The Merchant of Venice

This edition of The Merchant of Venice based on a fresh examination of the early editions includes an exceptionally lucid and accessible introduction which addresses Shakespeares attitude toward Semitism and establishes the cultural historical and literary context in which Shakespeare wrote the play. An interesting range of production photographs and drawings of Renaissance merchants and Jews and a survey of the plays stage history ranging from discussions of its early staging to important twentieth-century productions and performances outside England particularly Israel makes this an ideal edition for students actors and the general reader. Editorial Reviews .Gr 4-6—Two more entries in Barrons series not to be confused with Eurekas series of the same name. The stories are encapsulated in two-page units of plot and circumstance for easy consumption. Captions explain the events pictures help to differentiate among the characters and the volumes are rife with footnotes and explication at the bottom of every page. Breaking the story down into bite-size chunks helps with vocabulary and comprehension but can wreak havoc with the pacing. Readers are apt to find Merchant overlong with the narrowly focused chapters giving some of Shakespeares short establishing scenes an accidental or unfortunate weight. However Macdonald strives to maintain as much of the Bards original language as possible. This effort to represent the original material may be hard going for readers but it provides an authentic experience that the much looser adaptation of Mohicans cant match. Merchants artwork focuses on heads and faces giving each character an opportunity to act out the dialogue and works quite well both narratively and educationally.—Benjamin Russell Belmont High School NH