发布时间 : 星期三 文章The Merchant of Venice更新完毕开始阅读b0680b6ddd36a32d72758121
freedom of choice or run the risk of disinheritance . In The Merchant of Venice, Portia's father also has the concern that his only heiress may not choose her mate wisely.
Portia is fortunate in that Bassanio—her \—succeeds in passing the casket test and wins her hand in marriage.Portia is unfortunate, on the other hand, since she finally escape the suppression of her father's domination, but from then on, she has to be utterly subjugated to another patriarchal force—her husband. Portia is wise because she is not captivated by the wealth as well as the higher social status owned by the Moroccan prince and the Prince of Aragon. Nevertheless, she is blind because she naively considers Bassanio's pursuit as the seeking for true love, yet does not recognize the deep motive of Bassanio's proposal—to hunt for the \fleece\with Antonio. Bassanio makes the metaphor of arrow to persuade Antonio to fund his journey to Belmont, which also reveals the essential of his journey of \-pursuit\three thousand ducats (which is the second arrow) to equip himself to go off and hunt an heiress, whose large inheritance can enable Bassanio to pay his prior debts (which is the lost arrow).All of these interested motives of Bassanio are kept in the dark for Portia.
In the Elizabethan England, women do not have the right to own property. Even as the rich heiress, Portia has to convert all her inheritance to her husband, relying on this man and being controlled by this man the rest of her life. That is also the reason why the deceased father must force his daughter to obey to his will in order to make sure that his son-in-law is reliable, rather than a black sheep or a fortune hunter.3
In this male-dominated world, Portia also has to endure the challenge from Antonio, who is perhaps the most influential figure in Portia and Bassanio's married life. Antonio's desire of possessing Bassanio's love seems increasingly persist after Bassanio's engagement with Portia. His unconscious jealousy of Portia is most painfully apparent at the trial, when his death seems imminent.
Quick-witted, wealthy, and beautiful, Portia embodies all the virtues that are typical of Shakespeare's heroines. Many critics observe that in some sense, Portia represents the new type of women, in that she has the consciousness of independence and the spirit of rebellion. However, from the feminist point of view,Portia is only a contradictory body, who complains her dead father's will, but meanwhile compromises the choice of destiny; who owns the beauty and wealth,
but is willing to condescend herself to her husband; who has the sharp wit and extraordinary intelligence, but has to be disguised as a male doctor in order to stand in the court. Although Portia manifests her rebellious characteristic to some extent, she is ultimately and unconsciously content with this subordinate position both in marriage and social life. She cannot change the fate of \second sex\
The Merchant of Venice is one of the most famous comedy in the world,but when we think of Shylock , we have to say it is a tragedy. While we are pleasant for three couples of lover, we certainly remembered that an old, sympathetic man walk in the street. Everything has its own reason, if people must say he was selfish ,cruel, firstly, they have to know its background and social condition in that time, and then, I’ll tell you Shylock is pity, clever, courageous, tough, frank, rich national spirit, and I have reason to say that.
It is said that there is no hero in The Merchant of Venice, but a heroine, who is Portia, an independent, intelligent and beautiful Renaissance lady, who makes great efforts to grasp and defend her happiness. So she is the woman who I respect mostly.
From the comedy,we get not only laughter, contemplation and inspiration as well; from the tragedy, not only feel sadness, as well as the pursuit of hope for the future. Finally, I wanty to say, money is important,but in the world there are many things far more important than money, do not be fooled by the surface; in our real lives you can not because of his superior and discrimination against any person, but also to learn to do color vision to look at other people; while also as intelligent as Portia, do not be intimidated by unexpected difficulties. Understand how well the face of difficulties.
1.Shakespeare, William. The Merchant of Venice.中译本. 《威尼斯商人中英对照》，梁实秋，2001，中国广播电视出版社.
2. Hamill,Monica J.Poetry,Law,and the Pursuit of Perfection:Portia's role in The Merchant of Venice[J].Studies in English Literature,1978,18(2):229-243.
3.Department of English, School of Foreign Languages, East China Normal University, Shanghai 200241, China
4.http://www.cnki.net/