Synopses & Reviews
Synopsis
Shakespeare's engagement with anti-Semitic tradition is a notoriously disturbing feature of The Merchant of Venice. Douglas Lanier carefully shows how Shakespeare shuttles between language that emphasises irreconcilable differences, and language that emphasizes common humanity, and how you can productively analyse this language for yourself.The language of business-of monetary value, money-making, profit and loss, risk and reward-invades nearly all other issues and themes in The Merchant of Venice, and can also be challenging to grasp. This guide shows how to unpick this linguistic nexus, so that you can understand how economic ways of speaking and thinking drive the characters' actions and emotions in ways they may not fully understand but that we come to see.
Each chapter's "Writing Matters" section gives you ideas and guidance for building your own critical response to the play, while the final chapter leads you through effective strategies for essay construction. Including an extensive list of print and online resources, this volume will equip you to articulate your views on The Merchant of Venice with greater insight and confidence.
Synopsis
Arden Student Skills: Language and Writing volumes offer a new type of study aid that combines lively critical insight with practical guidance on the writing skills you need to develop in order to engage fully with Shakespeare's texts. The books' core focus is on language: both understanding and enjoying Shakespeare's complex dramatic language, and expanding your own critical vocabulary, as you respond to his plays. Each guide in the series will empower you to read and write about Shakespeare with increased confidence and enthusiasm.
A notoriously disturbing play, The Merchant of Venice explores how the discourses of racial and religious prejudice and of business intertwine and shape how characters understand themselves and their relationships with one another. The intersections between religious, racial and economic language in The Merchant of Venice can be challenging to grasp, but in this guide Douglas Lanier showcases a range of approaches to understanding its language, all based on close reading and attention to Shakespeare's style. The volume will equip you to analyze Shakespeare's troubling portrayal of anti-Semitism for yourself and to articulate your views on The Merchant of Venice with greater insight and confidence.