When reading the fourth act of The Merchant of Venice what stood out the most was how important Portia became to the plotline of this play. Portia’s character started off as more of a background character that was placed into the plot to play the role of the “love interest.” During the fourth act her character really developed into a strong woman who can hold her own in a courtroom full of men. Of course since she is a woman and during Shakespeare’s time woman were not allowed to participate in politics, she is disguised as a man. By disguising Portia as a man during her strongest moment, I think Shakespeare downplayed her success, since she does not receive credit. I would have liked to see Shakespeare break the mold of his time and have Portia represent Antonio under her own name rather then the appearance of Balthasar.
The way that Shakespeare had the events during the trial unfold reflect how clever and educated Portia’s character truly is. At first Portia is pleading with Shylock and gives an emotional speech about having mercy on Antonio, rather than use a more educated stance Portia decides to use emotion to persuade Shylock. After emotion does not work she turns to using the law in order to demonstrate that what Shylock wants is on the lines of revenge and not supported by the Venetian laws. All these actions show that Portia knows how to argue and has knowledge of law, which represents that she is educated. The moment that really shows how intelligent she is occurs right when Shylock is going to cut the flesh from Antonio. Portia waits until the last moment to point out to Shylock that he can not draw blood because it was not part of the initial contract. This moment is Portia’s strongest because of the way she waits until the last moment to pull the wrong from under Shylock. She worked Shylocks initial bond with Antonio against him and her knowledge of the law allowed her to make sure that Shylock walked away with nothing.
If Portia had just stated the blood dilemma at the beginning of the trial, her evolution would have been less obvious. Would the scene have been less effective if it had been shorter? Perhaps, because it would have changed how the reader got to know Portia’s character. In a sense the reader evolves with Portia as she changes her strategy in courtroom.
9 comments:
I was too a bit surprised at the importance of Portia’s character during Act four. I didn’t really see her coming in and playing such an important an educated role. It is true that we see how clever, yet smart, Portia’s character is, but I am not surprised that she was disguised as a male. In most of Shakespeare’s plays, the women characters are not important at all, and if they are, they are dressed as men. I think it just has to do with the time frame in which Shakespeare wrote.
I too was surprised at how Portia become a major character as the play progressed. Most of Portia's smartness does seem to get played down since it seems to always come out while she is dressed as a man. As for the being dressed as a man part, I feel that in addition to not being allowed in politics, at the time men received a little bit more respect. I too feel that the scene would have been less effective if it were shorter. There would have been no way to see Portia's character develop and change the way that she does in such a long scene.
I also was not expecting Portia to become so prominent as a character in the play. As for the part where she dresses as a man, while it would be nice if she had been able to do that as herself, I doubt it would have went over well with some of the audience in Shakespeare's time, at least in the are of believability. One plus of this though is that the audience actually does know that it is Portia dressed as a man, but I suppose Shakespeare felt it was the most effective way he could incorporate Portia in the courtroom.
I thoroughly enjoyed reading your blog. Not only did you mention very important parts about this scene, but you raised critical questions that I even asked myself when reading this scene. Would it have made a difference if Portia had stated from the beginning that drawing blood was not part of the law. I would think that it would change the entire scene where Portia truly shines and shows how strong and developed her character is. This is the biggest moment, thus far, for Portia because just like you said, her character shows development and strength.
I really liked all the points that you brought up in your blog post. What I really found interesting was the observation you made about Shakespeare downplaying Portia's success etc, and how you would have liked to see Shakespeare "break the mold". I found myself making these same observations too, and as a modern day female I would have too liked to see Shakespeare "break the mold"...but I think that was a tad to revolutionary for the time period, considering women weren't even allowed to appear on stage.
Portia is of course controlled by circumstance (being under her father's ruling, although he is a corpse), and falls very quickly for Bassanio. These things don't to too much for her character. Having her be the unquestioned hero(ine) of the story is pure Shakes, giving us strength out of weakness.
Portia's role is one of the great female parts in Shakespeare, for my money, and this scene one of the most dramatic and engaging you'll find. But I wonder if those who find the anti-semitism overwhelming in this play are turned off at all by Portia? She is the one, after all, most responsible for bringing down Shylock. Does this make her less admirable?
I feel I must disagree with you a bit. Not about Portia's importance and all-around wonderful successes in the scene--she was absolutely brilliant--but about how you see her approach to the case. It was my impression that she went into that room planning on using the 'blood' clause from the very get-go, and that all of her reasoning with Shylock was meant to set him up for the coming fall. I don't doubt that, if he had miraculously had a change of heart and relented at any point that she would allow him to do so--but this wasn't her full and conscious plan. Everything she says in the court room goes towards trapping Shylock in an inescapable corner--and I, personally, think that this fact only emphasizes her brilliance and power in the scene, because it is a plan of logic and reason, rather than emotion and passion, which would be more expected of a woman at the time. In this, she defies the gender differences of the times and puts herself, however obliquely, on level with the male characters of the play.
I'm gonna have to side with the idea that Portia thought of the blood clause at the last moment. I don't think it lessens her growth as an important character or as a strong female influence in a male-dominated play, but I think that the way she revealed the blood clause only means she came to that conclusion at the last moment. I didn't see much point in holding that information until the end, except for dramatic effect. The way the scene played out was absolutely crucial to Portia becoming more than just a love interest, but if she knew about the blood clause the whole time, then I feel the scene was simply extended for the purpose of making the plot interesting.
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