s time, an introduction to the individual play, and a detailed note on the text used. Updated by general editors Stephen Orgel and A. R. Braunmuller, these easy-to-read editions incorporate over thirty years of Shakespeare scholarship undertaken since the original series, edited by Alfred Harbage, appeared between 1956 and 1967. With definitive texts and illuminating essays, the Pelican Shakespeare will remain a valued resource for students, teachers, and theater professionals for many years to come. For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.
The Merry Wives of Windsor: New Critical Essays (Shakespeare Criticism)
by Phyllis Rackin Evelyn GajowskiThe Merry Wives of Windsor has recently experienced a resurgence of critical interest. At times considered one of Shakespeare’s weaker plays, it is often dismissed or marginalized; however, developments in feminist, ecocritical and new historicist criticism have opened up new perspectives and this collection of 18 essays by top Shakespeare scholars sheds fresh light on the play. The detailed introduction by Phyllis Rackin and Evelyn Gajowski provides a historical survey of the play and ties into an evolving critical and cultural context. The book’s sections look in turn at female community/female agency; theatrical alternatives; social and theatrical contexts; desire/sexuality; nature and performance to provide a contemporary critical analysis of the play.
The Merry Wives of Windsor: The 30-Minute Shakespeare
by Nick NewlinPlanning a school or amateur Shakespeare production? The best way to experience the plays is to perform them, but getting started can be a challenge: The complete plays are too long and complex, while scene selections or simplified language are too limited."The 30-Minute Shakespeare" is a new series of abridgements that tell the "story" of each play from start to finish while keeping the beauty of Shakespeare's language intact. Specific stage directions and character suggestions give even inexperienced actors the tools to perform Shakespeare with confidence, understanding, and fun!This cutting of THE MERRY WIVES OF WINDSOR begins with one of Shakespeare's favorite fat knights, Sir John Falstaff, announcing his intention to woo both Mistress Ford and Mistress Page simultaneously, to the delight of his cohorts Bardolph, Pistol, and Nym, who then decide to double-cross Falstaff. The characters' movements on stage are clearly denoted so that even inexperienced actors can give the scenes life: Robin is nearsighted, Bardolph is a drunk who tries to juggle, and Pistol and Nym are constantly jostling for position. Other key moments include the hilarious wooing of Mistress Ford by Falstaff and the hysterical concealment of Falstaff in the laundry basket. The cutting ends in the woods with Falstaff dressed as a stag, being tormented by fairies for his comeuppance.The edition also includes an essay by editor Nick Newlin on how to produce a Shakespeare play with novice actors, and notes about the original production of this abridgement at the Folger Shakespeare Library's annual Student Shakespeare Festival.
The Merry Wives of Windsor: Webster's German Thesaurus Edition (Dover Thrift Editions)
by William ShakespeareAccording to legend, Queen Elizabeth I was so delighted with the character of Sir John Falstaff in Henry IV, Parts I and II, that she commanded Shakespeare to create a romantic comedy depicting the jolly old rogue in love. The obedient playwright responded with The Merry Wives of Windsor, a lively and enduring farce that offers a humorous rebuff to lechery and hypocrisy. Falstaff, whose greed and vanity overwhelm his good sense, determines to seduce a pair of well-to-do country housewives. The portly knight meets his match among the gentlewomen of Windsor, however, who counter his every stratagem with witty maneuvers of their own that expose Sir John's tomfoolery to public mirth. Familiar Shakespearean themes and devices -- romance, jealousy, disguises, and mistaken identities -- enrich the plot, along with a sparkling cast of supporting characters, including rival wooers, informers, and witty go-betweens.This madcap romp has been a favorite of readers and playgoers for over 400 years. Students, teachers, and all lovers of literature and drama will appreciate this inexpensive edition of an ageless comic gem.
The Messenger Bag
by Jillian Powell Charlotte AlderStacey finds a beautiful old bag. She takes it everywhere. She soon finds a secret hidden in the bag that's meant only for her.