《威尼斯商人》是一部著名喜剧。它是莎士比亚早期的重要作品，剧本的主题是歌颂仁爱、友谊和爱情，同时也反映了资本主义早期商业资产阶级与高利贷者之间的矛盾，表现了作者对资产阶级社会中金钱、法律和宗教等问题的人文主义思想。这部剧作的一个重要文学成就，就是塑造了夏洛克这一惟利是图、冷酷无情的高利贷者的典型形象。

本书通过对这部作品的解读，将有助于读者明了《威尼斯商人》的情节与结构。

The Merchant of Venice, even in its own time, was considered Shakespeare's most controversial play.Now, one of the most popularly read and performed works, the play raises even more important issues for our day, particularly anti-Semitism and the treatment of Jews. Shakespeare scholar Jay Halio brings together his fascinating literary insights and his considerable knowledge of Shakespeare's world to this student casebook. His analysis of the play helps students interpret Shakespeare's plot and interwoven subplots, the sources that helped shape the play and the characters, and the thematic issues relating to justice, mercy and the myriad bonds of human relationships. This casebook also considers contemporary applications, with essays and editorials on current hate groups in the United States,the treatment of women, and male bonding. This casebook introduces students to the many issues in the play with a Literary and Dramatic Analysis chapter. Six topic chapters examine the play in its historical context, combining expert discussion and primary documents, making this ideal for interdisciplinary study.

Preface

Introduction

1. Literary and Dramatic Analysis

2. Venice and Its Treatment of Jews

 FROM:

 Laure nce Aldersey's Account of Venice (1581)

 Thomas Coryat, Coryat's Crudities (1611)

 Fynes Moryson, An Itinerary (1617)

 Fynes Moryson, Shakespeare's Europe (1617)

 William Thomas, The History of Italy (1549)

3. Attitudes Toward Jews

 FROM:

 Martin Luther, "Christ Was Born a Jew" (1523)

 Richard Hooker, Of the Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity, Book 5 (1597)

 An Enterlude of the Vertuous and Godly Queene Hester (ca. 1522-27)

 The Trial of Dr. Roderigo Lopez (1594)

 William Camden's History of the Reign of Queen Elizabeth (1607-17, 1625)

4. Classical and Renaissance Concepts of Male Friendship

 FROM:

 Cicero, De Amicitia (44 B.C.)

 Sir Thomas Elyot, The Governor (1531)

 Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene (1596)

 Michel de Montaigne, "Of Friendship" (ca. 1580)

 Sir Francis Bacon, "Of Friendship" (1625)

5. Elizabethan Marriage

 FROM:

 Heinrich Bullinger, The Christian State of Matrimony (1541)

 Edwin Sandys, Sermons (1585)

 Henry Smith, A Preparative to Marriage (1591)

6. Usury, Interest, and the Rise of Capitalism

 FROM:

 The Geneva Bible (1560)

 An Act against Usury (1571)

 John Woolley's Speech in Parliament (1571)

 Thomas Wilson, A Discourse upon Usury (1572)

 John Calvin, Commentaries on the Last Books of Moses (1554)

 Yehiel Nissim da Pisa, The EternalLife (1559)

 Phillip Stubbes, The Anatomy of Abuses (1583)

7. Contemporary Applications and Interpretation

 FROM:

 Tom Tugend, "Synagogue arson suspects kept 'hit-list' of Sacramento-area Jews" (1999)

 Bob Herbert, "Endless Poison" (1999)

 A Letter by John Cardinal O'Connor, Archbishop of New York (1999)

 A. Engler Anderson,"Male Bonding" (1994)

 William Triplett, "The Shylock Within" (1999)

Index