The Merchant of Venice (Bantam Classic) - Softcover

This is one of Shakespeare’s darkest comedies, for the romantic story of a young man, Bassanio, who has squandered his fortune and must borrow money to woo the wealthy lady he loves is set against the more disturbing story of the Jewish moneylender Shylock and his demand for the “pound of flesh” owed him by the Venetian merchant, Antonio. Here pathos and farce combine with moral complexity and romantic entanglement to display the extraordinary power and range of Shakespeare at his best.

Each Edition Includes:
· Comprehensive explanatory notes
· Vivid introductions and the most up-to-date scholarship
· Clear, modernized spelling and punctuation, enabling contemporary readers to understand the Elizabethan English
· Completely updated, detailed bibliographies and performance histories
· An interpretive essay on film adaptations of the play, along with an extensive filmography

Great pains have been taken to follow Shakespeare's intentions with regard to the act and scene division and the exact form of speech. The editing has been done from the quarto or folio texts, depending on which considered more authoritative, and the ideal has been to reproduce the chosen texts with as few alterations as possible. In order to help the reader and student, the annotations have been arranged on the relevant pages, providing an easily accessible and indispensable source of information.