William Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice

The present book aims at making Shakespear’s The Merchant of Venice more comprehensible to the common reader. Beginning with the life and works of Shakespeare, the book provides a scene-wise critical summary of the play so that, as the reader castes his eyes over them, he becomes familiar with the common critical view about the individual scenes themselves. It has numerous citations from the text so that even if the reader is not familiar with it, he will have a chance of reading Shakespeare’s poetry. The analyses of the different elements of drama are accompanied with the views of renowned critics. This latter feature makes the book all the more useful to teachers as well as students. Along with the recent critical views, the classical theories about comedies as well as Elizabethan conventions have been lucidly and briefly explained so that the student may not find any difficulty in understanding the. A brief analysis according to classical Sanskrit dramaturgy has also been included. Important questions have also been given so as to help in further consideration of literary text. A select Bibliography and Index completes the book. The book is highly readable, self-contained and comprehensive; it will undoubtedly prove an invaluable reference book to both students and teachers of English literature.