1810; while making one of the main characters a woman; Portia; in these times women in society really did not have a say in what happened to them and had to obey their partners. Shakespeare always made them seem equal or even superior to the mean in the end. Especially in the Merchant of Venice. In this play; Portia save Antonio’s life, tricks Bassanio into giving her back her ring, and she ends up saving everyone from themselves. Portia really is a strong woman; dressed like a man or not.
When Portia hears that Antonio is in trouble, she first tells Bassanio and his friends to go to the court and then later goes with Nerissa and they both dress up as lawyers and even write a fake letter saying that the real lawyer cannot come today because he is sick. When they both go there, Portia uses her clever wit to save Antonio. she says that sure, the words are “a pound of flesh” but she analyzes the bond and quickly finds out that there is blood written so she uses that as an advantage against Shylock and wins the case. She does this because Antonio is Bassanio’s best friend and they do everything together. All of this happened with Portia dressed as a man and no one knowing except her friend Nerissa.
After the whole court thing; Portia then goes to test Bassanio on whether he would give her ring away or not. She is still dressed as a man during this time only to see if the ring holds the same amount of significance to him as it does her. Once Bassanio has Portia by winning the casket contest, Portia provides him a ring and makes him promise to never give up it. Being Bassanio, he gives away the ring once Portia while dressed like lawyer says one thing like, “Hey Bassanio, since I simply saved your friend’s life, can I have that ring?”
Why will Portia do this? As a result of she is aware of that Bassanio can surrender her ring, with all it symbolizes, as a gesture of due to the “man” saved his beloved Antonio’s life. She was then aware of specifically wherever Bassanio’s loyalties lied, and they are not along with her. Once Portia later confronts Bassanio regarding losing her ring, he is aware of he is busted and feels guilty regarding revealing her. Like we tend to aforesaid, Bassanio can deliberate currently regarding processing off Portia to hold with Antonio. Portia is restricted by her circumstances as a girl and needs to conform her father and navigate relationships with men need her for her cash. however, she manages to play by society’s rules most of whereas having a great deal of fun twisting aforesaid rules to her own advantage. In the end, Portia outsmarts everybody and lands up on high.
We later discover Portia’s true grit, resourcefulness, intelligence, and wit through her dealings with Shylock in court, and plenty of a contemporary audience would possibly lament her fate at having to travel back to court and be the duteous woman she secures to be. It’s additionally a pity that her father failed to see her true potential during this means and, in doing therefore he might not have determined his ‘love test’ necessary however trusty his girl to create the proper alternative off her own back.
Portia ensures that Bassanio is created conscious of her alter ego; in disguise because the choice, she makes him offer her the ring that she has given him, in doing therefore, she will prove that it had been her, move because the choice which it had been she was ready to save his friend’s life and to associate extent, Bassanio’s life and name. Her position of power and substance in this relationship is thus established. This sets a precedent for his or her life along and permits the audience some comfort in thinking that she’s going to maintain some power in this relationship.
Portia is the woman we all can aspire to be a tiny piece of. I would love to be able to have some of her nerve and courage and wisdom. Portia is that the heroine of the piece once all the boys within the play have been unsuccessful, financially by the law and by their own revengeful behavior. She comes in and saves everybody within the play from themselves. However, she is simply ready to do that by dressing up as a different person. As Portia’s journey demonstrates, Shakespeare acknowledges the intellect and talents that ladies have however concedes that they’ll solely be incontestable once on tier taking part in the field with men. Several of Shakespeare’s girls show their wit and craftiness once they are disguised as men. Rosalind as Galilean in ‘As You Wish It,’ for instance. As a woman, Portia is submissive and obedient; because they decide as a person, she demonstrates her intelligence and her brilliance. She is that same person however is authorized by dressing as a man and in doing therefore, she hopefully gains the respect and equal footing she deserves in her relationship.
I admire Portia; for her strength and how she puts the men in their places. Proving them wrong and they did not even know she was a woman at the time. The power she held over them for such a short amount of time was clearly impeccable. She knew what she wanted, how she had to get it, and she ended up with it. She has charm and intelligence and that’s such a great thing to have; to look up to and to find in one’s self. To know that you have power and can use it to your advantage to get what you want. The only down part is was that they had to see her as a man to realize what they were doing wrong and how idiotic they were being. If she had said this in her true state, they would have laughed in her face and told her to go home and clean or cook. It is terrible that these stereotypes will only continue to progress in the upcoming centuries. No matter how hard we try to improve our futures; some men just won’t understand and will become pigheaded about how women are just good for cooking and cleaning and giving birth. We won’t be good at learning or teaching or getting the same jobs as some men. I am proud of how far we have come, and we can only keep fighting for our equalities and our rights.
In conclusion; we see that Portia is suppressed when dressed as a female but as soon as she puts on some pans; everyone respects her. She responds to these occurrences by revealing that she was dressed up as a lawyer and save Antonio’s life and gained respect and power in her own relationship. She stands up for what she believes in and what should be right. I think we could all take a lesson or two from Portia on how to stand up for what we believe and and what we want.