Shakespeare’s Italian Settings and Plays

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This study discusses Shakespeare’s eight non-classical comedies and tragedies set in Italy against the background of Elizabethan and Jacobean England’s love/hate relationship with that country. The book is arranged to present first an Italian area from the viewpoint of the turn of the 17th century, then to consider plays located in that area. The discussion of Venice is followed by an examination of The Merchant of Venice and Othello ; the so-called terra firma followed by consideration of the three plays located in cities Venice ruled; lastly the author looks beyond the Signory and at All’s Well that Ends Well , Much Ado about Nothing and The Tempest . The book concludes with a chapter reviewing opinion as to whether Shakespeare visited Italy . Murray J. Levith is the author of several books including What’s in Shakespeare’s Names .