Understanding The Merchant of Venice: A Student Casebook to Issues, Sources, and Historical Documents (The Greenwood Press ''Literature in Context'' Series)

201 Pages·2000·11.06 MB·English

by  Jay L. Halio

Understanding
The Merchant of Venice
The Greenwood Press "Literature in Context'' Series
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UNDERSTANDINQ
The Merchant
of Venice
A STUDENT CASEBOOK TO
ISSUES, SOURCES, AND
HISTORICAL DOCUMENTS
Jay L. Halio
The Qreenwood Press
"Literature in Context" Series
Claudia Durst Johnson, Series Editor
QREENWOOD PRESS
Westport, Connecticut • London
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Halio, Jay L.
Understanding The merchant of Venice : a student casebook to issues, sources, and
historical documents / Jay L. Halio.
p. cm.—(The Greenwood Press "Literature in context" series, ISSN 1074-598X)
Includes bibliographical references (p. ) and index.
ISBN 0-313-31011-4 (alk. paper)
1. Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616. Merchant of Venice. 2. Shakespeare, William,
1564-1616. Merchant of Venice—Sources. 3. Shylock (Fictitious character) 4. Jews in
literature. 5. Comedy. I. Title. II. Series.
PR2825.H35 2000
822.3'3—dc21 99-462053
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data is available.
Copyright © 2000 by Jay L. Halio
All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be
reproduced, by any process or technique, without
the express written consent of the publisher.
Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 99-462053
ISBN: 0-313-31011-4
ISSN: 1074-598X
First published in 2000
Greenwood Press, 88 Post Road West, Westport, CT 06881
An imprint of Greenwood Publishing Group, Inc.
www.greenwood.com
Printed in the United States of America
The paper used in this book complies with the
Permanent Paper Standard issued by the National
Information Standards Organization (Z39.48-1984).
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 21
Copyright Acknowledgments
The author and publisher gratefully acknowledge permission for the use of the following
material:
Excerpted from THE COMPLETE WORKS OF MONTAIGNE: ESSAYS, TRAVEL JOURNAL,
LETTERS translated by Donald M. Frame with the permission of the publishers, Stanford
University Press. © 1943 by Donald M. Frame. © 1948, 1957 by the Board of Trustees of
the Leland Stanford Junior University.
Tom Tugend, "Synagogue arson suspects kept 'hit list' of Sacramento-area Jews," Jewish
Telegraphic Agency, July 12, 1999- Reprinted with permission from JTA, the Global News
Service of the Jewish People.
Bob Herbert, "Endless Poison," The New York Times, August 29, 1999. Copyright © 1999
by the New York Times Co. Reprinted by permission.
Yom Kippur greetings from Cardinal O'Connor (September 8, 1999) reprinted with per
mission of Cardinal O'Connor.
William Triplett, "The Shylock Within," The Washington Post, May 30, 1999, Gl, 5. Reprinted
with permission from the author.
Every reasonable effort has been made to trace the owners of copyright materials in this
book, but in some instances this has proven impossible. The author and publisher will be
glad to receive information leading to more complete acknowledgments in subsequent
printings of the book and in the meantime extend their apologies for any omissions.
For Rae Russo
Contents
Preface xi
Introduction xii
1. Literary and Dramatic Analysis 1
2. Venice and Its Treatment of Jews 23
FROM:
Laurence Aldersey's Account of Venice (1581) 27
Thomas Coryat, CoryaVs Crudities (1611) 29
Fynes Moryson, An Itinerary (1617) 35
Fynes Moryson, Shakespeare's Europe (1617) 37
William Thomas, The History of Italy (1549) 40
3. Attitudes Toward Jews 47
FROM:
Martin Luther, "Christ Was Born a Jew" (1523) 53
Richard Hooker, Of the Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity,
Book 5 (1597) 56
Vlll Contents
An Enterlude of the Vertuous and Godly Queene
Hester (ca. 1522-27) 58
The Trial of Dr. Roderigo Lopez (1594) 62
William Camden's History of the Reign of Queen
Elizabeth (1607-17, 1625) 63
4. Classical and Renaissance Concepts of Male Friendship 69
FROM:
Cicero, De Amicitia (44 B.C) 72
Sir Thomas Elyot, The Governor (1531) 76
Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene (1596) 81
Michel de Montaigne, "Of Friendship" (ca. 1580) 84
Sir Francis Bacon, "Of Friendship" (1625) 87
5. Elizabethan Marriage 93
FROM:
Heinrich Bullinger, The Christian State of
Matrimony (1541) 99
Edwin Sandys, Sermons (1585) 102
Henry Smith, A Preparative to Marriage (1591) 105
6. Usury, Interest, and the Rise of Capitalism 115
FROM:
The Geneva Bible (1560) 121
An Act against Usury (1571) 123
John Woolley's Speech in Parliament (1571) 125
Thomas Wilson, A Discourse upon Usury (1572) 126
John Calvin, Commentaries on the Last Books of
Moses (1554) 130
Yehiel Nissim da Pisa, The Eternal Life (1559) 133
Phillip Stubbes, The Anatomy of Abuses (1583) 135
7. Contemporary Applications and Interpretation 141
FROM:
Tom Tugend, "Synagogue arson suspects kept
'hit-list' of Sacramento-area Jews" (1999) 143
Contents IX
Bob Herbert, "Endless Poison" (1999) 145
A Letter by John Cardinal O'Connor, Archbishop of
New York (1999) 148
A. Engler Anderson, "Male Bonding" (1994) 158
William Triplett, "The Shylock Within" (1999) 170
Index 175