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Article: Shakespeare's Venetian paradigm: stereotyping and Sadism in The Merchant of Venice and Othello.(William Shakespeare)(Critical Essay)
- Article from:
- Papers on Language & Literature
- Article date:
- March 22, 2003
- Author:
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English Renaissance literary commonplaces about Venice find scant confirmation in Shakespeare's Venetian plays: The Merchant of Venice and Othello. For the Earls of Southampton and Essex and for many literate English Protestants, Venice was the model of republican government, the alternative to monarchy for disaffected subjects of Elizabeth. Additionally, it became in English minds a center of international trade and commerce, which made possible the flowering of Italian Renaissance painting, architecture, and culture (Berry 252; McPherson 28-29, 32-36). Set against these positive images of the city was the corrupt Italianate Venice, the festering sister of Rome and ...