A-Z CLASSIC LITERATURE

Bitesize Shakespeare: The Merchant of Venice

The Merchant of Venice is a clever and controversial comedy. Bassanio, a poor nobleman in Venice, needs money to woo the beautiful heiress Portia. He asks his friend Antonio for a loan, but Antonio has invested his funds in ships overseas. The moneylender, Shylock, offers the cash on the condition that he will take a pound of Antonio’s flesh if the loan is not repaid within three months. Antonio goes bankrupt and Portia steps in, disguised as a young male lawyer, to save the day.

SOURCE: BBC (2014), available from ClickView, [5:54 mins] URL: https://clickv.ie/w/_DOp

Comedies, Romances, and Shakespeare's Heroines: Crash Course Theater #16

This week we're continuing our discussion of William Shakespeare and looking at his comedies and romances. As well as something called problem plays. Some of his plays, they had problems. We'll also put on pants, escape to forest, and talk about Shakepeare's heroines, lots of whom had quite a bit more agency in these plays than the women in the tragedies had.

SOURCE: Crash Course Theatre (2018), posted on Youtube, [11:21 mins] URL: https://youtu.be/ZjAqfh9aY9Y