Merchant of Venice (Oxford Shakespeare) - Hardcover

This edition presents a fresh examination of the text and all the important aspects of its significance and meaning. It is based upon the first printed edition, the Quarto of 1600. This edition has been collated against the second quarto, the Pavier Quarto of 1619 (falsely dated 1619), as well as against the First Folio of 1623, from which some stage directions have been adopted. A selective collation records all substantive variations from the control-text (Q), and major variants in Q2 and F. In addition, a running commentary on the text includes some new interpretations of particular passages and characters, such as Shakespeare's satirical representation of the Prince of Morocco. The general introduction begins with a discussion of "Shakespeare and Semitism", in which the often made charge of anti-Semitism is addressed not only as it involves "The Merchant of Venice", but as Shakespeare's other work may be concerned. A study of the sources, backgrounds and date of the play follows, including a discussion of Freud's essay on "The Three Caskets". The critical interpretation of the play focuses upon the contradictions, inconsistencies and complementarities in "The Merchant of Venice", especially as these relate to the overarching theme of bonds and bondage. Finally, a survey of the play's stage history in Shakespeare's lifetime, to Granville's redaction called "The Jew of Venice", to Macklin's restoration of Shakespeare's text in the 18th century, and so on to the 19th-century productions of Kean, Irving and others, and finally to several major 20th-century productions. This section of the introduction concludes with a brief stage history of performances outside England, particularly in Israel, both before and after the establishment of the State of Israel. The text itself is modernized for the conveniance of students and the general reader, following the guidelines of ther editions in this series. An appendix charts the variations in speech prefixes for Shylock in all three early editions in an attempt to show either the author's or the printer's inconsistent preferences for "Shy(1)" or "Iew(e)", depending upon the immediate context.