REFERENCES
1. William Poel, Shakespeare in the Theatre (1913, reprinted 1968), p. 77.
2. John Doran, Their Majesties' Servants, Vol. II (1865), p. 187.
3. Quoted by Francis Gentleman, Dramatic Censor (1770, reprinted 1969), p. 292.
4. Toby Lelyveld, Shylock on the Stage (1961), p. 41.
5. Chronicle, 6 March 1816.
6. Spectator, 8 November 1879.
7. Daily Herald, 29 July 1932.
8. The Times, London, 13 December 1932.
9. Avraham Oz, "The Merchant of Venice in Israel," in Foreign Shakespeare (1993), p. 63.
10. Oz, "The Merchant of Venice in Israel," p. 69.
11. National Review, 15 September 1989.
12. News Chronicle, 16 March 1953.
13. Evening Standard, 13 April 1960.
14. Evening News, 13 April 1960.
15. Robert Speaight, Shakespeare Quarterly, 12, p. 428.
16. Jonathan Miller, Subsequent Performances (1986), pp. 155.
17. James C. Bulman, The Merchant of Venice, Shakespeare in Performance (1991), p. 96.
18. Shakespeare Survey, 53, p. 268.
19. Charles Edelman, ed., The Merchant of Venice, Shakespeare in Production (2002), p. 86.
20. David Calder, interviewed by Liz Gibly, Plays International, June 1993.
21. David Nathan, Jewish Chronicle, 26 December 1997.
22. Arnold Wesker, Sunday Times, 6 May 1993.
23. Tracey R. Rich, "Love and Brotherhood," Judaism 101, www.jewfaq.org/brother.htm (accessed 4 September 2006).
24. John O'Connor, Shakespearean Afterlives (2003).
25. Benedict Nightingale, New Statesman, 97, 2511, 4 May 1979.
26. Peter Holland, English Shakespeares, 1997.
27. O'Connor, Shakespearean Afterlives.
28. Heather Neill, interview with David Calder, The Times, London, 1 June 1993.
29. Patrick Stewart, "Shylock in The Merchant of Venice," in Philip Brockbank, ed., Players of Shakespeare (1985).
30. Nightingale, New Statesman, 97, 2511, 4 May 1979.
31. Bulman, The Merchant of Venice.
32. Raymond, Theatre Week, 5 September 1988.
33. Michael Billington, Country Life, 14 May 1987.
34. Christopher Edwards, Spectator, 9 May 1987.
35. Billington, Country Life, 14 May 1987.
36. Christopher Edwards, Spectator, 9 May 1987.
37. Deborah Findlay, "Portia," in Russell Jackson and Robert Smallwood, eds., Players of Shakespeare 3 (1993).
38. Michael Coveney, Financial Times, 30 April 1987.
39. John Pitcher, Times Literary Supplement, 15 May 1987.
40. Penny Gay, "Portia Performs: Playing the Role in the Twentieth-Century English Theatre," in John W. Mahon and Ellen Macleod Mahon, eds., The Merchant of Venice: New Critical Essays (2002).
41. David Suchet on playing Shylock, in Judith Cook, Shakespeare's Players (1983).
42. Patrick Stewart on Playing Shylock, in John Barton, Playing Shakespeare (1984).
43. O'Connor, Shakespearean Afterlives.
44. O'Connor, Shakespearean Afterlives.
45. O'Connor, Shakespearean Afterlives.
46. David Calder on playing Shylock, The Merchant of Venice, RSC Education Pack, 1993.
47. Alastair Macaulay, Financial Times, 5 June 1993.
48. Charles Spencer, Daily Telegraph, 7 May 1993.
49. Sinead Cusack, "Portia in The Merchant of Venice," in Philip Brockbank, ed., Players of Shakespeare (1985).
50. Michael Coveney, Financial Times, 22 April 1981.
51. B. A. Young, Financial Times, 17 April 1965.
52. James Shaw, "The Merchant of Venice," in Keith Parsons and Pamela Mason, eds., Shakespeare in Performance (1995).
53. Michael Billington, Guardian, 1 May 1987.
54. Irving Wardle, The Times, London, 1 April 1971.
55. Shaw, "The Merchant of Venice."
56. Findlay, "Portia."
57. Pitcher, Times Literary Supplement, 15 May 1987.
58. Sinead Cusack, "Portia in The Merchant of Venice."
59. Irving Wardle, The Times, 22 April 1981.
60. Michael Billington, Guardian, 5 June 1993.
61. John Peter, Sunday Times, 13 June 1993.
62. David Thacker, The Merchant of Venice, RSC Education Pack, 1993.
63. Thacker, The Merchant of Venice.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS AND
PICTURE CREDITS
Preparation of "The Merchant of Venice in Performance" was assisted by a generous grant from the CAPITAL Centre (Creativity and Performance in Teaching and Learning) of the University of Warwick for research in the RSC archive at the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust. The Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) funded a term's research leave that enabled Jonathan Bate to work on "The Director's Cut."
Picture research by Michelle Morton. Grateful acknowledgment is made to the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust for assistance with reproduction fees and picture research (special thanks to Helen Hargest).
Images of RSC productions are supplied by the Shakespeare Centre Library and Archive, Stratford-upon-Avon. This library, maintained by the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust, holds the most important collection of Shakespeare material in the UK, including the Royal Shakespeare Company's official archive. It is open to the public free of charge.
For more information see www.shakespeare.org.uk.
1. Drinkwater Meadows as Old Gobbo (1858). Reproduced by kind permission of the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust 2. Directed by Denis Carey (1953). Angus McBean (c) Royal Shakespeare Company 3. Directed by John Barton (1978). Joe Cocks Studio Collection (c) Shakespeare Birthplace Trust 4. Directed by Gregory Doran (1997). Malcolm Davies (c) Shakespeare Birthplace Trust 5. Directed by David Thacker (1993). Malcolm Davies (c) Shakespeare Birthplace Trust 6. Directed by Darko Tresnjak (2007). (c) Donald Cooper/photostage.co.uk
7. Directed by Trevor Nunn (1999). (c) Donald Cooper/photostage.co.uk 8. Directed by Bill Alexander (1988). Reg Wilson (c) Royal Shakespeare Company 9. Reconstructed Elizabethan Playhouse (c) Charcoalblue
THE MODERN LIBRARY EDITORIAL BOARD
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Christopher Cerf
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Harold Evans
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Richard Howard
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Charles Johnson
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Jon Krakauer
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Edmund Morris
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Azar Nafisi
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Joyce Carol Oates
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Elaine Pagels
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Salman Rushdie
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Oliver Sacks
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Carolyn See
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Gore Vidal
2010 Modern Library Paperback Edition Copyright (c) 2007, 2010 by The Royal Shakespeare Company All rights reserved.
Published in the United States by Modern Library, an imprint of The Random House Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc., New York.
MODERN LIBRARY and the TORCHBEARER Design are registered trademarks of Random House, Inc.
"Royal Shakespeare Company," "RSC," and the RSC logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of The Royal Shakespeare Company.
The version of The Merchant of Venice and the corresponding footnotes that appear in this volume were originally published in William Shakespeare: Complete Works, edited by Jonathan Bate and Eric Rasmussen, published in 2007 by Modern Library, an imprint of The Random House Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc.
eISBN: 978-1-58836874-4
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m
v3.0
1 sooth truth
4 stuff substance
whereof ... born i.e. what is its cause 5 to learn yet to discover
6 want-wit senseless idiot
7 ado trouble
8 tossing on troubled/preoccupied with
9 argosies large merchant ships
portly stately, majestic
sail sails/(act of) sailing 10 signiors sirs/gentlemen
burghers citizens
flood sea 11 pageants spectacles, shows
12 overpeer look down upon
petty traffickers inferior merchant ships 13 curtsy bow or curtsy, perhaps suggested by the bobbing of the smaller ships in the argosies' wake
do them reverence pay them respect 14 fly speed
woven wings material sails (also suggestive of the wings of a fly) 15 venture risky business enterprise
forth away from home, i.e. on the seas 16 better part greater half
affections emotions/thoughts 17 hopes expectations, prospects
still constantly 18 where sits i.e. which way blows
19 roads harbors
24 ague fever, shaking
26 should i.e. could
27 flats sandbanks
28 Andrew name of a ship
29 Vailing lowering (in submission)
high top top section of the mast
ribs i.e. body of the ship 30 burial burial place
should I was I able to 32 bethink me straight think immediately
33 but merely
gentle noble/harmless
34 stream current
35 waters ... silks may play on idea of "watered silk," a relatively new fabric 36 even just
this this much (i.e. the value of the cargo) 39 bechanced having happened
43 bottom ship's bottom, hold
44 estate fortunes/circumstances
45 Upon dependent on/risked upon
fortune chance, fate 48 Fie expression of impatience or disgust
52 Janus Roman god with two faces
53 framed formed
54 peep peer through eyes half-closed in laughter
55 bagpiper bagpipes were thought to sound melancholic
56 other others
vinegar aspect sour expression 58 Though even if
Nestor Trojan leader, noted for his wisdom and gravity
Gratiano according to a contemporary Italian dictionary, a name given to a foolish or clownish character in a play 63 prevented forestalled
64 dear valuable
regard consideration
66 embrace welcome
th'occasion the opportunity 68 laugh i.e. meet for some fun
69 strange distant/unfamiliar
70 leisures ... yours spare time accommodate yours, i.e. ensure we are available when you are 73 have in mind i.e. think about
76 respect ... world concern for worldly affairs/business
77 it enjoyment (especially of material wealth)
buy ... care i.e. worry so much about it 78 marvellously extremely
79 hold consider, view
83 old your former/plentiful/familiar, "good old" (puns on the sense of "elderly") 84 liver thought to be the seat of the passions
85 heart ... groans groans were believed to drain blood from the heart
mortifying penitential/deadly 87 grandsire grandfather
cut in alabaster i.e. a statue on a tomb 88 creep ... jaundices become yellow from an excess of yellow bile or choler 89 peevish irritable, morose
91 visages faces
92 cream and mantle become covered in a layer of scum (i.e. are calm/expressionless)
standing still/stagnant 93 wilful deliberate
stillness restraint/quietness
entertain maintain 94 dressed ... opinion invested with a reputation
95 conceit understanding
96 As ... say as if to say
97 ope open
101 damn ... fools condemn the hearers for obliging them to call the speakers fools (according to the Bible a damnable offense) 104 melancholy bait i.e. silence used to fool people into assuming you are wise 105 fool foolish
gudgeon proverbially gullible fish 107 exhortation earnest speech/entreaty
109 dumb silent
113 grow become
for this gear as a result of this talk/on account of this matter 115 neat's tongue dried cured ox tongue
vendible saleable/sought-after (for marriage) 116 Is ... now? Did that (talk) mean anything?
118 reasons reasonings, opinions
119 ere before
122 same i.e. one
126 disabled devalued
127 something somewhat
swelling port extravagant lifestyle 128 faint inadequate
grant continuance allow maintenance (of) 129 make moan complain
abridged deprived
130 noble rate high style of living
care concern 131 come ... from i.e. repay
132 time (young) age/time spent
prodigal excessive, lavish 133 gaged pledged/entangled
135 warranty authorization
136 unburden reveal
140 Within ... honour i.e. honorable
142 occasions needs
143 shaft arrow
144 his ... flight the same type of arrow
145 advised careful
146 forth out
adventuring risking
147 urge bring forward
proof test/example 148 innocence sincerity
151 self same
153 or either
154 hazard i.e. that which was risked subsequently
155 rest remain
156 spend but only waste
157 wind ... circumstance ingratiate yourself by speaking in an elaborate, roundabout way 158 out of without
159 making ... uttermost questioning my offer of all the help I can give 160 made waste spent/wasted
161 but only
163 pressed enlisted
164 richly left with a large inheritance (left by her father)
166 Sometimes formerly, at one time
168 nothing undervalued To worth no less than
169 Cato Roman politician of the second century BC
Brutus Roman politician of the first century BC, married to Portia
173 golden fleece in Greek mythology the valued prize sought for by Jason
174 seat rural estate
strand the shore of Colchos (Colchis), where the fleece was found 178 presages that predicts
thrift profit/advantage 179 questionless without question
181 commodity goods
182 present immediate, ready
183 Try find out
184 racked stretched
185 furnish thee equip you to go
186 presently at once (to)
188 of my trust on my credit as a merchant
sake i.e. friendship's sake waiting woman companion and confidante; she is a genteel character, not a servant 1 troth faith
3 would be would have real reason to be (weary)
5 aught anything
surfeit feed to excess
7 mean middle
Superfluity overindulgence
comes sooner by sooner gains 8 competency sufficiency/modest means
9 sentences maxims
pronounced delivered
13 divine clergyman
16 blood passions (i.e. not reason)
hot temper passionate, impulsive temperament 17 cold decree i.e. sensible advice
18 meshes nets, traps
19 in fashion the (right) way
20 would want
21 will desire
22 will testament/inclination
25 lottery game of chance
27 who whoever
his meaning i.e. the chest he intended 28 rightly correctly (sense then shifts to "truly")
31 overname list
33 level at point to/guess at
34 Neapolitan inhabitants of Naples were famed for their ho
rsemanship 35 colt foolish/lustful youth (puns on the sense of "young horse") 36 appropriation addition/special feature
37 parts abilities
38 played false was unfaithful
smith blacksmith 39 County Count
Palatine possessing royal privileges over his region 40 who if one
An if
41 choose i.e. do as you like
42 prove prove to be
weeping philosopher Heraclitus of Ephesus, a reclusive and melancholy philosopher of 500 BC
43 unmannerly impolite/immoderate
sadness gravity/melancholy 44 death's-head skull
47 How what
by about
Le Bon the good (French) 50 better bad i.e. worse
51 He ... man he copies characteristics of everyone else but lacks his own identity 52 throstle thrush
straight straightaway
a capering to dancing 55 if even if
59 say i.e. speak (puns on Nerissa's meaning, "think about") 61 come ... swear i.e. testify
62 poor ... the i.e. very little
proper man's picture the image of an attractive man 63 dumb show mime
64 suited dressed
doublet close-fitting jacket 65 round hose short breeches, puffed out at the hips
bonnet hat 69 borrowed received
71 surety guarantor
sealed under pledged (literally, set his seal)
another i.e. a further box of the ear
73 Saxony former principality of Germany
77 beast may pun on best
An if
fall befall, happen 78 make shift arrange, manage
80 you should you would
83 Rhenish wine German white wine
contrary incorrect
if even if 84 without on the outside
86 sponge i.e. excessive drinker
88 determinations resolutions
90 suit courtship
sort way
91 imposition command
92 Sibylla Cumaean prophetess whom Apollo granted as many years of life as there were grains in her handful of sand 93 Diana Roman goddess of chastity
94 parcel company
99 Montferrat Italian dukedom
102 foolish inexperienced
105 four strangers foreign suitors (in fact, six have been mentioned) 106 forerunner messenger
111 condition disposition
112 complexion ... devil traditionally black
shrive me hear my confession, absolve me 113 wive marry
Sirrah sir (used to an inferior) Shylock perhaps from the Hebrew Shallach ("cormorant"), or from "Shiloh" (Genesis 49:10, although the word means "messiah"); possible connotations of wary secrecy and hoarding (shy lock) 1 ducats gold coins
5 bound bound in obligation to repay
7 stead assist
pleasure oblige
13 imputation accusation
15 sufficient of adequate means
16 supposition uncertainty
17 Tripolis Tripoli, North African port (now in Libya)
Indies East Indies 18 Rialto merchants' exchange in Venice; also bridge over the Grand Canal 19 squandered scattered/sent recklessly
21 pirates puns on rats