TITLE In The Merchant of Venice by William Shakespeare and in A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry Portia’s intelligence and the Beneatha’s strong empowerment being suppressed (or attempted to be) are examples of discrimination within their own societies.
In The Merchant of Venice by William Shakespeare Portia disguises herself to be able to hold any power in the Venetian court, showing the discrimination against women. Since she was disguised as a man everybody within the court held her arguments logically and seriously, but if she was not disguised we are led to believe this wouldn’t be the case. For example, when Portia makes the argument that Shylock has to accept the penalty once she identified that blood can’t be drawn blood Gratiano states, “O Jew, an upright judge, a learned judge” (4.1.337). This …show more content…
Although Portia can be seen as one of the most intelligent characters in the book, in court nobody would take her seriously. To be able to hold any power she decides to disguise herself as a man, showing that she follows the stereotype that men are more intelligent than women, even though she may not actually agree with it. This is due to the fact that she understands that she needs to look like a man to be taken seriously. Beneatha, on the other hand, completely rejects her stereotypes instead by not accepting to just marry a man or become a nurse. It can be inferred though that the stereotypes were much harsher back in the time period for Portia, and women had even less rights than they did during Beneatha’s time period. This could have made it easier for Beneatha to reject these boundaries, but as a whole the difference between the two characters was that Portia somewhat accepts her restraints while Beneatha does
In The Merchant of Venice by William Shakespeare Portia disguises herself to be able to hold any power in the Venetian court, showing the discrimination against women. Since she was disguised as a man everybody within the court held her arguments logically and seriously, but if she was not disguised we are led to believe this wouldn’t be the case. For example, when Portia makes the argument that Shylock has to accept the penalty once she identified that blood can’t be drawn blood Gratiano states, “O Jew, an upright judge, a learned judge” (4.1.337). This …show more content…
Although Portia can be seen as one of the most intelligent characters in the book, in court nobody would take her seriously. To be able to hold any power she decides to disguise herself as a man, showing that she follows the stereotype that men are more intelligent than women, even though she may not actually agree with it. This is due to the fact that she understands that she needs to look like a man to be taken seriously. Beneatha, on the other hand, completely rejects her stereotypes instead by not accepting to just marry a man or become a nurse. It can be inferred though that the stereotypes were much harsher back in the time period for Portia, and women had even less rights than they did during Beneatha’s time period. This could have made it easier for Beneatha to reject these boundaries, but as a whole the difference between the two characters was that Portia somewhat accepts her restraints while Beneatha does