The Merchant of VeniceIn this lively comedy of love and money in sixteenth-century Venice, Bassanio wants to impress the wealthy heiress Portia but lacks the necessary funds. He turns to his merchant friend, Antonio, who is forced to borrow from Shylock, a Jewish moneylender. When Antonio's business falters, repayment becomes impossible—and by the terms of the loan agreement, Shylock is able to demand a pound of Antonio’s flesh. Portia cleverly intervenes, and all ends well (except of course for Shylock). |
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Page xiv
... mind responsible for that punctuating hears the text . And twenty - first - century minds have no business , in such mat- ters , overruling seventeenth - century ones . Whoever the compos- itors were , they were more or less ...
... mind responsible for that punctuating hears the text . And twenty - first - century minds have no business , in such mat- ters , overruling seventeenth - century ones . Whoever the compos- itors were , they were more or less ...
Page xviii
... 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 ...
... 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 ...
Page xix
... mind , subtly employing the nature of his profession to give us two trains of thought at the same time : the preoccupations of Antonio's mind , and the preoccupations of his business . The passage is also a bold proclamation of the poet ...
... mind , subtly employing the nature of his profession to give us two trains of thought at the same time : the preoccupations of Antonio's mind , and the preoccupations of his business . The passage is also a bold proclamation of the poet ...
Page xxiii
... mind would or should approach Shakespeare's plays on non- English subjects in this way . Still , The Merchant of Venice being a great play by the greatest of playwrights , the situation is inevitably somewhat more complex . Shakespeare's ...
... mind would or should approach Shakespeare's plays on non- English subjects in this way . Still , The Merchant of Venice being a great play by the greatest of playwrights , the situation is inevitably somewhat more complex . Shakespeare's ...
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Contents
SOME ESSENTIALS OF THE SHAKESPEAREAN STAGE | xxxiii |
The Merchant of Venice | 1 |
AN ESSAY BY HAROLD BLOOM | 151 |
FURTHER READING | 159 |
FINDING LIST | 165 |
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Common terms and phrases
annotated argosies Arragon Barabas bear-baiting Belario Belmont blood bond Burton Raffel casket choose chooseth Christian clerk comes court daughter deed deserves divel doctor doth Duke Elizabethan English ENTER PORTIA EXEUNT eyes fair fair lady faith Falstaff father flesh fool forfeit fortune gentle give gold Gospel of John Gratiano Harold Bloom hast hath hear heart heaven honor house ENTER husband Jessica Jew's Jewish judge justice lady Lancelot learnèd leave letter live look Lord Bassanio Lorenzo madam married Master Lancelot means Merchant of Venice mercy messenger Morocco Nerissa never night noun oath Old Gobbo play Portia pray thee Prince Quarto ring Salarino Salerio SCENE servant Shakespeare Shylock Signior Antonio Solanio soul speak stand street ENTER swear sweet tell thou three thousand ducats true Tubal uneducated man's error unto wife wish words Yahwist young ΙΟ
Popular passages
Page xxiii - Signior Antonio, many a time and oft, In the Rialto you have rated me About my monies, and my usances : Still have I borne it with a patient shrug ; For sufferance is the badge of all our tribe : You call me — misbeliever, cut-throat dog, And spit upon my Jewish gaberdine, And all for use of that which is mine own.
Page xxiii - Jewish gaberdine, And all for use of that which is mine own. Well then, it now appears you need my help: Go to, then; you come to me, and you say "Shylock, we would have moneys...
Page xxx - How sweet the moonlight sleeps upon this bank! Here will we sit, and let the sounds of music Creep in our ears: soft stillness and the night Become the touches of sweet harmony. Sit, Jessica. Look, how the floor of heaven Is thick inlaid with patines of bright gold; There's not the smallest orb which thou behold'st But in his motion like an angel sings, Still quiring to the young-eyed cherubins: Such harmony is in immortal souls; But, whilst this muddy vesture of decay Doth grossly close it in, we...
Page xxiii - Shylock, we would have monies', You say so; You, that did void your rheum upon my beard, And foot me, as you spurn a stranger cur Over your threshold; monies is your suit. What should I say to you? Should I not say, Hath a dog money? is it possible, A cur can lend three thousand ducats'?