SOURCE: Durant, Jack D. “‘Honor's Toughest Task’: Family and State in Venice Preserved.” Studies in Philology 71, no. 4 (October 1974): 484-503.

In the following essay, Durant argues that the plot and themes of Venice Preserv'd are best explained by examining the play's interplay between political and domestic conflict.

Critics of Venice Preserved will probably always wonder how exactly to interpret the language of the play, especially the erotic language and the rhetoric of pathos. For example, when Jaffeir compares himself to a trusting lamb who would yield his throat to the sacrifice rather than relinquish his affection for the priestess (“such pleasure's in the pain”), does he reveal some bizarre psychological masochism, an analogue to the disgusting physical masochism of old Antonio,¹ or does he declare (with obvious passionate excess) an intense love for his wife, a love enabling him to endure the guilt and disgrace of betraying his friends...