The Merchant of Venice by Shakespeare explores themes of revenge, greed, and love. The play contrasts the characters of the vicious and greedy Venetian moneylender, Shylock, with the gracious and level-headed Portia, a wealthy young woman besieged by suitors. Though billed as a comedy, the play is famed for its sense of drama. In The Merchant of Venice Student Study Guide, students are guided to read and think through the grammar, logic, and rhetoric stages towards the essence of a story: the central proposition that gives the story its ultimate meaning and expression.
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One of Shakespeare’s most controversial plays, The Merchant of Venice is sure to challenge the young mind. Our Upper-School literature study guides train students to read actively, but have been expanded and developed to lead students through a four-stage Trivium based continuum to the acquisition and expression of the Central One Idea of a story or poem. The students are guided to read and think through the grammar, logic, and rhetoric stages towards the essence of a story: the central proposition that gives the story its ultimate meaning and expression.
The Student Study Guides feature helpful reading notes, extensive vocabulary training, comprehension questions, Socratic discussion questions, work with quotes, and literary and rhetorical devices presented in bold to prepare students for sophisticated literary analysis and/or future work in AP Literature and college classes. Upper-School student books are now in a smaller, non-consumable format. The format of these guides helps older students transition away from a workbook mentality and prepares them for college classes by teaching them to take their own notes and glean information from lectures, class discussions, and the text.