Premium Content Mercy and the Masquerade: Trial and Performance in The Merchant of Venice
By Nadia Berenstein - February 26, 2002
According to the evidence we have, it seems Shakespeare wrote his plays exclusively to be performed. We are repeatedly reminded of this fact; there are throughout many of his plays moments of self-conscious performance, performance that reflects the nature of the very spectacle that occurred on stage for an audience. Though this dramatic principle…
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