Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice: from the play to three graphic novel adaptations

Abstract

This Thesis examines three graphic novel adaptations of Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice to demonstrate their value as literary products and their possible use in class as effective pedagogical tools. Graphic novels encourage a more active and dynamic relationship between the author, the work, and the reader, proving to be a productive medium to visually adapt the Bard’s plays. The first Chapter serves a theoretical background, providing a definition of adaptation and of graphic novel, an overview of the latter’s main features, and of its respectable cultural and literary status. The developing role of the illustration is then traced in a brief outline of the evolution from Shakespeare’s illustrated plays to children books and, finally, to comic-books and graphic novels. The following Chapter analyses The Merchant of Venice in the adapted versions of Manga Shakespeare, Campfire Classics, and Gareth Hinds from a broader perspective, considering textual adaptation choices, word-image relationship, and general elements such as colour scheme, layout, character design, and setting. The third Chapter compares and contrasts the rendition of specific scenes in the three different adaptations and studies in detail cuts, additions, and other adaptational strategies underlining their effect on the overall reading experience. The final Chapter observes how the use of graphic novels in class can support learning and enhance students’ interest, thanks to the medium’s ability to make the experience more familiar and appealing, often mediating the text’s greatest complexities thanks to graphic representation. Graphic novel literary adaptations are not aimed at making a text easier nor are they stepping stones to the ‘real’ text; rather, they are works with a value in their own, bringing new life to Shakespeare’s plays by bridging the gap through classic literature and the modern-day tendency to privilege visual over textual storytelling.