In the final act of The Merchant of Venice, a theme which stands out above the rest in my opinion) is that of loyalty. There are several situations among the characters in which the the principle of loyalty is present. Bassanio and Antonio provide great lengths of loyalty towards one another as friends. However, Portia and Nerissa are left questioning their loyalty towards their lovers when they fail to keep their oaths of wearing the rings which the women have given them. This strikes an interesting question of which relationship is most important to the characters in the play, the loyalty of a friend or the loyalty of a lover?!
When we consider the friendships in act five, Nerissa and Portia keep between themselves the flaw of their husbands, Bassanio and Gratiano, until they arrive back at Portia's home. The bond between the women is something which represents the loyalty both Nerissa and Portia have for one another as friends. In the same sense Bassanio and Antonio are truly loyal to one another, especially considering the idea that Antonio offered his flesh for his friend Bassanio. There isn't much more a friend can do that will represent the closeness and loyalty which is represented in the friendship of Bassanio and Antonio. The romantic relationships are not based on anything nearly as extreme as flesh.
When the men arrive Nerissa scolds Gratiano for his inability to keep his word, "What talk of you the posy or the value? You swore to me when I did give {it} you that you would wear it till your hour of death, and that it should lie with you in your grave (line 164)." This scene emphasizes Nerissa's anger towards Gratiano for breaking his promise. The idea that Gratiano no longer has the ring that Nerissa gave him, expresses the lack of trust in their romantic relationship with one another.
Portia does not hide in silence about her feelings towards Bassanio and the mistake he made by giving away his ring. I found this scene to be hilarious actually because Portia threatens Bassanio and basically tells him if you don't find the ring and bring it back then you are never allowed in my bed with me. This is clever of Shakespeare to allow the women to have power and threaten her husband when it comes to trust, love, lust. This romantic relationship is threatened because Bassanio thought it was alright to give away the ring if it was a worthy cause. Unfortunately the ring symbolizes his relationship with Portia as a whole and he broke the bond by parting with the ring.
These relationships are significant to the play because they explode in the closing scene of the play. All the events throughout the play including Portia's dilemma her father left her with, Nerissa's relationship with Gratiano, Portia meeting Bassanio, Bassanio and Antonio's friendship, and so on all lead to climax of the play. Shakespeare was able to generate several situations which came to intersection and it made the loyalty of relationships a main concentration of the play. As far as the question of which relationship is more important, I would have to say that Shakespeare juggles with both and forces the audience to consider that question individually. Do I think Shakespeare tried to make one relationship appear better than another? Perhaps, I simply think that Shakespeare is pointing out that people should be cautious in the the decisions that they make about the different relationships they are in and not allow someone to take them for a ride (take them for granted).
New Paltz Students Blogging about Shakespeare
3 comments:
Michelle, I think you bring up a very valid point in this post about the concept of loyalty. A very important and recurring theme in Shakespeare's plays is that of a homosocial society. In this case it is represented by the friendships of Antonio & Bassanio and Nerissa & Portia. An important aspect of this society of Shakespeare's is that, no matter how strong the bond is between two friends of the same sex, it is always interrupted by the love between the character and his/her lover. True loyalty in Shakespeare's world lies between friends and, most strongly, between lovers.
It's funny, because I found Shakespeare to show the triviality of love and the mortal importance of male friendships in the play. For example: everything in the basis of Portia and Bassanio's relationship is based on luck and money. Bassanio seeks Portia for monetary gain, and "wins" her based on luck. Bassanio offers up his own life to save Antonio's.
I also found Portia's little game with the ring to be somewhat sexist instead of empowering. It also seemed to be a bit of a kick back to the bible- a woman's trickery is man's fall from grace.
Another echo of this concept of loyalty and what happens when it is broken is what occurs between Antonio and Shylock. Shylock lends money with the understanding that it will be paid back by such-and-such a day, and when Antonio breaks faith with Shylock he must pay the forfeit, just as it seems Bassanio and Gratiano must pay the forfeit for breaking faith with their wives.
Also, a small side note: The idea of women withholding sex in order to control men is an old tradition in comedy going back to ancient Greece, in Aristophanes' Lysistrata. Perhaps the situation is slightly different here, but it seems in each case that the playwright wanted to laugh at men's helplessness when their wives refuse to lay with them.
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