For part of the plot of ‘The Merchant of Venice’ Shakespeare seems to have had recourse to ‘II Pecorone,’ a collection of Italian novels by Ser Giovanni Fiorentino. ‘Merchant
of Venice.’There a Jewish creditor demands a pound of flesh of a defaulting Christian debtor, and the latter is rescued through the advocacy of ‘the lady of Belmont.’ A similar story figures in the ‘Gesta Romanorum,’ while the tale of the caskets is told independently in another portion of the same work. But Shakespeare's ‘Merchant’ owes much to other sources, including more than one old play. Stephen Gosson describes in his ‘Schoole of Abuse’ (1579) a lost play called ‘the Jew .… showne at the Bull [inn] .… representing the greedinesse of worldly chusers and bloody mindes of usurers.’ This description suggests that the two stories of the pound of flesh and the caskets had been combined before. The scenes in Shakespeare's play in which Antonio negotiates with Shylock are roughly anticipated, too, by dialogues between a Jewish creditor Gerontus and a Christian debtor in the extant play of ‘The Three Ladies of London,’ by R[obert] W[ilson] 1584.
Above all is it of interest to note that Shakespeare in ‘The Merchant of Venice’ betrayed for the last time his discipleship to Marlowe. Although the delicate comedy which lightens the serious interest of Shakespeare's play sets it in a different category from that of Marlowe's ‘Jew of Malta,’ the humanised portrait of the Jew Shylock embodies reminiscences of Marlowe's caricature of the Jew Barabbas. Doubtless the popular interest aroused by the trial in February 1594 and the execution in June of the queen's Jewish physician, Roderigo Lopez [q. v.], incited Shakespeare to a new and subtler study of Jewish character (cf. ‘The Original of Shylock,’ by the present writer, in Gent. Mag. February 1880; Dr. H. Graetz, Shylock in den Sagen, in den Dramen und in der Geschichte, Krotoschin, 1880; and New Shakespere Soc. Trans. 1887–92, pt. ii. pp. 158–92). The main interest of the ‘Merchant’ culminates in the trial scene and Shylock's discomfiture, but there is an ease in the transition to the gently poetic and humorous incidents of the concluding act which attests a rare mastery of stagecraft. The ‘Venesyon Comedy,’ which Henslowe, the manager, produced at the Rose on 25 Aug. 1594, was probably the earliest version of the ‘Merchant of Venice.’ It was not published till 1600, when two editions appeared, each printed from a different stage-copy.
To 1594 must also be assigned ‘King John,’ which, like the ‘Comedy of Errors’ and ‘Richard II,’ altogether eschews prose; it was not printed till 1623. The piece was directly adapted from a worthless play called ‘The Troublesome Raigne King John.of King John’ (1591), which was fraudulently reissued in 1611 as ‘written by W. Sh.,’ and in 1622 as by ‘W. Shakespeare.’ There is very small ground for associating Marlowe's name with the old play. Into the adaptation Shakespeare flung all his energy, and the theme grew under his hand into genuine tragedy. The three chief characters—the king, Constance, and Faulconbridge—are in all essentials of his own invention, and are portrayed with a sureness of touch that leaves no doubt of his developing strength.
At the close of 1594 a performance of Shakespeare's early farce, ‘The Comedy of Errors,’ gave him a passing notoriety that he could well have spared. The piece was played on the evening of Innocents' day (28 Dec.) 1594, in the The performance
of ‘Comedy
of Errors’
in Gray's
Inn Hall.hall of Gray's Inn, before a crowded audience of benchers, students, and their friends. Shakespeare was not present; he was acting on the same night before the queen at Greenwich. There was some disturbance during the evening on the part of guests from the Inner Temple, who, dissatisfied with the accommodation afforded them, retired in dudgeon. ‘So that night,’ the contemporary chronicler states, ‘was ever afterwards called the “Night of Errors”’ (Gesta Grayorum, printed in 1688 from a contemporary manuscript). Next day a commission of oyer and terminer inquired into the causes of the tumult, which was attributed to a sorcerer having ‘foisted a company of base and common fellows to make up our disorders with a play of errors and confusions.’ (A second performance at Gray's Inn Hall was given by the Elizabethan Stage Society 6 Dec. 1895.)
Two other plays attracted much public attention during the period under review (1591–4)—‘Arden of Feversham’ (licensed 3 April 1592, and published in 1592) and ‘Edward III’ (licensed for publication 1 Dec. 1595, and published in 1596). Shakespeare's hand has been traced in both, mainly on the ground that their dramatic energy is of superior quality to that found in the extant efforts of any contemporary. There is no external evidence in favour of Shakespeare's
Early plays
doubtfully
assigned to
Shakespeare.authorship in either case. ‘Arden of Feversham’ dramatises with intensity and insight a sordid story of the murder of a husband by a wife which took place in 1551, and was fully reported by Holinshed. The subject is of a different type from any which Shakespeare
