More Than a Pound of Flesh

Paper Summary:

A discussion regarding the absence of Shakespeare's 'Merchant of Venice' from what is commonly known as 'the big screen.' This paper reviews the reasoning behind the possibilities as to why a movie has never been made of the 'Merchant of Venice'. This paper then goes on to review the 2004 version directed by Michael Radford.

From the Paper:

"Shakespeare is such a valuable modern commodity that thousands of his plays are reproduced worldwide each year. His work is not limited to theaters, however; the film industry boldly revives a Shakespearean work practically every year. Why then is a play as well known as 'The Merchant of Venice' continually denied its turn on the big screen? Some critics argue that the play's distasteful anti-Semitic imagery is responsible for the lapse (Hitchcock). Director Michael Radford finally filled the gap with his 2004 film release, the first cinema version produced after World War II (Hitchcock). The film has met with many of the same attacks and praises that greet Shakespeare's original. The difficult task of both versions is to construct the human form of villainy."

More papers on More Than a Pound of Flesh:

• Term Paper # 145291 : "More Than a Medium of Entertainment"
• Essay # 1641 : "A Pound of Flesh: Shakespeare's "The Merchant of Venice"
• Book Review # 105477 : "More Than Human"

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