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《威尼斯商人》中的人物形象分析美文学毕业(2)

2013-05-01 18:30 D. An Explanation on Portia Masquerading as Man
The period when the Merchant of Venice was created was called Shakespeare’s comedy period. During this period  Shakespeare shaped humanities and the arts. British Queen Elizabeth I is in the heyday of the rule, monarchy solid and economic prosperity. Shakespeare in the social reality of the ideals of humanism will be achieved confidence, optimism works filled with forthright and bright colors. There is an idiom said “British is the paradise for woman, and the hell for steed” , which means British female enjoy more free than male, and usually male should adhere to their wife. And the fact related to this is woman benefited more education, especially humanism. Most of Shakespeare’s heroines have been considered the model of Queen Elizabeth.③ In the Merchant of Venice, Portia is a miss in a noble family. She is bored with spoon. Her nature is lovely, smart, and witty and evens some naughty. Her homeland is splendid and luxurious. Having some propriety status, Portia worries about nothing, and even late when she chooses her husband, she doesn’t think it’s necessary to choose someone who have the equal socioeconomic status. This is one reason why Portia would show her heart to Bassanio--a declining noble. Absorbing the latest ideology, her ideological level has been improved very high. She is intelligent and resourceful. When she has known her husband’s best friend have been accused. In her mind, a good idea has been emerged prior to go to court and fight against Shylock.

But there is the key problem--why does Portia masquerade as man? Wouldn’t she go to the court with her own dress? Why should she disguise herself as a black-robed judge? These are the complicated questions in the context. In my opinion, there are three reasons to explain this phenomenon.
It is the fact that woman’s status has been improved a lot, especially at Elizabeth’s
realm. There is another important factor about Shakespeare’s comedy is “heroes in dress” as one says: “British are the paradise for woman and the hell for steed”. In Shakespeare’s comedy, female not only is the protagonist, but also holds the thread of details, and very erudite. Portia dresses in black robe, the first function is to pile comedy effect on, and throws the comedy atmosphere into sharp relief. The second function is the following: because humanism consists that the world they inhabit is  not to despise but to question, explore, and enjoy. Thus, by emphasizing the dignity of human beings and the importance of the present life, they voice their beliefs that man does not only have the right to enjoy the beauty of this life, but has the ability to perfect himself and to perform wonders. And advocate that woman should be treated equal to man. Human is bored equal.④Shakespeare creates Portia, and gives her the endowment to dress up as man. And by using her unruly female speech, the function is to emphasize woman should be treated equally to man. Even sometimes woman is much more excellent than man. Maybe this is the Shakespeare’s (as a humanist) expectation. The last but not the least function is: although woman’s status has been promoted, and the humanism ideological wave is sticking strongly out at the feudalism. Males and females treated differently have deep roots in everybody’s mind, including females themselves. Portia is clever enough. But she still is a people in the world. She also must obey the rules of convention. Some critics say:“When Elizabeth Ⅰ, ruled the realm, the majority of woman found their access to the public sphere decreasing, as the economic roles they played in the late medieval period contracted. Recurrent inflation, land shortages and poverty combined to create a ‘crisis of order’, though it developed new, and in some cases quite subtle, tactics for enforcing the subordination of woman. Although the protestant belief in the spiritual equality of men and women according some women greater spiritual dignity and power, and fostered as well a more ‘companionate’ and affectionate mode of marriage, these gains did not translate into economic, political, or social equality”⑤( Susan Amussen, 1988 and Merry E.Weisner, 1993)

At the back of Portia’s immortality, the play shows us the woman’s bitter which they have beard so long. As an excellent girl, she can’t enter court naturally, instead she masquerades as man. To establish the central status of human, their dignity and value; to advocate the love and equality; and of these are just to work for the expectation and demand of man, there is no business of woman. Above all, there is the plot that Portia masquerades as man in the play.
IV. A Comparative Study of Characteristic Differences
As we know, this comedy is very light and joyful. Also its theme is very clean. But many criticisms have analyzed the figures in different angles. So it’s inevitable to make a comparison among the roles.
A. Portia and Jessica
Both of them are the important roles in this play. And both have a wealth father. The basic difference is Portia living in Belmont, a peaceful, quiet place. And Jessica lives in Venice, which is a city full of pedal, bourgeoisie and smell of money. As we say‘circumstance creates human’ Portia is witty, brave, and humorous, and there is always a clever maid for company. They enjoy themselves and live a very happy life. By contrast, Jessica, a lonely girl, because of her father’s niggard and heartless, she has no friend. What she does everyday is just stay at home where is a place called ‘gloomy jail’. She can’t go out to have a play; even can’t open the window to have a breath. Her father always worry someone will steal their money and jewels. Shylock is the awful father to her. She never dears to say no to her father. So, when she encounters her love---a Christian young man, Lorenzo. She has nothing to do just packs some money and elopes with him:
Jessica: Alack, what heinous sin is it in me
To be ashamed to be my father’s child!
But though I am a daughter to his blood.
I am not to his manners. Oh, Lorenzo,
If thou keep promise, I will end this strife,
Become a Christian and thy loving wife!②( Act II ,Scene III, P64, 15-22)

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Here, we can say, the two girls have courage to pursue their own happiness. But Portia’s happiness is hinge on her wit. Although she is bound to her dead father’s will. She still helps Bassanio to choose the correct chest with her wit. To audience, it’s more gratification to be accepted. And it’s a pity for Jessica to choose the elopement for their love.
B. Portia and Shylock
Portia is a humanist and she is the embodiment of kind, clever, and bravery. She is the person who is leading the trend of society, also we call her “trend—setter”. By contrast, Shylock stands for usurer who is ignorant and backward. Absolutely, they are run in the opposite direction. This is the knot that they will conflict directly. The wonderful performance of their conflicts is shown on Scene Ⅳ—the struggle on court. The way that Portia crosses sword with Shylock is similar to Duke with he. Both persuade him first. The little difference is Duke has no alternative and Portia has a well-thought-out plan. She wins the case with her wit. We can’t hold ourselves to think Shylock is defeated by a girl who is as old as his daughter. At that time, he has just lost his daughter. What a pity it is! And at last, Shylock loses all he has—wealth, daughter and religion. At that moment, Shylock’s misfortunes tend to make him a more sympathetic figure than a comic one. “When you lost something, another one is retuning to you.” Maybe that is the true mighty of Shakespeare.
C. Antonio and Bassanio
One is the rich merchant of Venice. He is the representative figure of growing bourgeois. He is ostentatious and is generous in aiding needy people. He always lends his money to other without interest. So he obtains much good praise. The other one is a profligate son of the rich. He is the embodiment of powerful noble. Except Usurer and Feudalism, they are the dazzling figure in commercialized society. One obtains numerous money; the other has admirable class status. They are the bosom friend in reality. “Money” and “power” work quite well between their friendships. They are Antonio and Bassanio. We nearly can awaken there are some intimate relationship from their name. No matter if it’s the planned on purpose by author. Both they are very young and handsome. They always have some special smell scattered from their body that you can strike in their every breath. Is it purity kindness or bewitching eye light? Their friendship has been established firmly. Antonio helps Bassanio over his economic collapse. In turn, Bassanio usually to Antonio’s innermost feeling and the hitch on business. Before Portia goes up to the stage, they just like a pairs of “sweet lover”. But they aren’t lover, and not a combined community. Antonio is a merchant and he has worried so many affairs about his business. Maybe the only entertainment item is to scold every unmoral action acted by Shylock and to excoriate his curtness, selfishness, stinginess and berate. What these all would happen like that, the reason just because Shylock is Jew. They are the conflicts of two opposite ideas, identification, convention and religions. （科教作文网http://zw.ΝsΕec.cN编辑）
Bassanio although is a noble, actually he is a declining aristocrat. He has squandered his money at different meeting, gathering and on woman. Not to speak so tactful, he is a playboy who never plans to get a job or doing some business. Instead, he would like to life his head from a profitable marriage. When he borrows money from Antonio as chip to pursuing Portia. Antonio says:
I pray you, good Bassanio, let me know it;
       And if it stand, as you yourself still do,
       Within the eye of honour, be assured
       My purse, my person, my extremest means,
       Lie all unlockt to your occasion② (ActⅠsceneⅠ,P12,135-140)
And when his boats wreck on sea, he has had to obey the contract, and he says:
Sweet Bassanio, my ships have all miscarried, my creditors grow crule, my estate is very low, my bond to the Jew is forfeit; and since in paying it, it is impossible I should live, all debates are cleared between you and I. if I might but see you at my death. Notwithstanding, use your pleasure; if your love do not persuade you to come, let not my letter. ② (Act Ⅲ Scene Ⅱ P132,315-321)
From these words, we can confirm Antonio is the best friend of Bassanio. He always helps other not to ask for reward, even sacrifice his life. When Bassanio hears the news that Antonio will lose his life for him. He returns immediately and gives his lover’s ring back to the clerk to show his thanks. Their friendship has been proved so perfect.
 
 
 
 
 
Conclusion
The period that Shakespeare created the Merchant of Venice was the reign of Elizabeth Ⅰ. What was the name of that period called “the First Flowering Period of English Literature” and the greatest change began with drama. Shakespeare was the representative at that time. In his romantic comedies, Shakespeare takes an optimistic attitude toward love and youth. The Merchant of Venice, in which he has created tension, ambiguity, a self-consciousness and self-delighting artifice that, is at once intellectually exciting and emotionally engaging.

There are two comic characters exists in the Merchant of Venice. The first one is comedy united with mock. As we see, what the center place this story happened is a city full of the smell of commercialize and capitalism. Different race, identification, religion, law and some ideas about fair and unfair are all showed out. In this play, Jew Shylock performs great greed for money. When he is resulted and treated unfair, he is brewing a strongly dissatisfaction to revenge the Christian and graceful gentleman and appealing for equal treatment. In fact, Shylock’s characteristic has many aspects. He is a usurer. He is avaricious and stingy. But he also has the pity point: being lost daughter; being humiliated by Antonio; being treated unfair in Christian society, and his endless miss for his wife. All of his role action has surpassed the friendship between Antonio and Bassanio, and the propagation of Christian by Portia. So in the thesis, the author argues Shylock not only as a curt, greedy and sly person, but also as a sympathetic figure. （科教范文网http://fw.ΝsΕΑc.com编辑）
The second distinguishing feature is comedy united with the ideal of humanism. One critic says that Shakespeare’s comedies and romances tend to focus on daughters whose age and rank make them desirable spouses for men seeking to improve their social standing. There is no exception of Shakespeare’s comedies takes love as the theme. And the most used expression to describe the lover’s relationship in debate. They match with intelligent, minds and sentiments. Woman always emerges the victor. They are not only chaste, beautiful, young and more sensible, cuter and wiser than the one whom they adore. And their ability to adapt themselves to changing conditions also is surpasses over man. Everything that they want to do will be acted very well, including strives for happiness, in which they are more active than man. At the same time, Portia is an independent woman who has attained some measure of financial independence.In this play, there are two main humanists who have been talked about. One is Antonio. As we say, he is a wealth, kindhearted merchant in the beginning period of Capitalist society. Although he has been described as a weak, melancholy and lackluster character in my former paragraph. But we can’t deny that his indeed, actually, can be seemed the action of a real true human in that blood-stained economical system. He is sincere to Bassanio, generous to the needy; and kind to his other friends. All of the ideology showed by him puts him at the platform of humanism. And he stands for the superior capitalist, bourgeois which is against usurer and the feudal barons. The other humanist is Portia. She is the embodiment of wisdom, beauty, strategy. She is also considered the very one who can represent the liberated woman in Renaissance in Shakespeare’s play. No matter what roles she displayed: rich heritage, tenderness lover, wise and far sighted lawyer and devoted wife. She gets numerous praises. Many people refer her to the intelligent, brave, liberated humanist, but every coin has two sides. At the back of Portia’s radiance exists something that would make us deep in thought. Is she real liberated thoroughly? Utterly the answer is negative. Because she still can’t enter court naturally in her dress but disguises her as a man in black-robe. So, we can get the conclusion that discrimination on gender and sex is still a problem that can’t be solved easily in any period.

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An analysis of Shakespeare’s the Merchant of Venice from the perspective of the feminism theory manifests the fact that the Shakespearean heroines do not fall simply into two stereotypes，namely，the good or the bad. Instead，endowed with the modern anti-patriarchal spirit，they are in the center of the stage whereas the men are in a subordinate and marginal position．By doing so，Shakespeare has successfully undermined the patriarchal ideology and facilitated the demonstration of the traditional definition of women by a men-centered society，thereby offering a clear silhouette of his feminist ideas．
In a word, the Merchant of Venice is a comedy play. No matter how sophisticate the character expressed. I think the fundamental of Shakespeare is to punish the evil and praise the good. The main melody of this play is still very light and joyful.
 
 

Notes
①. 李超，邓兴义主编．新编英美概况[M]. 汕头：汕头大学出版社,2004：34-37.
②. Shakespeare. The Merchant of Venice[M]. Beijing: The Commercial Press, 1989：35-36,113,132,104.118,120-122,64,12,132.
③. 朱生豪译. 李尔王[M].  北京：外文出版社，1999：8.
④. 张伯香. Selected Readings In English And American Literatures[M].北京：外语教学与研究出版社，2002：8.
⑤. Amussen, Susan. An Ordered Society: Gender and Class in Early Modern England [M]. Oxford: Blackwell, 1988.
Merry E.Weisner. Women and Gender in Early Modern Europe[M]. Cambridge University Press, 1993.
 
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