Portia’s Dominance
In the average fairy-tale style story, there exists a hero that usually gets everything for which they wished. Out of all the major characters that appear in Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice, none of them appear to be more obvious of a hero as Porta– who is depicted as a wealthy noblewoman who possess great wealth, beauty, and cleverness. However, more prominent than any of these mentioned traits is her utter dominance she shows throughout the entirety of the play. In The Merchant of Venice, Portia is the real hero as she seems to be the most dominant character in the play, triumphing over all the other leads: Antonio, Shylock, and Bassanio. Through her dominance, Portia proves that she is the true hero of the play. …show more content…
However, this is not true because of the time period that The Merchant of Venice was written in. If the context of time is taken into account then a Jewish hero would be extremely unpopular among the general populous, and characters like Portia would be praised as heroes as she ended the Jew’s ploy to kill Antonio. This can be seen in the play as Shylock is depicted as sort of a ‘final boss’ for Portia to overcome to establish herself as the hero during the court scene, as Shylock is providing the only ongoing conflict in the play. Portia easily conquers this last obstacle, using a loophole in the bond to attack Shylock, saying that “shed thou no blood, nor cut thou less nor more / But just a pound of flesh. If thou tak’st more … Thou diest, and all thy goods are confiscate” (4.1.337-340, 344), and even after Portia delivers this speech that ensures her victory, she takes the extra step to ensure that Shylock will be branded as a villain and herself a hero by stating …show more content…
Like Antonio, initially Bassanio seems genuinely good and hero like as he embarks on a lady-love journey. However, on closer inspection, it can be clearly seen that Bassanio’s intentions weren’t exactly heroic. Take for example his true purpose for chasing after Portia. Throughout the play, Bassanio never actually states to anyone that he actually “loves” Portia, and his primary praise that had brought him to Belmont was that she was “richly left” (1.1.168). Here it is clear that Bassanio’s true intentions were for greed, not love. Now, some may argue that Bassanio did go for love as he chose the correct casket. However this not because of love, but because of Portia. This can be seen with the immense amount of double meanings she shoves into a sentences were conversing with Bassanio before his picking. Take for example when she tells Bassanio that “I stand for sacrifice” (3.2.59), at first it may just seem like a random part of the story she is telling Bassanio, but if it is viewed in the context of the scene – which is the casket choosing, it is clearly a subtle hint to Bassanio that the lead casket is the correct choice as it is the only one that requires sacrifice. In addition, Bassanio was in fact eliminated from the hero-title battle the first, as he lost right when he took the oath that if he loses Portia’s ring that “Let it presage the ruin of your love / And
In the average fairy-tale style story, there exists a hero that usually gets everything for which they wished. Out of all the major characters that appear in Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice, none of them appear to be more obvious of a hero as Porta– who is depicted as a wealthy noblewoman who possess great wealth, beauty, and cleverness. However, more prominent than any of these mentioned traits is her utter dominance she shows throughout the entirety of the play. In The Merchant of Venice, Portia is the real hero as she seems to be the most dominant character in the play, triumphing over all the other leads: Antonio, Shylock, and Bassanio. Through her dominance, Portia proves that she is the true hero of the play. …show more content…
However, this is not true because of the time period that The Merchant of Venice was written in. If the context of time is taken into account then a Jewish hero would be extremely unpopular among the general populous, and characters like Portia would be praised as heroes as she ended the Jew’s ploy to kill Antonio. This can be seen in the play as Shylock is depicted as sort of a ‘final boss’ for Portia to overcome to establish herself as the hero during the court scene, as Shylock is providing the only ongoing conflict in the play. Portia easily conquers this last obstacle, using a loophole in the bond to attack Shylock, saying that “shed thou no blood, nor cut thou less nor more / But just a pound of flesh. If thou tak’st more … Thou diest, and all thy goods are confiscate” (4.1.337-340, 344), and even after Portia delivers this speech that ensures her victory, she takes the extra step to ensure that Shylock will be branded as a villain and herself a hero by stating …show more content…
Like Antonio, initially Bassanio seems genuinely good and hero like as he embarks on a lady-love journey. However, on closer inspection, it can be clearly seen that Bassanio’s intentions weren’t exactly heroic. Take for example his true purpose for chasing after Portia. Throughout the play, Bassanio never actually states to anyone that he actually “loves” Portia, and his primary praise that had brought him to Belmont was that she was “richly left” (1.1.168). Here it is clear that Bassanio’s true intentions were for greed, not love. Now, some may argue that Bassanio did go for love as he chose the correct casket. However this not because of love, but because of Portia. This can be seen with the immense amount of double meanings she shoves into a sentences were conversing with Bassanio before his picking. Take for example when she tells Bassanio that “I stand for sacrifice” (3.2.59), at first it may just seem like a random part of the story she is telling Bassanio, but if it is viewed in the context of the scene – which is the casket choosing, it is clearly a subtle hint to Bassanio that the lead casket is the correct choice as it is the only one that requires sacrifice. In addition, Bassanio was in fact eliminated from the hero-title battle the first, as he lost right when he took the oath that if he loses Portia’s ring that “Let it presage the ruin of your love / And