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The Merchant of Venice

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Nathan the Wise: An 18th-century German counterpoint to Shakespeare’s Shylock
Nathan the Wise
Shakespeare and Beyond

Nathan the Wise: An 18th-century German counterpoint to Shakespeare’s Shylock

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Author
Michele Osherow

“Nathan the Wise” and “The Merchant of Venice” are very different works, though religious tension is a subject in each, as is the potential for love and loss, wealth and poverty, bloodshed and peace. But it is the character of…

Excerpt: 'Irregular Unions' by Katharine Cleland
Shakespeare and Beyond

Excerpt: 'Irregular Unions' by Katharine Cleland

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Author
Shakespeare & Beyond

Katharine Cleland examines Jessica and Lorenzo’s clandestine marriage in Shakespeare’s “The Merchant of Venice” in this excerpt from her book “Irregular Unions.”

Historical connections: The Black page in Henry Irving’s Victorian production of ‘The Merchant of Venice’
Shakespeare and Beyond

Historical connections: The Black page in Henry Irving’s Victorian production of ‘The Merchant of Venice’

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Author
Hassana Moosa

Victorian director Henry Irving’s use of a Black page in his production of ‘The Merchant of Venice’ shows how forms of race-thinking had been sustained and intensified in the English theatrical imagination.

Strange Shakespeare: The anti-Shylock in the boxing ring
Shakespeare and Beyond

Strange Shakespeare: The anti-Shylock in the boxing ring

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Author
Daniel O’Quinn

Actor Edmund Kean’s more sympathetic portrayal of Shylock onstage in the early 19th century connected with the Jewish boxer Daniel Mendoza’s merciful defeat of an English champion.

Excerpt: Shakespeare and the Folktale
Shakespeare and Beyond

Excerpt: Shakespeare and the Folktale

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Author
Shakespeare & Beyond

What are the connections between traditional folktales and Shakespeare’s plays? Charlotte Artese, an English professor at Agnes Scott College in Georgia, sets out to explore these folktale sources in a new anthology of stories, Shakespeare and the Folktale, published October…

Drawing Shakespeare: The Merchant of Venice
The Merchant of Venice. Paul Glenshaw.
Shakespeare and Beyond

Drawing Shakespeare: The Merchant of Venice

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Author
Paul Glenshaw

Paul Glenshaw draws “The Merchant of Venice” bas-relief from the series by sculptor John Gregory at the Folger Shakespeare Library — and finds depictions of the same scene with some similar elements in the Folger collection.

Play on! Q&A: Elise Thoron and Julie Felise Dubiner on translating 'The Merchant of Venice'
Julie Felise Dubiner and Elise Thoron
Shakespeare and Beyond

Play on! Q&A: Elise Thoron and Julie Felise Dubiner on translating 'The Merchant of Venice'

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Shakespeare & Beyond

The playwright and dramaturg who worked on translating ‘The Merchant of Venice’ share insights into the play and the translation process.

Usury and 'The Merchant of Venice': An excerpt from 'London's Triumph' by Stephen Alford
London's Triumph by Stephen Alford
Shakespeare and Beyond

Usury and 'The Merchant of Venice': An excerpt from 'London's Triumph' by Stephen Alford

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Shakespeare & Beyond

This excerpt from “London’s Triumph” by Stephen Alford looks at the Elizabethan understanding of usury, seen through Shakespeare’s “The Merchant of Venice.”

Shakespeare's 'Merchant of Venice': Perpetuating stereotypes or sparking much-needed conversations?
Shylock in District Merchants
Shakespeare and Beyond

Shakespeare's 'Merchant of Venice': Perpetuating stereotypes or sparking much-needed conversations?

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Author
Esther French

Matthew Boston (Shylock) in District Merchants, a variation on Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice. Folger Theatre, 2016. Photo by Teresa Wood. Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice ends badly for Shylock, with the court ruling against him and his claim on Antonio’s…

Shakespeare in the Caribbean
Shakespeare and Beyond

Shakespeare in the Caribbean

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Author
Esther French

Roxi Victorian as Hero (center) with the cast of Folger Theatre’s Much Ado About Nothing, a 2009 production inspired by the D.C. Caribbean Carnival. Photo by Carol Pratt. As you’ll hear in this episode of the Folger’s Shakespeare Unlimited podcast, Shakespeare…