SHAKESPEARE’S WOMEN CHARACTERS INCLUDING PORTIA -THEIR CONTEXTUALITY IN MODERN WORLD
WHY DO WE HAVE TO READ SHAKESPEAREAN PLAY? WHAT CONTEXT LIES BETWEEN HIS WOMEN CHARACTERS AND THE MODERN DAUGHTERS?
These questions haunt young and adult minds alike.~~~The Internet has brought about the chances to be precocious. Most daughters are seen as rebellious today. Fathers are worried about their daughters’ security, education and above all, settlement with a good moral husband. As usual, like the father of Portia, today’s fathers also plan proper mentorship to imbibe value and loyalty in their daughters. Most of them turn Jessica while a few intelligent scholastic daughters give in to the erudition and obey father’s choice.
Let’s delve into the play itself to pick the jewel from the abyss of Shakespearean comedy…
MERCHANT OF VENICE: THE PLAY
Antonio, a leading merchant of Venice, is a wealthy, respected, and benevolent man. Among his many friends is a young man named Bassanio, who owes Antonio a substantial amount of money. Bassanio wants to repay his friend, but so far he has been unable to do so. However, he now feels that he may have found a way — but he will again need a loan from Antonio. In Belmont, there lives a beautiful and young and wealthy heiress. Bassanio anticipates that he can win her hand in marriage, but he cannot go courting as a broke. He needs to make a good impression, he has to appear at least as well off as her other wealthy suitors. Antonio tells his young friend that he would gladly lend him whatever amount of money he needs, but at the present time he himself is short of cash. All his capital is tied up in his merchant ships, which are still at sea. However, Antonio will not disappoint Bassanio. He knows of a moneylender who will probably lend him the necessary amount, and Bassanio can use Antonio's good name as security for the loan.
At Belmont, Portia speaks to Nerissa, her confidante and paid-companion. She tells her how tired she is of the constant stream of suitors, and how she wishes to be free of the nagging obligation of her father's will: Portia cannot choose her own husband; she can marry only the man who chooses the correct one of three caskets — one gold, one silver, and one lead; one contains her portrait and that one is the lucky casket. So far, none of her suitors has been able to choose the right casket. Besides, Portia has no liking for any of them. However, when Nerissa mentions the name of Bassanio, a possible suitor, Portia's mood brightens. He was once a visitor at Belmont, and Portia was impressed with him. They fell in love at first sight.
Meanwhile in Venice, Shylock, a rich Jewish moneylender who harbors a secret hatred for Antonio, has agreed to lend Bassanio three thousand ducats for three months, on Antonio's bond. Foregoing his usual high interest rate, Shylock demands instead that if the day for payment falls due and the money is not returned, he may cut off one pound of flesh from Antonio's body. Antonio agrees because all of his ships are due back in Venice a full month before the bond falls due.
A romantic subplot develops when Lorenzo, a close friend of Antonio and Bassanio, falls in love with Shylock's daughter, Jessica. He manages to elope with her by disguising her as a boy, and she manages to steal with herself a good amount of her father's ducats. Of course, this infuriates Shylock, and he vows revenge.
Shortly thereafter, Bassanio and Gratiano leave for Belmont, where the "fair Portia" has just sent away the Prince of Morocco and the Prince of Arragon, two more disappointed, unsuccessful suitors. When Bassanio asks to choose one of the caskets, Portia falls immediately in love with him, and she begs him to wait a few days before choosing one of the caskets. He has fallen in love with Portia and insists on taking his chances. He rejects the gold one, then the silver one; he chooses, finally, the lead casket, and on opening it, he finds a portrait of Portia. Both he and Portia are overjoyed, and they make plans to be married at once, along with Nerissa and Gratiano, who have also fallen in love along with them too. Happiness reigns in Belmont until Salarino brings a letter from Antonio bidding him farewell since his ships have been lost at sea and since it is impossible that he will live after Shylock collects his pound of flesh. Horrified, Bassanio leaves instantly for Venice with money which Portia gives him to pay the bond.
In Venice, Shylock is no longer interested in the mere payment of the money due him. He wants revenge. A Christian stole his daughter (and she took his money), and nothing will satisfy Shylock except the legal fulfillment of the bond. In the court of justice, presided over by the Duke of Venice, Shylock faces his enemy, Antonio. Antonio is surrounded by his friends and is quietly resigned to death. On all sides, Shylock is surrounded by enemies. Bassanio pleads with Shylockto accept double the money due him, but Shylock refuses.
At this point, Portia, disguised as a lawyer, and Nerissa, dressed as her law clerk, enter the court and tell the Duke that they have been sent from Padua by a learned attorney, Doctor Bellario, to plead the defendant's case. Portia entreats Shylock to be merciful, but he will not listen. She offers the moneylender triple the amount owed him, but again Shylock will have none of it. She then solemnly informs the court that Shylock is entirely within his lawful rights. She then informs Shylock that he must be very careful. He must cutoff exactly one pound of flesh, and he must not spill one drop of Antonio's blood. If he fails, all of Shylock's lands and goods will be confiscated. Shylock hastily decides that he will accept the triple payment of the bond, but Portia says no; Shylock then offers to take only the original three thousand ducats, but again Portia refuses, reminding him that it was he himself who demanded the strict interpretation of the law. Furthermore, she says, the law has another hold on him. Since he is an alien in Venice and since he tried to "seek the life" of a Venetian citizen, all his wealth can be divided between the citizen whom he attempted to destroy and the public treasury; in addition, Shylock's own life is in peril because of what he attempted to do.
The Duke decides to spare Shylock's life, but he does give half of Shylock's money to Antonio, and he gives the rest of it to the state. Antonio says that he will not accept the money if Shylock will agree to become a Christian and if, in his will, he will agree to leave his money to his daughter, Jessica, and her new husband, Lorenzo. Shylock, broken and defeated, agrees to all these conditions and leaves the court. Overjoyed, Antonio and his friends offer to pay the young lawyer whatever they can, but, oddly enough, the lawyer wishes only for a certain ring which Bassanio is wearing. Bassanio is embarrassed because his wife gave this ring to him and asked him to wear it always. But the lawyer insists and, finally, Bassanio reluctantly gives away Portia's ring. Nerissa likewise cleverly manages to get from Gratiano a ring she gave him. The two ladies then hasten back to Belmont to tease their husbands about the rings.
When Bassanio and Gratiano, along with Antonio, return to Belmont, their wives inquire about the missing rings. Portia and Nerissa insist that the men no doubt gave the rings away to two other women. The husbands swear that it is not true, and it is not until Portia and Nerissa have put their husbands through some long, comically agonizing moments of discomfort that they confess that they themselves were the "learned doctor" and the "clerk" to whom the rings were given. Thus all ends happily, as Portia gives Antonio a letter informing him that three of his ships have arrived safely in port.
PORTIA
Quick-witted, wealthy, and beautiful, Portia embodies the virtues that are typical of Shakespeare’s heroines—it is no surprise that she emerges as the antidote to Shylock’s malice. At the beginning of the play, however, we do not see Portia’s potential for initiative and resourcefulness, as she is a near prisoner, feeling herself absolutely bound to follow her father’s dying wishes. This opening appearance, however, proves to be a revealing introduction to Portia, who emerges as that rarest of combinations—a free spirit who abides rigidly by rules. Rather than ignoring the stipulations of her father’s will, she watches a stream of suitors pass her by, happy to see these particular suitors go, but sad that she has no choice in the matter. When Bassanio arrives, however, Portia proves herself to be highly resourceful, begging the man she loves to stay a while before picking a chest, and finding loopholes in the will’s provision that we never thought possible. Also, in her defeat of Shylock Portia prevails by applying a more rigid standard than Shylock himself, agreeing that his contract very much entitles him to his pound of flesh, but adding that it does not allow for any loss of blood. Anybody can break the rules, but Portia’s effectiveness comes from her ability to make the law work for her.
Portia rejects the stuffiness that rigid adherence to the law might otherwise suggest. In her courtroom appearance, she vigorously applies the law, but still flouts convention by appearing disguised as a man. After depriving Bassanio of his ring, she stops the prank before it goes to far, but still takes it far enough to berate Bassanio and Gratiano for their callousness, and she even insinuates that she has been unfaithful.....Portia is the romantic heroine of the play, and she must be presented on the stage with much beauty and intelligence. Of her beauty, we need no convincing. Bassanio's words are enough; thus we turn to her love for Bassanio. Already she has given him cause to think that it is possible that he can woo and win her, for on an earlier visit to Belmont, Bassanio did "receive fair speechless messages" from her eyes. And when Nerissa mentions the fact that Bassanio might possibly be a suitor, Portia tries to disguise her anxiety, but she fails. Nerissa understands her mistress. Portia is usually very self-controlled, but she reveals her anxiety concerning Bassanio a little later when he has arrived at her mansion and is about to choose one of the caskets. She has fallen in love with him, and her anxiety and confusion undo her. "Pause a day or two," she begs, for "in choosing wrong, / I lose your company." She thus makes sure that he knows that it is not hate that she feels for him.Bassanio's correct choice of the casket overwhelms Portia. She wishes she had more of everything to give Bassanio: "This house, these servants and this same myself / Are yours, my lord: I give them with this ring." She willingly shares all she owns with Bassanio. Once master of her emotions, she has fallen completely under the spell of love's madness. Love is a reciprocal giving and receiving, and so it is with perfect empathy that she sends her beloved away almost immediately to try and save his friend Antonio. They will be married, but their love will not be consummated until his friend is saved, if possible.Portia's second characteristic that is most readily apparent is her graciousness — that is, her tact and sympathy. Despite her real feelings about the Prince of Morocco, Portia answers him politely and reassuringly. Since the irony of her words is not apparent to him, his feelings are spared. She tells him that he is "as fair / As any comer I have look'd on yet / For my affection." She shows Morocco the honor his rank deserves. But once he is gone, she reveals that she did not like him. "A gentle riddance," she says; "Draw the curtains."
When the Prince of Arragon arrives, Portia carefully addresses him with all the deference due his position. She calls him "noble." But after he has failed and has left, she cries out, "O, these deliberate fools!" To her, both of these men are shallow and greedy and self-centered; yet to their faces, she is as ladylike as possible. Lorenzo appreciates this gentle generosity of spirit; when Portia has allowed her new husband to leave to try and help his best friend out of his difficulty, he says to her: "You have a noble and a true conceit / Of god-like amity." In the courtroom, Portia (in disguise) speaks to Shylock about mercy, but this is not merely an attempt to stall; she truly means what she says. It is an eloquent appeal she makes. Her request for mercy comes from her habitual goodness. She hopes, of course, to soften his heart, knowing the outcome if he refuses. But the words come from her heart, honestly and openly and naturally.
Finally, of course, what we most remember about Portia, after the play is over, is her wit and her playfulness. Even when Portia is complaining to Nerissa about the terms of her father's will, she does so wittily: "Is it not hard, Nerissa, that I cannot choose one nor refuse none?" And then she ticks off, like a computer, the eccentricities of the six suitors who have arrived at Belmont to try for her hand. They are either childish, humorless, volatile, ignorant, too fantastically dressed,weak, or have a drinking problem. She is clearly glad to be rid of them all when it is announced that they are departing. We recall too the humorous way that she imagines dressing like a man and aping the mannerisms of all of the men she has observed in her short life. She bets Nerissa that she can out-man any man when it comes to swaggering and playing the macho bit: "I have within my mind / A thousand raw tricks of these bragging Jacks, / Which I will practise." Men are as transparent as stale beer to her; she revels in turning the tables and having a bit of fun even while she is on a daring mission to try and save Antonio's life. And even in the courtroom, when Bassanio extravagantly offers his life for Antonio's, Portia quips in an aside that "Your wife would give you little thanks for that, / If she were by, to hear you make the offer."
The entire ring plot is Portia's idea, and she and Nerissa relish the prospect of the jest at their husbands' expense. Bassanio swears over and over that he never gave his ring away to another woman (and he is more than a little embarrassed to admit that he gave it to another man), but with a fine sense of comedy, Portia plays the role of the "angry wife" just as well as she played the role of the "learned young lawyer" at Antonio's trial.
Only when Portia first falls in love with Bassanio does she lose all self-control; once she regains control of herself, she takes matters in hand until the very end of the play, and there she displays total command of the situation. "You are all amazed," she tells them, and then she shows them a letter from Padua, explaining everything, and she gaily invites them inside where she will continue to explain and entertain. She is a delightful creature, one of Shakespeare's most intelligent and captivating heroines.
JESSICA
Portia is generally considered the de facto heroine of William Shakespeare’s play The Merchant of Venice, while the play’s second-most prominent female character, Shylock’s daughter Jessica, is largely ignored in feminist criticisms of Merchant of Venice. This might be due to Portia’s more evident adherence to the formula Shakespeare used in his comedies to create the class of characters we now view as modern feminist ideals: she is witty, confident, brave, and altruistic, and Jessica is none of those things. Portia is also part of the main plot, while Jessica’s marriage is a subplot that could be perceived as inconsequential, although in light of the turn of events immediately after, it has been argued that Jessica’s actions caused Shylock to have acted even more harshly than he otherwise would have.
Jessica is basically a modest girl even though she takes the initiative in eloping with Lorenzo. It is because she is feeling desperate that she decides to quit her father’s home; and she goes to the extent of arranging for a boy’s clothes so that she can disguise herself as a boy in order to join Lorenzo when the masked procession is passing through the street. At this time she tells Lorenzo that she is feeling very ashamed of her boy’s disguise, and that she is glad that he cannot see her in this disguise because of the darkness of the night. When Lorenzo asks her to carry a burning torch to light the way for the maskers, she says that she cannot “hold a candle to her shames”, meaning that she would not like to be seen by anyone in her boy’s disguise. Jessica is Shylock’s daughter and at the start of the play is living in his house. She is in love with a Christian, Lorenzo. Jessica is the daughter of the Jew, Shylock, but a daughter who is ashamed of having that man as her father. She finds the atmosphere of her father’s home to be suffocating and almost intolerable. She is a sensitive girl having an artistic temperament; and she is unable to endure the narrow-mindedness, the miserliness, and the tyrannical nature of her father. Although her father is a fanatical Jew who is intolerant of Christians, she falls in love with a Christian and runs away from home with a bag full of her father’s money and jewels. Her conduct in running away from home and stealing her father’s cash and jewels is certainly objectionable in the extreme. However, we feel inclined to take a lenient view of her conduct because we know that her father is really a close-fisted and suspicious man with a dictatorial nature and that he imposes all kinds of restrictions on his daughter’s movements. Jessica knows that her father will never give his consent for her to marry a Christian and so she plans to secretly escape one night in order to run away with Lorenzo, marry him and convert from Judaism to Christianity.
Jessica impresses the Christian Lorenzo as a very beautiful, wise, and faithful girl; and she strikes us as a charming girl with a strong sense of humour and a poetical nature. Lorenzo tells his friends that he would “place her in his constant soul”, meaning that he would always remain loyal to her. For his sake, she doesn't mind giving up her own religion and becoming a Christian.
The two characters come from vastly different backgrounds, and their characters cannot be divorced from their circumstances. While Portia manages to marry the man she loves, Jessica’s elopement can be considered a step taken in light of her father’s uncompromising nature, and the religious discord between the two communities.
COMPARING OTHER FEMALE CHARACTERS
Portia is wealthy heiress from Belmont, and her beauty is matched only by her intelligence. Bound by a clause in her father’s will that forces her to marry whichever suitor chooses correctly among three caskets, Portia is nonetheless able to marry her true love, Bassanio. More importantly, she is the cleverest character in the play. It is Portia, in the disguise of a young law clerk, who saves Antonio from Shylock’s knife. Portia proves herself to be highly resourceful, and her effectiveness comes from her ability to make the law work for her. Portia rejects the stuffiness that rigid adherence to the law might otherwise suggest. In her courtroom appearance, she vigorously applies the law, but still flouts convention by appearing disguised as a man. Her intelligence is what turns the arc of the story and leads the climax to a happy conclusion. Apart from her mental agility, we also see she is extremely generous.
Shakespeare presents his most liberated female protagonist in Much Ado About Nothing. Beatrice is refreshingly forward. She is articulate and opinionated like Kate, intelligent, like Portia, and as selective when it comes to men as her predecessors, but there is a freedom of spirit about Beatrice that Kate and Portia lack. Additionally, Beatrice is not restricted by patriarchal influence. Uncle Leonato exhorts little, if no, control over a niece who declares she will not take a husband until “God make men of some other metal than earth” (II.i.55-56), for she has no intention of making “an account of her life to a clod of wayward marl” (II.i.57-58). Indeed, Beatrice exhibits such an emphatic disregard for rigid social conventions that it would appear almost as if Shakespeare found himself reluctant to have his female protagonist fall prey to any form of male superiority.
Shakespeare begins to mature when he creates Portia in the Merchant of Venice, and he shows a peak of maturity through Helena in his problem play, All’s Well That Ends Well. Despite the few years between these two plays and the development of characters during Shakespeare’s maturation period, he makes two very similar female characters. They understand love more than their lovers, and they see potential in the men they have chosen that no one else seems to notice. They exhibit similar character traits, but they use their qualities in different ways to achieve the same purpose. Both Portia and Helena display intelligence, love, and grace in choosing their husbands.
Nerissa
Nerissa is Portia’s waiting woman and friend. They have a close relationship and Nerissa both teases and advises her boss. She also assists Portia in helping to get Antonio freed and goes with Portia to Venice, dressed as a lawyer’s clerk. Nerissa is Portia’s lady-in-waiting, verbal sparring partner, and friend. She is a merry wench.Fully supportive of her mistress in all, she has high hopes that Bassanio will return to Belmont. She agrees to marry Gratiano on condition that Bassanio succeed in the task of the caskets. When this is accomplished, she is quite happy to do so. At his request, she takes care of Jessica when the latter arrives at Belmont. She joins Portia in dressing up as men to save Antonio’s life, playing the part of a law clerk. Hearing Gratiano swear that he’d prefer her dead if that might save Antonio’s life, she is not best pleased, and in return convinces Gratiano to give her (as the law clerk) the ring that she gave him (as herself) which he had sworn never to remove. On his return to Belmont, she rants at him upon hearing it, and manages to twist him around her little finger, swearing that she’s slept with the clerk before doing so with her husband. Nerissa falls in love with Bassanio’s friend Gratiano, who asks for her hand in marriage after Bassanio ‘wins’ Portia. She lives in Belmont. She has been working for Portia since Portia’s father was alive. She has a close friendship with Portia.
IMPLICATION IN MODERN WORLD
This angle examines The Merchant of Venice from a social viewpoint. It explores the types of social control on the two daughters, Portia and Jessica, and studies the ways of their resistance. In the play,the male-dominated society controls the two daughters through the rules and traditions of the Venetian society, and the daughters resist theserules and traditions through writing, cross-dressing, sexuality, and elopement. Therefore, through analyzing the two female characters in this play, this paper provides a literary analysis on the ways and means by which the two daughters are controlled, and at the same time it presents the ways that empower the daughters' resistance.
Shakespeare serves two father-daughter pairings in the play. Portia’s relationship with her father, though not perfect, was probably the most healthy of the three, even though she presently resents her father’s method of securing her happiness. Portia’s father constructed his will to protect her from fortune hunters and to ensure that she married a man who would value everything Portia is and not merely her money and beauty; however, it is also possible to see in his actions a lack of faith in Portia’s good sense—he doesn’t trust her to make a wise choice on her own. Portia is obedient and loyal to her father even after his death, though, undeniably, she feels frustration and resentment, which she vents by insulting her suitors when they are out of earshot. Nevertheless, she honors her father’s wishes even when the quality of her suitors tempts her to use sabotage. When faced with “the young German, the duke of Saxony’s nephew” as a marital prospect, Portia asks Nerissa: “For fear of the worst, I pray thee set a deep glass of Rhenish wine on the contrary casket, for if the devil be within and that temptation without, I know he will choose it” (1.2.94–97). Fortunately, Portia is not put to the test, since this troublesome suitor leaves without venturing a guess at the caskets, and whenever Portia considers rebellion (as she does when she says, “And the worst fall that ever fell, I hope I shall make shift to go without him” [1.2.88–90] and “I will do anything, Nerissa, ere I will be married to a sponge” [1.2.97–98]), Nerissa is there to remind her of her duty: “If he should offer to choose, and choose the right casket, you should refuse to perform your father’s will if you should refuse to accept him” (1.2.91–93). Portia is later strongly tempted to cast a few hints in Bassanio’s direction about the correct casket, but she refuses to dishonor herself and disobey her father even though she risks losing the only suitor she can stand. Verbalizing her faith in her father’s wisdom, she tells Bassanio, “If you do love me, you will find me out” (3.2.41).
Jessica, in contrast, is the least loyal of the children in the play, meeting secretly with Lorenzo and allowing him to court her, lying to her father, abandoning him, and stealing from him; she’s hardly the docile, obedient daughter that Shylock takes her for. Although she feels some pangs of guilt (“Alack, what heinous sin is it in me / To be ashamed to be my father’s child! / But though I am a daughter to his blood, / I am not to his manners” [2.3.16–19]), Jessica rejects her father, his way of life, and his religion—though not, interestingly, his wealth, a great deal of which she takes along with her.
The Internet has brought about the chances to be precocious. Most daughters are seen as rebellious today. Fathers are worried about their daughters’ security, education and above all, settlement with a good moral husband. As usual, like the father of Portia, today’s fathers also plan proper mentorship to imbibe value and loyalty in their daughters. Most of them turn Jessica while a few intelligent scholastic daughters give in to the erudition and obey father’s choice.
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