Understanding the Merchant of Venice: A Student Casebook to Issues, Sources, and Historical Documents

by Halio, Jay L.

• ISBN13: 9780313310119
• ISBN10: 0313310114
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2000-09-30
• Publisher: Greenwood Pub Group

Summary

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. These themes serve as starting points for a broader understanding of the issues discussed and documented: Elizabethan marriage and women's matrimonial rights; Renaissance concepts of male friendship; legal, moral and religious views of usury; and the treatment of Jews in Venice and beyond. The concerns raised by the play are put into context with historical materials including Sir Francis Bacon's essay "Of Friendship," excerpts from Henry Smith's 1591 A Preparative to Marriage, extracts from Phillip Stubbes' 1583 Anatomy of Abuses, and Travel Accounts by Fynes Moryson that describe Venice and how Jews lived there in the early 1600s. This casebook also considers contemporary applications, with essays and editorials on current hate groups in the United States, the treatment of women, and male bonding. This section, culminating with a poignant interview in which actor Hal Halbrook discusses his stage portrayal of Shylock, will leave readers with an appreciation for how profoundly relevant The Merchant of Venice remains for our time. This casebook introduces students to the many issues in the play with a Literary and Dramatic Analysis chapter. Six topic chapters examine the play in its historical context, combining expert discussion and primary documents, making this ideal for interdisciplinary study. Each topic section contains ideas for classroom discussions, research papers, and further suggested readings to help students get the most out of their study of The Merchant of Venice.

Author Biography

JAY L. HALIO is Professor of English at University of Delaware.

Table of Contents

Preface	xi
Introduction	xiii
Literary and Dramatic Analysis	1	(22)
Venice and Its Treatment of Jews	23	(24)
Laurence Aldersey's Account of Venice (1581)	27	(2)
Coryat's Crudities (1611)	29	(6)
Thomas Coryat
An Itinerary (1617)	35	(2)
Fynes Moryson
Shakespeare's Europe (1617)	37	(3)
Fynes Moryson
The History of Italy (1549)	40	(13)
William Thomas
Attitudes Toward Jews	47	(22)
``Christ Was Born a Jew'' (1523)	53	(3)
Martin Luther
Of the Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity, Book (1597)	56	(2)
Richard Hooker
An Enterlude of the Vertuous and Godly Queene Hester (ca. 1522-27)	58	(4)
The Trial of Dr. Roderigo Lopez (1594)	62	(1)
William Camden's History of the Reign of Queen Elizabeth (1607-17, 1625)	63	(6)
Classical and Renaissance Concepts of Male Friendship	69	(24)
De Amicitia (44 B.C.)	72	(4)
Cicero
The Governor (1531)	76	(5)
Sir Thomas Elyot
The Faerie Queene (1596)	81	(3)
Edmund Spenser
``Of Friendship'' (ca. 1580)	84	(3)
Michel de Montaigne
``Of Friendship'' (1625)	87	(6)
Sir Francis Bacon
Elizabethan Marriage	93	(22)
The Christian State of Matrimony (1541)	99	(3)
Heinrich Bullinger
Sermons (1585)	102	(3)
Edwin Sandys
A Preparative to Marriage (1591)	105	(10)
Henry Smith
Interest, and the Rise of Capitalism	115	(26)
Usury
The Geneva Bible (1560)	121	(2)
An Act against Usury (1571)	123	(2)
John Woolley's Speech in Parliament (1571)	125	(1)
A Discourse upon Usury, (1572)	126	(4)
Thomas Wilson
Commentaries on the Last Books of Moses (1554)	130	(3)
John Calvin
The Eternal Life (1559)	133	(2)
Yehiel Nissim da Pisa
The Anatomy of Abuses (1583)	135	(6)
Phillip Stubbes
Contemporary Applications and Interpretation	141	(34)
``Synagogue arson suspects kept 'hit-list' of Sacramento-area Jews'' (1999)	143	(2)
Tom Tugend
``Endless Poison'' (1999)	145	(3)
Bob Herbert
A Letter by John Cardinal O'Connor, Archbishop of New York (1999)	148	(10)
``Male Bonding'' (1994)	158	(12)
A. Engler Anderson
``The Shylock Within'' (1999)	170	(5)
William Triplett
Index	175