Why I love food
... meantime, since poetry greatly rewards multiple readings, I recommend that you introduce yourself to the poems on this list by reading through them on your own. You are to write three responses to The Merchant of Venice. Each response should consist of a quotation from the text and a paragraph of your own writing interpreting the significance of the quotation and its relations to the themes we discuss in class. Quotations should be selected from the reading assignment that is due on the same day as the response. Please cite act, scene, and line number. What is the importance of the actual physical details of setting, and how do they compare with the more abstract psychological aspects of the setting? (Analysis of stage directions will prove particularly useful here.) Ultimately, what purpose does the intensely psychological nature of the setting serve? As a variation on this topic, you might consider off-stage locations referred to in the play (s...