For the Ignatius Study Guide for The Merchant of Venice, click here.

The Merchant of Venice is probably the most controversial of all Shakespeare's plays. It is also one of the least understood. Is it a comedy or a tragedy? What is the meaning behind the test of the caskets? Who is the real villain of the trial scene? Is Shylock simply vicious and venomous, or is he more sinned against than sinning?

Can the play be described as anti-semitic? What exactly is the quality of mercy? Is Portia one of the great Christian heroines of western literature? And what of the comedy of the rings with which Shakespeare ends the play? These questions and many others are answered in this critical edition of one of the Bard's liveliest plays.

A look at the essays

James Bemis gives his thoughts on the play's interpretations and its various film adaptations while Raimund Borgmeiertakes up "The Family in The Merchant of Venice".

Michael G. Brennan mixes cultural, economic, and geographical tensions in "Shakespeare's Italian Stages".Crystal Downing, meanwhile, gives a compelling argument for more careful and circumspect reading by illustrating three levels of understanding one can have of the play. 

Anthony Esolen celebrates "The Hazard of Love"; James E. Hartley provides an informative history of usury; Daniel H. Lowenstein compares Portia's and Shylock's commitment to law, stressing that Portia's is greater than usually supposed, but of a different type; and Michael Martin reveals Shakespeare's treatment of the different kinds of friendship, a topic very much in vogue at the time.

Joseph Pearce situates the reader with the introductory essay.