In The Merchant of Venice; the path to marriage is hazardous. To win Portia; Bassanio must pass a test prescribed by her fatherrsquo;s will; choosing correctly among three caskets or chests. If he fails; he may never marry at all. Bassanio and Portia also face a magnificent villain; the moneylender Shylock. In creating Shylock; Shakespeare seems to have shared in a widespread prejudice against Jews. Shylock would have been regarded as a villain because he was a Jew. Yet he gives such powerful expression to his alienation due to the hatred around him that; in many productions; he emerges as the hero. Portia is most remembered for her disguise as a lawyer; Balthazar; especially the speech in which she urges Shylock to show mercy that ldquo;droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven.rdquo; The authoritative edition of The Merchant of Venice from The Folger Shakespeare Library; the trusted and widely used Shakespeare series for students and general readers; includes: -The exact text of the printed book for easy cross-reference -Hundreds of hypertext links for instant navigation -Freshly edited text based on the best early printed version of the play -Newly revised explanatory notes conveniently linked to the text of the play -Scene-by-scene plot summaries -A key to the playrsquo;s famous lines and phrases -An introduction to reading Shakespearersquo;s language -An essay by a leading Shakespeare scholar providing a modern perspective on the play -Fresh images from the Folger Shakespeare Libraryrsquo;s vast holdings of rare books -An annotated guide to further reading Essay by Alexander Leggatt The Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington; DC; is home to the worldrsquo;s largest collection of Shakespearersquo;s printed works; and a magnet for Shakespeare scholars from around the globe. In addition to exhibitions open to the public throughout the year; the Folger offers a full calendar of performances and programs. For more information; visit Folger.edu.
#1609033 in eBooks 2014-04-01 2014-04-01File Name: B00IWGRRGO
Review
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful. Good for reading; poor for lookingBy Philip KoplinCovering a deep array of topics; the essays are fascinating and informative. Unfortunately; the same canrsquo;t be said of the illustrations; and this is a book about visual art; after all; and a rather expensive one. The images are not so much black and white; as washed-out gray and even-more-washed-out gray; to the point where some of them are virtually indecipherable. Most of the chapters have about four such figures; although some have as few as two; including; for example; Peter Sturmanrsquo;s chapter on landscape painting; which has extensive discussions on the significance of Fan Kuanrsquo;s Travelers among Mountains and Streams and Huang Gongwangrsquo;s Dwelling in the Fuchun Mountains but illustrates neither. In both cases; the website for the National Palace Museum in Taiwan is cited; with the task of navigating the site in order to find the respective paintings left to the reader. Another painting mentioned by Sturman; Guo Xirsquo;s Early Spring; is cited as being illustrated in another chapter; but the reader who turns to the cited figure in that chapter will find something else there; with the text noting that the painting in question is ldquo;unfortunately not available here;rdquo; which could have been said of most of the art discussed in the book. Buy it for the essays; if you can afford it; but keep your computer or library of books on Chinese art handy if you want to make better sense of what theyrsquo;re talking about.
