Patriarchal dominance in The Merchant of Venice PDF

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Summary

The merchant of venice was a prey to the patriarchal sways prevalent during the Victorian era.
There is a major male dominance throughout the play....

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The 16th century play, The Merchant of Venice by the critically acclaimed playwright William Shakespeare is heavily applauded for its dramatic scenes and comical nature till date. But it still falls prey to the patriarchal sways prevalent during his time, the Victorian era. There is a major male dominance throughout the play. The male characters have a stronger hold in the society unlike the female characters. This assumption can be easily drawn from various scenes in the play such as where Portia, the female protagonist is controlled by her dead father or when she had to dress up as a man to advocate for her lover’s friend. The first instance of sexism in this play is when we’re shown Portia’s life being controlled by her dead father who had made a will that curbed her freedom of choosing her own husband. Women during that time were presumed to be incapable of taking their own decisions but there was nothing they could do to change it either. Portia as well didn’t approve of this which is evident from when she confides in Nerissa, “I may neither choose who I would, nor refuse who I dislike, so is the will of the living daughter curb’d by the will of a dead father.” This shows how a dead man is given more importance over a living woman. Certain Critics have praised Portia for her obedience towards her father but seem to ignore the lack of control she was given over her own life. After Portia manages to help Bassanio in winning the lottery with her wit, Portia exclaims “Commits itself to be yours to be

directed/ As from her lord, her governor, her king. Myself, and what is mine, to you and yours/ Is now converted.” During the Victorian era, once a woman got married, required the property she inherited from her father, be legally absorbed by their husbands. Another prime example of unequal statuses prevalent between men and women in the play was when Portia had to dress up as a man to advocate for Antonio. Portia was extremely well versed in the legal language, as much so that she was said to be better than the Duke himself. But being a woman in the Victorian era, her talent and knowledge was constrained. Her gender prevented her from using her intelligence and limited her immense potential. She wasn’t given an opportunity to use her knowledge on legal matters until she decided to take on the attire of a man. Portia having to cross dress as a man to get men to listen to her shows that a woman’s opinion wasn’t taken into consideration as they weren’t considered smart enough to have an educated opinion on matters of importance. When Portia is in conversation with Nerissa, “That they shall think we are accomplished/ With that we lack. I’ll hold thee any wager/ When we are both accoutered like young men.” Along with cross dressing Portia had to replace her mincing steps with manly strides and display confidence which she otherwise wouldn't do as a woman. This throws light on the fact that women during that era were expected to be a certain way

preferably meek and shy and to fit into the societal standards of how a well-behaved woman was supposed to be. Portia also later exclaims that she felt quite confident when she was dressed as a man. This again shows how women had to go through extreme measures, even some that would be regarded as a crime to enjoy certain perks of freedom which they otherwise couldn’t as women. Not only Portia but Nerissa and Jessica have acquired the male attire in the play as well. Women cross dressing as men to have the freedom of doing certain things goes on to prove how otherwise they are deemed to be weak and incapable. Jessica acquired the male attire to run away from his father, Shylock, with her lover, Lorenzo. As Jessica prepares to leave her father and starts to steal his money and some of his belongings she feels a sense of guilt for she realizes that she cannot escape her womanhood without facing the consequences of the patriarchal society. The sense of guilt, even though shouldn’t be present, is inevitable as she must have been subjugated to the then present strict norms of the Victorian era. The sense of guilt also highlights the strong gender disparity that existed between men and women. This instance where she is forced to dress up as a man in order to escape from her father and run away so she can have the freedom to marry the man of her choice is proof of how little freedom they had and the extreme options they had to go through to gain and enjoy a little more.

William Shakespeare in this play tries to show the strong male dominance present in the society during the Victorian era through several instances. Shakespeare through his writing tries to educate the audience about the difficulties that women in his time were victimized to. This intent of Shakespeare is clear by the way he portrays Portia’s character. He not only shows Portia as the heiress of Belmont and a beautiful lady in her kingdom but also as a powerful, self-sufficient and a highly knowledgeable woman who knows the way of the society and how to bend it to get what she wants. Shakespeare in this play sees beyond the gender of a character and tries to pin the focus on their attributes instead....