The Merchant of Venice

Author: Shakespeare, William, Watts, Professor Cedric, M.A. Ph.D. (Emeritus Professor of English, University

Shakespeare plays

Published on 5 October 2000 by Wordsworth Editions Ltd in the United Kingdom as part of 'the Wordsworth Classics' series.

Paperback | 128 pages
198 x 129 x 24 | 90g

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 dominatethe 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 exposesthe operations of prejudice. Thus Shakespeare remains our contemporary.