To me, Portia is a bit of a confusing character. From reading through the first act, I could not make a firm decision of whether she is a strong character or a weak character. The text tells us that she is a beautiful, wealthy, heiress who is intelligent and bright. However, on the other hand, Portia lives her life by guidelines that her deceased father has set for her. Though she exudes the vibe of a strong female character, the fact that she is living her life by her dead father's stipulations tell us something about her as a person.
As a female reader, I want to believe that Portia is a confident, successful, and independent character. This is an ideal female character that would promote positive ideas of feminism. However, Portia's potential future husband will be chosen by the contracted agreement or her father's will, which leaves Portia powerless in making important, personal decisions in her own life.
I understand that perhaps during Shakespeare's time, a father choosing his daughter's husband may be deemed appropriate, however, for present day readers, this thought may seem a bit preposterous. This plot choice leaves Portia voiceless and unable to make her own decisions when it comes to picking “the love of her life.” In regards to current day readers, portraying Portia in such a way undermines her importance and leaves her dependent on the choices of her father. It worries me to think that some girls may read this text, see how Portia lives her life, and think that is acceptable. Especially during this time and age, females are empowered and they are learning that is it a good thing to be independent and strong willed. I hope that the character of Portia and her situation of her father's will does not interfere with such feminine growth.
As you can see, this section of Act 1 left me with some questions. Is Portia a strong character? Is Portia a weak character? Perhaps something in between? Is she a good role model? Is she completely compliant of her own father, or does she have individual strength? I think that these are all questions that could be looked at more in depth. I hope that continuing with the reading will help me further to understand what type of character she is, what role she plays in this text, and help in answering some of these questions.
5 comments:
I agreed with alot of the points made here. Portia does seem like a strong willed young woman who knows what she wants, and I agree that her father's will complicates that fact and blurs the line on how we percieve her character. I don't agree, however, that a young woman could read this story today and misconstrue Portia. I don't necesarily think Portia could be seen as a role-model: she lived at a time when men ruled everything, particularly women. Yes, some women (Olivia from "Twelfth Night" comes to mind) defy their constricting social boundaries, but that was certainly not a regular occurance and I don't think it should be confused as one.
I don't know much about Portia's character, but from what I've read, I imagine that she is actually quite a regular character in Shakespeare's time; a strong- minded woman who is literally out of options because men have not allowed her any.
I know in a lot of Shakespeare's plays women are looked at by other characters in the play ( and sometimes the reader at first) as unimportant characters but in reality they are extremely strong characters and without them the play would not be the same. I'm not completely sure on what Portia's characters purpose is except for the fact that Bassanio wants to use her to clear his debt, but I have a feeling that she is much more important to the play than that. I also think Shakespeare uses Portia to help represent how women were expected to act and behave in Shakespeare's society at this time.
Obeying her father's wish by choosing a suitor in this absurd way may not mean she is weak. In Shakespeare's time, getting married means a woman loses the amount of power she has. The terms of her engagement requires suitors to choose a box (which I assume at this Act will be shuffled like a shell game after each suitor picks) and someone in class mentioned those choosing wrong can never marry. That's rather insane for choosing a husband and may scare people off for a time. I don't think Act 1 has enough to really tip the scale either to weak or strong. There isn't enough to really go on at this point. It's possible that she could be planning to rig the "lottery" by its mere mention of it so early, but that's a bit far fetched.
In most of Shakespeare's plays women characters start off as weak characters in the story line, with the exception of a few like Olivia in Twelfth Night. I believe that as of now Portia can be seen as a weak character because of the way she has been subjected to allow a "game" to choose her husband, but that this may change in later Acts. As of right now it just seems that Portia is following with this situation of the chests in order to honor her father's memory and allow his will to live on even after his death. This doesn't precisely make her weak, but a loyal and loving daughter.
I completely agree with many things that you have said in your post. I understand your questionings and feel the same way. I, however, do not believe that women nowadays will read this play and believe that it would be okay to live their lives like Portia; so dependent. It was the norm, back then, to be afraid to find an acceptable suitor for herself, because normally it is the father's job to find the husband for his daughter.
I also agree with your aspects with trying to figure out whether or not Portia is a strong or weak character. I want to like her and understand where she is coming from and want to believe that she is a strong character. It is hard to tell yet still for me. I do like reading her parts though, because I think that she has many strong arguments throughout the play. I really enjoyed your post and your thoughts!
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