The Shakespeare Conference: SHK 14.0102  Wednesday, 22 January 2003

From:           Clifford Stetner <
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Date:           Tuesday, 21 Jan 2003 11:40:39 -0500
Subject: 14.096 Re: Shylock Redux
Comment:        Re: SHK 14.096 Re: Shylock Redux

Ted Dykstra writes:

>Surely the main character of a play does not disappear with almost an
>hour of the story still to come? Shakespeare intended the main character
>to be Portia, unfortunately.


Following normal convention, the protagonist would be Bassanio. The
play, however, has two titles in the Stationer's Register: The Merchant
of Venice or The Jew of Venice. Following Shakespeare's convention,
Antonio or Shylock would be the candidates for "intended" "main
character."

Clifford Stetner
CUNY

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