From Casket to Court via Mercy and the Ring: Commemorating Shakespeare’s Portia in "The Merchant of Venice"

Abstract

Shakespeare’s comedies mark his artistic excellence in the portrayal of woman characters. Shakespearean women have invariably moved the audience and their understanding towards them from being sweet and mawkish to expressing their needs sternly for integrity, justice through wit and intelligence in his plays. Often strongly approved by the modern feminists, the qualities of intelligence and assertiveness are regarded as admirable qualities in Shakespearean comic heroines. As revolutionaries, Shakespearean female characters have always been projected as strong, sometimes stronger than the male counterparts; often going against the conventions of the society to symbolize what gender equality in the future may be like. Essential qualities like intelligence and wit always fulfilled and made Shakespearean heroines independent personalities. The female characters in Shakespeare’s plays always played an important role in the dramatic run in both tragedies and comedies. This article studies the portrayal of intelligence by Portia in The Merchant of Venice making her the hero of the play.