The Merchant of Venice by William Shakespeare
In The Merchant Of Venice, Shakespeare weaves together two ancient folk tales, one involving a vengeful, greedy creditor trying to exact a pound of flesh, the other involving a marriage suitor's choice among three chests and thereby winning his (or her) mate.
Shakespeare's treatment of the first standard plot scheme centres around the villain of Merchant, the Jewish money-lender Shylock who seeks a literal pound of flesh from his Christian opposite, the generous, faithful Antonio.
Shakespeare's version of the chest-choosing device revolves around the play's Christian heroine, Portia, who steers her lover Bassanio toward the correct humble casket and then successfully defends his bosom friend Antonio from Shylock's horrid legal suit.
Format: Paperback | 240 pages
Dimensions(cm): 17.9 x 11 x 1.4 | 144g
Publication Date: 02 May 2005
Publisher: Penguin Books
Publication City/Country: London, United Kingdom
Language: English
Edition Number: 8
ISBN10: 0141013954
ISBN13: 9780141013954
Condition: Good
A book that has been read but is in good condition. Some damage to the cover including minor scuff marks along the edges, and obvious creasing on the bottom-right corner of the front cover, but no holes or tears. The majority of pages are undamaged with very minimal creasing but no tearing. No pencil underlining of text, no highlighting of text, no writing in margins. No missing pages.