The Merchant of Venice

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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.