Table of Content
Introduction William Shakespeare The Merchant of Venice The Merchant of Venice In Context The Shakespearean Theater The Swan Theatre Titus Andronicusin Performance The Plot of an Elizabethan Play Early Editions of Shakespeare's Plays Sources and Context from Runner of the World(late 13th or early 14th century) from Giovanni Fiorentino, The Simpleton(1378) from Christopher Marlowe, The Jew of Malta(c. 1590) Jews and Christians from the Geneva Bible, John 8.42-49 (1560) from The South English Legendary: Miracles of the Virgin(c. 1280) from Edward I's Edict of Expulsion (1290) from Richard Morison, A Remedy for Sedition(1536) from Samuel Usque, Consolation for the Tribulations of Israel(1553) from Raphael Holinshed, Chronicles of England, Scotland, and Ireland(1587 edition) from Thomas Coryate, Coryat's Crudities(1611) from Leon of Modena, History of the Present Jews throughout the World(c. 1616) from Edward Coke, The Institutes of the Laws of England, Part 2 (1642) Revenge from the Geneva Bible, Exodus 21.12-25 (1560) Francis Bacon, "Of Revenge" (1625) Commercial Life: Of Venice, Merchants, Usurers, and Debtors The Geneva Bible (1560) on Usury and Generosity Exodus 22.22-27 Leviticus 25.35-37 Deuteronomy 23.19-20 Psalms 15.1-5 Ezekiel 18.7-13 from Thomas Wilson, A Discourse upon Usury(1572) from Zuane di Andrea Zane and Brothers, Petition to the Senate (31 July 1550) from William Thomas, The History of Italy(1549) from Yehiel Nissim Da Pisa, The Eternal Life(1559) from Thomas Lupton, The Second Part and Knitting Up of the Book Entitled Too Good to Be True(1581) from Anthony Copley, Wits Fits and Fancies(1595) from Thomas Lodge, Wit's Misery, and the World's Madness(1596) from Giovanni Botero, Relations, of the Most Famous Kingdoms and Commonweals through the World(1595) from Leon of Modena, History of the Present Jews throughout the World(c. 1616) from Leon of Modena, "Refutation of What Fra Sisto Writes in His Holy Library" (1627) Francis Bacon, "Of Usury" (1625) Friendship and Love between Men from Cicero, Of Friendship(44 bce) from Christopher Marlowe, Edward II(1594) from Richard Barnfield, Cynthia, with Certain Sonnets, and the Legend of Cassandra(1595) from William Shakespeare, Sonnets(1609) from Michel de Montaigne, "Of Friendship" (1580) from Leon of Modena, Treatise on Ethics(1587) Women, Family, and Obedience from Baldassare Castiglione, The Book of the Courtier(1528) Juan Luis Vivès, The Instruction of a Christen Woman(1524) from Thomas Becon, The Catechism(c. 1550) from Elizabeth Cary, The Tragedy of Mariam, the Fair Queen of Jewry(1613) Permissions Acknowledgments
