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The Merchant of Venice

Page 21

by William Shakespeare


  About half the sum of his works were published in his lifetime, in texts of variable quality. A few years after his death, his fellow actors began putting together an authorized edition of his complete Comedies, Histories and Tragedies. It appeared in 1623, in large “Folio” format. This collection of thirty-six plays gave Shakespeare his immortality. In the words of his fellow dramatist Ben Jonson, who contributed two poems of praise at the start of the Folio, the body of his work made him “a monument without a tomb”:

  And art alive still while thy book doth live

  And we have wits to read and praise to give …

  He was not of an age, but for all time!

  SHAKESPEARE’S WORKS:

  A CHRONOLOGY

  1589–91 ? Arden of Faversham (possible part authorship)

  1589–92 The Taming of the Shrew

  1589–92 ? Edward the Third (possible part authorship)

  1591 The Second Part of Henry the Sixth, originally called The First Part of the Contention Betwixt the Two Famous Houses of York and Lancaster (element of coauthorship possible)

  1591 The Third Part of Henry the Sixth, originally called The True Tragedy of Richard Duke of York (element of co-authorship probable)

  1591–92 The Two Gentlemen of Verona

  1591–92;

  perhaps

  revised 1594 The Lamentable Tragedy of Titus Andronicus (probably cowritten with, or revising an earlier version by, George Peele)

  1592 The First Part of Henry the Sixth, probably with Thomas Nashe and others

  1592/94 King Richard the Third

  1593 Venus and Adonis (poem)

  1593–94 The Rape of Lucrece (poem)

  1593–1608 Sonnets (154 poems, published 1609 with A Lover’s Complaint, a poem of disputed authorship)

  1592–94/

  1600–03 Sir Thomas More (a single scene for a play originally by Anthony Munday, with other revisions by Henry Chettle, Thomas Dekker, and Thomas Heywood)

  1594 The Comedy of Errors

  1595 Love’s Labour’s Lost

  1595–97 Love’s Labour’s Won (a lost play, unless the original title for another comedy)

  1595–96 A Midsummer Night’s Dream

  1595–96 The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet

  1595–96 King Richard the Second

  1595–97 The Life and Death of King John (possibly earlier)

  1596–97 The Merchant of Venice

  1596–97 The First Part of Henry the Fourth

  1597–98 The Second Part of Henry the Fourth

  1598 Much Ado About Nothing

  1598–99 The Passionate Pilgrim (20 poems, some not by Shakespeare)

  1599 The Life of Henry the Fifth

  1599 “To the Queen” (epilogue for a court performance)

  1599 As You Like It

  1599 The Tragedy of Julius Caesar

  1600–01 The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark (perhaps revising an earlier version)

  1600–01 The Merry Wives of Windsor (perhaps revising version of 1597–99)

  1601 “Let the Bird of Loudest Lay” (poem, known since 1807 as “The Phoenix and Turtle” [turtledove])

  1601 Twelfth Night, or What You Will

  1601–02 The Tragedy of Troilus and Cressida

  1604 The Tragedy of Othello, the Moor of Venice

  1604 Measure for Measure

  1605 All’s Well That Ends Well

  1605 The Life of Timon of Athens, with Thomas Middleton

  1605–06 The Tragedy of King Lear

  1605–08 ? contribution to The Four Plays in One (lost, except for A Yorkshire Tragedy, mostly by Thomas Middleton)

  1606 The Tragedy of Macbeth (surviving text has additional scenes by Thomas Middleton)

  1606–07 The Tragedy of Antony and Cleopatra

  1608 The Tragedy of Coriolanus

  1608 Pericles, Prince of Tyre, with George Wilkins

  1610 The Tragedy of Cymbeline

  1611 The Winter’s Tale

  1611 The Tempest

  1612–13 Cardenio, with John Fletcher (survives only in later adaptation called Double Falsehood by Lewis Theobald)

  1613 Henry VIII (All Is True), with John Fletcher

  1613–14 The Two Noble Kinsmen, with John Fletcher

  FURTHER READING

  AND VIEWING

  CRITICAL APPROACHES

  Adelman, Janet, Blood Relations: Christian and Jew in The Merchant of Venice (2008). Fascinating psycho-theological analysis.

  Auden, W. H., “Brothers and Others,” in The Dyer’s Hand (1962). Pioneering account of the homoerotic element.

  Chernaik, Warren, William Shakespeare: The Merchant of Venice, Writers and Their Work Series (2005). Useful introduction to text in conjunction with performance issues.

  Coyle, Martin, ed., The Merchant of Venice: William Shakespeare, New Casebooks Series (1998). Diverse collection of influential, theoretically informed essays.

  Edelman, Charles, “Which Is the Jew That Shakespeare Knew? Shylock on the Elizabethan Stage,” Shakespeare Survey, 52 (1999), pp. 99–106. Excellent correction of many misapprehensions about the representation of Jews on the Shakespearean stage.

  Gross, Kenneth, Shakespeare Is Shylock (2006). Challenging, provocative, sometimes personal account of Shylock’s outsider status making him a kind of double for Shakespeare himself.

  Holmer, Joan Ozark, The Merchant of Venice: Choice, Hazard and Consequence (1995). Focuses on play’s genre, structure, and language.

  Janik, Vicki K., The Merchant of Venice: A Guide to the Play (2003). Useful introductory guide with a wide range of material.

  Kaplan, M. Lindsay, ed., The Merchant of Venice: Texts and Contexts (2002). Useful introductory guide.

  Mahon, John W., and Ellen Macleod Mahon, eds., The Merchant of Venice: New Critical Essays (2002). Useful collection of essays covering a wide range of approaches from text to theory and performance.

  McCullough, Christopher, The Merchant of Venice: A Guide to the Text and Its Theatrical Life, Shakespeare Handbooks Series (2005). Useful study guide covering text, history, and performance.

  Nuttall, A. D., “The Merchant of Venice,” in his A New Mimesis: Shakespeare and the Representation of Reality (1983). Has a brilliant feel for the realized texture of the world of the play.

  Shapiro, James, Shakespeare and the Jews (1996). Fascinating, detailed historical account.

  Wheeler, Thomas, ed., The Merchant of Venice: Critical Essays (1991). Useful collection of essays from Granville-Barker on text, to Hazlitt on Shylock, up to contemporary productions of the play.

  Wilders, John, ed., Shakespeare: The Merchant of Venice, Casebook Series (1969). Useful selection of early criticism and significant twentieth-century essays up to 1960s.

  Yaffe, Martin D., Shylock and the Jewish Question (1997). Jewish religious scholar, generally sympathetic to Shylock, reads play as a work of political philosophy.

  THE PLAY IN PERFORMANCE

  Barton, John, Playing Shakespeare (1984). Chapter 10, “Playing Shylock,” in which David Suchet and Patrick Stewart explore their different approaches to the role.

  Bonnell, Andrew G., Shylock in Germany: Antisemitism and the German Theatre from the Enlightenment to the Nazis (2008). Scrupulously detailed study.

  Brockbank, Philip, ed., Players of Shakespeare (1985). Actors discuss their roles: Chapter 2, Patrick Stewart discusses Shylock; Chapter 3, Sinead Cusack on Portia.

  Brooke, Michael, “The Merchant of Venice on Screen,” www.screenonline.org.uk/tv/id/564652/index.html. Summary overview of film and television versions, with links to clips.

  Bulman, James C., ed., The Merchant of Venice, Shakespeare in Performance (1991). Excellent detailed overview of stage history.

  Edelman, Charles, ed., The Merchant of Venice, Shakespeare in Production (2002). Detailed historical overview and annotated text with stage directions from important historical productions.

  Gilbert, Miriam, The Merchant of Venice, Shakespeare at Stratford (2002
). Detailed account of RSC productions.

  Gross, John, Shylock: Four Hundred Years in the Life of a Legend (1992). Exemplary detailed account of Shakespeare’s Shylock, dramatic interpretations and the character’s afterlife.

  Jackson, Russell, and Robert Smallwood, eds., Players of Shakespeare 2 (1988). Ian McDiarmid on playing Shylock.

  Jackson, Russell, and Robert Smallwood, eds., Players of Shakespeare 3 (1993). Deborah Findlay on playing Portia; Gregory Doran on Solanio.

  Jones, Maria, Shakespeare’s Culture in Modern Performance (2003). Chapter 3 on Merchant of Venice, pp. 57–100: detailed discussion of the “alien” in Merchant in Shakespeare’s time and today in relation to historical and modern performance.

  Kennedy, Dennis, ed., Foreign Shakespeares: Contemporary Performance (1993). With Avraham Oz’s influential essay, “Transformations of Authenticity: The Merchant of Venice in Israel,” pp. 56–75, which discusses performance and the play’s legitimacy.

  Lelyveld, Toby, Shylock on the Stage (1960). Useful historical overview with chapter on theatrical greats such as Kean and Irving.

  O’Connor, John, Shakespearean Afterlives: Ten Characters with a Life of Their Own (2003). Chapter 4, “Shylock,” pp. 95–148, detailed stage history and discussion of place of play in contemporary culture.

  Overton, Bill, The Merchant of Venice: Text and Performance (1987). Part 1 has a useful introduction to play; Part 2 discusses play in performance from 1970 to 1984.

  Parsons, Keith, and Pamela Mason, eds., Shakespeare in Performance (1995). Useful introduction to play, pp. 136–142; lavishly illustrated.

  Smallwood, Robert, ed., Players of Shakespeare 4 (1998). Christopher Luscombe on playing Lancelet Gobbo in Merchant (and Moth in Love’s Labour’s Lost), pp. 18–29.

  AVAILABLE ON DVD

  The Merchant of Venice, directed by John Sichel for television (1973, DVD 2007). Stars Laurence Olivier as Shylock; with its Edwardian setting and middle-aged cast, the production seems pervaded by fin de siècle languor.

  The Merchant of Venice, directed by Jack Gold for BBC Shakespeare (1980, DVD 2005). Warren Mitchell as Shylock is compelling.

  The Merchant of Venice, directed by Trevor Nunn for BBC films (2001, DVD 2003). Royal National Theatre staging with Henry Goodman as Shylock (the production discussed in his interview, above).

  The Merchant of Venice, directed by Michael Radford (2004, DVD 2005). Filmed in Venice, starring Al Pacino as Shylock, Jeremy Irons as Antonio, Joseph Fiennes as Bassanio, and Lynn Collins as Portia.

  REFERENCES

  1. William Poel, Shakespeare in the Theatre (1913, reprinted 1968), p. 77.

  2. John Doran, Their Majesties’ Servants, Vol. II (1865), p. 187.

  3. Quoted by Francis Gentleman, Dramatic Censor (1770, reprinted 1969), p. 292.

  4. Toby Lelyveld, Shylock on the Stage (1961), p. 41.

  5. Chronicle, 6 March 1816.

  6. Spectator, 8 November 1879.

  7. Daily Herald, 29 July 1932.

  8. The Times, London, 13 December 1932.

  9. Avraham Oz, “The Merchant of Venice in Israel,” in Foreign Shakespeare (1993), p. 63.

  10. Oz, “The Merchant of Venice in Israel,” p. 69.

  11. National Review, 15 September 1989.

  12. News Chronicle, 16 March 1953.

  13. Evening Standard, 13 April 1960.

  14. Evening News, 13 April 1960.

  15. Robert Speaight, Shakespeare Quarterly, 12, p. 428.

  16. Jonathan Miller, Subsequent Performances (1986), pp. 155.

  17. James C. Bulman, The Merchant of Venice, Shakespeare in Performance (1991), p. 96.

  18. Shakespeare Survey, 53, p. 268.

  19. Charles Edelman, ed., The Merchant of Venice, Shakespeare in Production (2002), p. 86.

  20. David Calder, interviewed by Liz Gibly, Plays International, June 1993.

  21. David Nathan, Jewish Chronicle, 26 December 1997.

  22. Arnold Wesker, Sunday Times, 6 May 1993.

  23. Tracey R. Rich, “Love and Brotherhood,” Judaism 101, www.jewfaq.org/brother.htm (accessed 4 September 2006).

  24. John O’Connor, Shakespearean Afterlives (2003).

  25. Benedict Nightingale, New Statesman, 97, 2511, 4 May 1979.

  26. Peter Holland, English Shakespeares, 1997.

  27. O’Connor, Shakespearean Afterlives.

  28. Heather Neill, interview with David Calder, The Times, London, 1 June 1993.

  29. Patrick Stewart, “Shylock in The Merchant of Venice,” in Philip Brockbank, ed., Players of Shakespeare (1985).

  30. Nightingale, New Statesman, 97, 2511, 4 May 1979.

  31. Bulman, The Merchant of Venice.

  32. Raymond, Theatre Week, 5 September 1988.

  33. Michael Billington, Country Life, 14 May 1987.

  34. Christopher Edwards, Spectator, 9 May 1987.

  35. Billington, Country Life, 14 May 1987.

  36. Christopher Edwards, Spectator, 9 May 1987.

  37. Deborah Findlay, “Portia,” in Russell Jackson and Robert Smallwood, eds., Players of Shakespeare 3 (1993).

  38. Michael Coveney, Financial Times, 30 April 1987.

  39. John Pitcher, Times Literary Supplement, 15 May 1987.

  40. Penny Gay, “Portia Performs: Playing the Role in the Twentieth-Century English Theatre,” in John W. Mahon and Ellen Macleod Mahon, eds., The Merchant of Venice: New Critical Essays (2002).

  41. David Suchet on playing Shylock, in Judith Cook, Shakespeare’s Players (1983).

  42. Patrick Stewart on Playing Shylock, in John Barton, Playing Shakespeare (1984).

  43. O’Connor, Shakespearean Afterlives.

  44. O’Connor, Shakespearean Afterlives.

  45. O’Connor, Shakespearean Afterlives.

  46. David Calder on playing Shylock, The Merchant of Venice, RSC Education Pack, 1993.

  47. Alastair Macaulay, Financial Times, 5 June 1993.

  48. Charles Spencer, Daily Telegraph, 7 May 1993.

  49. Sinead Cusack, “Portia in The Merchant of Venice,” in Philip Brockbank, ed., Players of Shakespeare (1985).

  50. Michael Coveney, Financial Times, 22 April 1981.

  51. B. A. Young, Financial Times, 17 April 1965.

  52. James Shaw, “The Merchant of Venice,” in Keith Parsons and Pamela Mason, eds., Shakespeare in Performance (1995).

  53. Michael Billington, Guardian, 1 May 1987.

  54. Irving Wardle, The Times, London, 1 April 1971.

  55. Shaw, “The Merchant of Venice.”

  56. Findlay, “Portia.”

  57. Pitcher, Times Literary Supplement, 15 May 1987.

  58. Sinead Cusack, “Portia in The Merchant of Venice.”

  59. Irving Wardle, The Times, 22 April 1981.

  60. Michael Billington, Guardian, 5 June 1993.

  61. John Peter, Sunday Times, 13 June 1993.

  62. David Thacker, The Merchant of Venice, RSC Education Pack, 1993.

  63. Thacker, The Merchant of Venice.

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS AND

  PICTURE CREDITS

  Preparation of “The Merchant of Venice in Performance” was assisted by a generous grant from the CAPITAL Centre (Creativity and Performance in Teaching and Learning) of the University of Warwick for research in the RSC archive at the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust. The Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) funded a term’s research leave that enabled Jonathan Bate to work on “The Director’s Cut.”

  Picture research by Michelle Morton. Grateful acknowledgment is made to the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust for assistance with reproduction fees and picture research (special thanks to Helen Hargest).

  Images of RSC productions are supplied by the Shakespeare Centre Library and Archive, Stratford-upon-Avon. This library, maintained by the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust, holds the most important collection of Shakespeare material in the UK, including the Royal Shakespeare Company’s official archive. It is open to the public free of charge.

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bsp; For more information see www.shakespeare.org.uk.

  1. Drinkwater Meadows as Old Gobbo (1858). Reproduced by kind permission of the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust

  2. Directed by Denis Carey (1953). Angus McBean © Royal Shakespeare Company

  3. Directed by John Barton (1978). Joe Cocks Studio Collection © Shakespeare Birthplace Trust

  4. Directed by Gregory Doran (1997). Malcolm Davies © Shakespeare Birthplace Trust

  5. Directed by David Thacker (1993). Malcolm Davies © Shakespeare Birthplace Trust

  6. Directed by Darko Tresnjak (2007). © Donald Cooper/photostage.co.uk

  7. Directed by Trevor Nunn (1999). © Donald Cooper/photostage.co.uk

  8. Directed by Bill Alexander (1988). Reg Wilson © Royal Shakespeare Company

  9. Reconstructed Elizabethan Playhouse © Charcoalblue

  THE MODERN LIBRARY EDITORIAL BOARD

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  2010 Modern Library Paperback Edition

 

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