Berry, Ralph. "Discomfort in The Merchant of Venice." In Shakespeare and the Awareness of the Audience, pp. 46-26. London: Macmillan, 1985.

Analyzes the play's capacity to disturb and offend an audience and argues that the source of this discomfort is rooted in the depiction of the play's social transactions.

Bloom, Allan and Harry V. Jaffa. "On Christian and Jew: The Merchant of Venice" In Shakespeare's Politics, pp. 13-34. New York: Basic Books, Inc., 1964.

States that Shakespeare presents Shylock and Antonio as representatives of Judaism and Christianity, respectively, and argues that Shylock's fate is due in part to his status as a foreigner within the Christian community of Venice.

Cohen, Walter. "The Merchant of Venice and the Possibilities of Historical Criticism." ELH 49 (1982): 765-89.

Offers an overview of the play which combines both historical and structural analysis.

Cooper, John R "Shylock's Humanity." Shakespeare Quarterly XXI, No. 2 (Spring 1970): 117-24.

Examines the various critical interpretations of Shylock from the standpoints of extreme sympathy to complete condemnation, and concludes that Shylock is not simply a comic villain, "but a character to be taken seriously."

Geary, Keith. "The Nature of Portia's Victory: Turning to Men in The Merchant of Venice" In Shakespeare Survey, edited by Stanley Wells, pp. 55-68. Cambridge University Press, 1984.

Examines the way in which Portia's disguise as Balthazar is used by Shakespeare to dramatize the conflict between heterosexual and homosexual love within the Portia/Bassanio/Antonio triangle.

Halio, Jay L. Introduction to The Merchant of Venice, by William Shakespeare, pp. 1-84. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1993.

Presents a detailed introduction to the play, focusing on Shakespeare's attitude toward Jews, literary sources for the play, and discussion of the plot, characters, and performance history.

Hamill, Monica J. "Poetry, Law, and the Pursuit of Perfection: Portia's Role in The Merchant of Venice" Studies in English Literature 1500-1900 XVIII, No. 2 (Spring 1978): 229-43.

Analyzes the relationship between Portia's use of poetic language and her interpretation and obeying of the law.

Holmer, Joan Ozark. "'Give and Hazard': Friends and Lovers." In The Merchant of Venice: Choice, Hazard and Consequence, pp. 95-141. London, Macmillan, 1995.

Explores the meaning and difference between "wise love and foolish desire" and argues that the relationship between these two elements is the factor which unifies the play's various plots.

Kuhns, Richard and Barbara Tovey. "Portia's Suitors." Philosophy and Literature 13, No. 2 (October 1989): 325-31.

Suggests that the passages in the play in which Portia's suitors are discussed are references to writers whom Shakespeare admired and was indebted to for plots and inspiration.

Leggati, Alexander. "The Merchant of Venice" In Shakespeare's Comedy of Love, pp. 117-50. London: Methuen, 1974.

Offers an assessment of the play's plot and characters and examines the ways in which the play's characters resist being viewed as allegorical figures.

Normand, Lawrence. "Reading the body in The Merchant of Venice." Textual Practice 5, No. 1 (Spring 1991): 55-73.

Discusses how the play's language creates as many problems as it addresses and examines in particular how "bodily discourse" may be read in many ways, such as legal, theological, or amatory.

Rosen, Alan. "The Rhetoric of Exclusion: Jew, Moor, and the Boundaries of Discourse in The Merchant of Venice." In Race, Ethnicity, and Power in the Renaissance, edited by Joyce Green MacDonald, pp. 67-79. London: Associated University Presses, 1997.

Examines the rhetoric of Shylock and the Prince of Morocco and argues that the discourse of the two characters emphasizes their shared status as outsiders.

Shell, Marc. "The Wether and the Ewe: Verbal Usury in The Merchant of Venice." The Kenyon Review 1, No. 4 (Fall 1979): 65-92.

Argues that the play offers a "political and economic critique of human production."