This series aims to introduce students to a wide variety of critical opinion and to show students, by example, how to construct a good critical essay. This collection of specially-commissioned short critical essays on Shakespeare's play "The Merchant of Venice" is designed for A-level students. The essays contain diverse, often conflicting opinions, presented in a clearly written and carefully structured manner which reflects the student's need to construct well thought-out arguments in the limited time examinations allow. They are also designed to act as a stimulus for independent thought and for the development of personal viewpoints. Each essay concentrates on a single area of thought or study of direct relevance to the type of essay students will be required to write, and uses textual evidence and quotations in support of the conclusions. A variety of approaches are used in the essays, to illustrate the various ways in which literary evidence can be organized to argue a viewpoint.