William Shakespeare's "The Merchant of Venice": A Classic Play from 1816

Amy: Perfect pocket size book

Canada on Sep 23, 2023

Amanda Hobson: N/A

United Kingdom on Sep 03, 2023

Erfan: La storia è bella, poi sono gusti

Italy on Dec 31, 2022

Reading_TamishlyReading_Tamishly: Thought I’d be Shakespeare illiterate but…

Yes, it definitely helped knowing a little bit about the play and the characters before diving into the actual play.

And it’s purely necessary for Shakespeare blind readers like me to know in simple words what I missed out after reading the play as well.

Yes, that’s how I read my first Shakespeare’s work and I’m still surprised why it is this play and not anything else.

A surprisingly 5 🌟 read for me, I got thoroughly entertained and provoked while reading this play. I got so happy with how it ended and how justice was delivered.

A story about debts and determination; romance and revenge; personal enmity and pathetic human nature also featuring one of the smartest female characters in fiction I have read so far, this play is one of my all time favourites now.

I am so glad I read this play and got fresh perspectives on how to deal with difficult stubborn people.

I say do not think too much about reading classics. Just pick up the book and read it. Take help from the internet on simple explanations it provides. More important is we know what the story is about and what we can...

India on Apr 16, 2022

The Quackinator 💯: I mean it has the text of the play which is really the most important part. I have better annotated copies of this play but this is.a perfectly fine edition

United States on Mar 23, 2021

Nuria Marín: Perfecto para lectura del instituto

Spain on Mar 15, 2021

Reinold F.: Genius. No other word can explain how one man can make so many master works. Around half the reading of 'The Merchant of Venice' I was feeling it was a bit slow and, to be blunt, somehow pointless and perhaps predictable. But no, nothing is what seems and the first half prepares us to understand how extraordinaire is the character of Portia, maybe I am forgetting somebody but she is now my favorite heroine in literature. Super smart, absolutely amazing, beyond beautiful; cunning as a demon, lovely as an angel. She is just perfect. But not the dull and generic perfection that non talented writers incur so many times these days, because even when she portrays a man she is herself as well but in her own feminine way, with her own ideas and interests driven by her passions.

Shakespeare has been a discovery to me, beyond his biography and the plot of Romeo and Juliet I didn't know about him, so I didn't know if this play would be either a tragedy or a comedy (and I wont tell you to not spoil you the reading). The second half is so thrilling, I fret about the words uttered by Bassanio unsuspectingly to a Portia in disguise, because it feels one of those tests a loved woman can...

United States on Aug 09, 2019

Richard Hingst: Initially I purchased the free version, but I found myself constantly needing to research various texts, or not bothering and remaining ignorant. Reading the introduction, etc. of this edition greatly reduced the need to research while reading the book, but when I did, more often than not there would be a footnote providing an answer. ALSO: footnotes are easily accessible AND it's only one tap to return to your spot/page.
This was the first Shakespeare I paid to purchase, but it certainly won't be my last.

United States on Aug 09, 2013

theuserb: I used this edition for several essays - I'd have to say it's the most helpful edition I've come across when it comes to academic work. The footnotes are helpful without being too distracting, and there are a series of critical essays in the back that hit on the biggest themes and controversies within the play.

If you have to write an essay on the play, I would definitely recommend this edition. You'll have great sources already built into the book, cutting your research time in half.

United States on Nov 28, 2012

Ralph S. Newbill: Ignatius deserves five stars for providing students with functional Kindle editions of the great Bard; in addition to The Merchant of Venice, Hamlet, Macbeth, and Romeo and Juliet are also available.

Let me briefly explain. Until now, there have been no Kindle editions of Shakespeare's plays that provide students with hyper-linked footnotes. The one exception I know of is the Penguin-Pelican Merchant of Venice, but this contains several formatting errors; the other volumes by this publisher do not have the footnotes hyper-linked, making the text pretty much unreadable. The Signet editions suffer from the same problem as the Penguin-Pelican.

By the way,the only ranting here is the 'post-modernist' complaint, from an earlier review, of traditional criticism.

Of course, the play itself is five stars.

United States on Feb 10, 2012