Portrayal of Portia and Jessica in the Merchant of Venice

Shakespeare has contradicted the perceived roles of women in the 17th century society through his portrayal of Portia and Jessica. Portia has been clearly evident as an instrumental character to the play's development as a result of her greatness, high self-esteem, abilities, intelligence and manipulative power. Jessica however, has been portrayed in light of a reactive, submissive character that possessed low self-esteem and remained reactive through the play.
 In "The Merchant of Venice" Shakespeare used Portia and Jessica as his stereotypical characters through which he successfully conveyed greatness and challenged the perception of 17th century society. Shakespeare, by doing so, has "accomplished them with what they lacked." Quotation serves to emphasise Shakespeare's drama since the word 'accomplished' implies that it is Shakespeare who created the two characters to appear as men's equals and that otherwise this equality would not be attainable within the society of the contemporary time.

At the beginning of the play, Portia appears to have no real identity despite all her greatness and worth whereas Jessica, being a Jew appeared as a character with low self-esteem and emerges as having no commitment to her father's house. Shakespeare furthers this notion by enabling us to recognise Portia's wealth and status as he allows her to appear as very intelligent and bilingual. Portia speaks three languages, that of; French; Latin and Italian clearly emphasising her intelligence as well as ability. Shakespeare by allowing Portia to use rhetoric of law in Act 1 Scene 2 further prevail Portia's greatness. Portia's mention of 'devise laws' and 'decrees' convey her awareness of legal language and equally the legal sphere of life. However, it seems that at the beginning Shakespeare has given Portia potential but it remained impotent as she did not have the opportunity to use it. We therefore assume further that Shakespeare portrayed Portia's character to comprise of superficial nature; it emerges that Portia is controlled by her father and does thereby hold no control over her life. Her words to Nerissa; "I may neither choose who I would, nor refuse who I dislike, so is the will of a living daughter curb'd by the will of a dead father", clearly evoke her obedience but even more importantly demonstrate her lack of control over her own life. Shakespeare's use of the word 'curb'd' imply means of restraints that in this context could provide the notion that Portia is restrained to her own will and thereby completely 'bound by her father's will'.
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With regards to Jessica's character, Shakespeare endeavoured to generate a slightly different sympathy. Jessica is known to be Shylock's daughter, her character is assumed to be that of low self-esteem and without potential greatness., thus, Jessica is regarded as inferior to other Christians due to her Jewish origins and religion. This is partly manifest through Shakespeare's language and partly through plot's development. Jews in this play are regarded as dehumanised beings as becomes apparent from Antonio's speech that called Shylock a 'dog'. Jessica, being biologically bound to her father, is also regarded as inferior to Christians, maybe providing the reason why she eloped with a Christian man in the end. None the less, her low self-esteem is drawn by her acceptance to be Lorenzo's "torch-bearer." Shakespeare provided a negative imagery by Lorenzo's speech. "Torch-bearer" insinuates the image of a slave and an owned individual which we assume Jessica becomes after her marriage ceremony. As opposed to Portia's respectful and obedient manner Jessica is conveyed as a rebellious and disobedient character. Due to the fact that Jessica eloped from her father, quoting that "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", it provokes a direct contrast to Portia's great, intelligent and respectful character. Even though the quotation provides us with a subtle hint that maybe Jessica is aware of what is moral and right she still willingly escapes with Lorenzo leaving her father impotent and consequently showing disrespect and emotionless. This could also serve as a paradigm of Jessica's selfish and cold character that parallels with that of her father's.

Further contrast is drawn through the ways in which they marry. Both Portia's and Jessica's further identities are constructed by the man they marry. Shakespeare, although allowing Portia's character to almost be won, generated a more positive response from the audience as opposed to that from Jessica's marriage. Even though Portia's character was subjected to the luck of suitor's choosing the right casket, her distinguishable, great and superior character still remained apparent whereas Jessica's marriage conveyed her low self-esteem and selfishness as she has, most simply, sold herself to Lorenzo. Shakespeare, thorough the process of marriage has encouraged us to discover Portia's manipulative ability whereas with Jessica we begin to understand further her inferior character that eloped with a Christian and consequently 'raised the price of pork'.

Portia's character has been portrayed manipulative in Act 3 Scene 2. Her almost first words uttered to Bassanio were 'forbear a while'. Shakespeare through Portia's quote manifests that Portia thinks positively of Bassanio and thereby endeavours to prolong the process enabling him to choose the right casket and so not "hazard, for choosing wrong." Portia's prolonged speeches and sentences as well as her use of caesura further prevails her affection towards Bassanio. It could be stated that Shakespeare's use of caesura with Portia's character generates humour as Portia's speeches become very slow and short, almost sounding immature. Her further announcement that 'I would detain you here some month of two' emphasise her desperate state. What becomes increasingly interesting and clever of Portia's character is Shakespeare's use of music. Song played clearly contained words that rhymed with led as for example 'head' and 'bred' and could insinuate Portia's intelligence and perhaps pragmatism as well as her manipulative power. Portia was also willing to use the style of free verse as opposed to her frequent use of iambic pentameter or otherwise elevated language. A clear example is found in Act 3 Scene 2 where she attempts to convince Bassanio that her intelligence is not as great as it seems and that in the case of true emotions, it should not be regarded as a restraint to their marriage.

Jessica on the other hand, has converted herself from a Jew into a Christian through her marriage to Lorenzo. Jessica's discontent with her house and her father was clearly evident in Act2 Scene3. Jessica exclaims that her 'house is hell' and looks upon Lorenzo to save her enabling her to become a Christina and thereby enhance herself and her living conditions. Unlike Portia, Jessica disempowered her father by stealing all his worth and distorting his hopes by escaping with a Christian. Shakespeare has conveyed Jessica as a much more submissive character which becomes evident greatly through her marriage scene. The fact that Jessica appears with 'page's suit she hath in readiness' emphasise that she is disguised as a servant. This also implies that she will not be given the opportunity to exert significant amount of influence within the public sphere and that rather she will represent a slave that only entered the public scene in addition to someone else's necessities. Shakespeare also draws dramatic irony by introducing Shylock to warn Jessica not to 'thrust you head into the public street to gaze on Christian fools with varnish'd faces'. Shakespeare's use of 'varnish'd faces' represent clown like, painted face image which is the very thing Jessica becomes later on in the play as she enters the public to go to the 'masque', a ball party.

Jessica's casket of jewellery serves as a physical metaphor of Jessica's state. It represents her low self-esteem and her controlled character. Shakespeare conveys further Jessica's inferiority by allowing Lorenzo to address her by 'gentle Jessica'. Shakespeare's use of 'gentle' clearly emphasise a pun on Gentile. This reinforces the fact that Jessica is a Jew and not a Christian, emphasising further her 'pagan' character. Through the word 'pagan' Shakespeare also demonstrates Jessica's character to represent a devil instead of a pure human being and a Christian. As Shakespeare enabled Jessica's marriage to occur under 'secrecy' he also provided a subtle hint that women work 'secretly'.

This notion of women operating in secrecy is furthered through Portia and Nerissa's disguise as males in order to enter the public scene. Unlike Jessica's entrance, Shakespeare enabled Portia's character to dominate the public and develop a strong identity through the courtroom scene of Act4. Shakespeare's repetition of 'court awards it and the law doth give it' demonstrate Portia's control over Shylock and the plot development. Portia's reinforcement of 'just a pound' and her orders for the 'scales to turn' develop suspense within the courtroom scene and equally emphasise her merciless character. Shakespeare draws our attention to Portia's masculine integrity through her ability to govern the drama and dominate the scene. Shakespeare allows Portia's character to demonstrate further intelligence by introducing her to state that 'Clerk draw a deed of gift'. Portia's words explicitly highlight her awareness of the way in which the law operates and thereby challenges the perception of women in 17th century society. Her manipulative character is yet again demonstrated and apparent in the courtroom scene. Portia persuades Bassanio to give her his marriage ring while stating that he does not know 'how well she has deserv'd that ring'. Shakespeare's use of dramatic irony here aids to convince Bassanio to give the ring in respect of her success. In the light of apparent evidence it becomes clear that Portia, through her rhetoric resolved the plot and that if she did not mention to Shylock that 'if thou dost shed one drop of Christian blood, thy lands and goods are (by the laws of Venice) confiscate unto the state of Venice', Shylock would have proceeded with attaining his bond. Portia's character, through the same quotation, has drawn our attention to the fact that Shylock is not merciful and thereby established a direct contrast between the Jews and the Christians.

As a conclusion, it can be stated that Shakespeare has contradicted the perceived roles of women in the 17th century society through his portrayal of Portia and Jessica. Portia has been clearly evident as an instrumental character to the play's development as a result of her greatness, high self-esteem, abilities, intelligence and manipulative power. Jessica however, has been portrayed in light of a reactive, submissive character that possessed low self-esteem and remained reactive through the play. In "The Merchant of Venice" Shakespeare has drawn contrasts between Portia and Jessica that could maybe serve to emphasise the differences between Jewish and Christian religion. In my opinion Shakespeare has been influenced by the anti-Semitist views of the contemporary time and thereby illustrated the Jews to be merciless, selfish, villainous and emotionless whereas he conveyed the Christians as supreme and priceless. Shakespeare's use of paradoxical imagery at the beginning of the play with regards to Portia's character has proven to be a revealing introduction. Portia emerges as the rarest of combinations; a free spirit who abides rigidly by rules and she perhaps deserves our admiration in some respect, but like all great archetypes, she has her foibles and faults.