Date:1599
Description:A source for Shakespeare’s knowledge of Venice. Shakespeare’s tragedy of Othello begins in Venice, where the Moor is general of the Doge’s forces, and Desdemona is the daughter of a respected Senator, Brabantio. Venice is also the setting for the main plot of The Merchant of Venice where the annual carnival and the Rialto area of the city feature. For knowledge of such details Shakespeare probably consulted Lewis Lewkenor’s translation into English of the Italian of Cardinal Gasparo Contarini. See:The Merchant of Venice, Carnival 2,6, lines 1-59 and Rialto 3,1, line 1. Full title: Gasparo Contarini, The commonwealth and government of Venice. Written by the Cardinal Gaspar Contareno and translated out of Italian into English by Lewes Lewkenor, With sundry other collections, annexed by the translator, With a short chronicle of the lives and raignes of the Venetian dukes, London, Imprinted by John Windet for Edmund Mattes, 1599.
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Donor ref:SR 87.9 Venice [19,575] (32/10581)
Source: The Shakespeare Birthplace Trust - Library
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