This course will focus on The Merchant of Venice, one of Shakespeare's most controversial plays. While public controversy centers around the question of the play's anti-Semitism, early modern scholars tend to approach the play in terms of other determinants: contemporary economic preoccupations, religious questions and generic expectations. This course will explore the ways in which the play's fascination and capacity to produce discomfort arises from the "over-determination" of its action, the fact that there are too many interpretive frameworks that are pertinent to the play and with which the play engages. In probing play's effects, we will read a wide range of material: other "Jew" and "usury" plays, Italian comedies and novellae, economic history, the Bible, and a wide range of criticism and theory. The goals of this course include developing an historical and theoretical understanding of topics such as the emergence of capitalism, the intersection of literary genre and material history, and ethics. Students will be expected to deliver an in-class seminar to be handed in as a short paper, and to write a final critical paper of 15-20 pages.
