Portia’s Marriage in “The Merchant of Venice”
Portia in “The Merchant of Venice”, comparing Antonio, Bassanio and Shylock, is the cleverest character. She disguises herself and follows Bassanio to Venice. At last, she protects Antonio from being cut off a pound of fresh according to the agreement. In the courtroom, Portia’s brilliant handling of legal technicalities impresses me a lot. Nevertheless, I am more attracted by her brightness to handle her marriage.Many people may hold the view that Portia’s way to choose her husband is a failure at the beginning because she is willingly subject to the will of her dead father, and promise to marry the man who chooses the correct one of three caskets: one golden, one silver and one lead. However, in my opinion, Portia is not submissive to her father’s will. She handles her marriage with careful consideration. I will justify my view as follows.
Firstly, Portia has no choice but to accept her father’s will. As we know, at that time the father has complete right to determine his daughter’s marriage. Hence, Portia should not be blamed for being faithful to her father’s wishes. Besides, since no one has the chance to see her father’s will that her husband should choose correctly among three caskets, Portia can make the terms of her marriage. In fact, although Portia follows her father’s will, she makes all other decisions by herself with her wit. In the plot, we will doubt that why no one chooses the correct casket before the coming of Bassanio. The plot may seem unnatural if we do not attribute it to the careful arrangements made by Portia. She arranges beforehand to avoid being chosen by an appropriate person by chance. In this way, we can say that Portia takes full advantage of her dead father’s will instead of following his will blindly.
Secondly, Portia chooses the correct man called Bassanio to be her husband. Bassanio has nothing but debt, but he has good virtue which is more important than money in Portia’s mind. His virtue can be showed by his true concern to his friend, Antonia. In Portia’s view, she does not need a rich man to give her wealthy life because she is rich enough. Instead, she needs someone who she can control. On account of that, Bassanio is the most suitable man among all the suitors who is actually simple and stupid. After Portia decides Bassanio as her husband, she also takes some measures to ensure that Bassanio is the correct man she chooses and take control of him. When Bassanio chooses the correct casket, Portia keeps her promise to marry him and gives him a ring. She also warns him that he should never lose it or send it to others. Portia uses the ring to make Bassanio keep faith with her. Besides, she gives a lot of money to Bassanio to help his friend out of trouble to win her husband’s favor. In conclusion, Portia takes all the possibilities into consideration when she chooses Bassanio as his husband.
Thirdly, Portia plays the ring trick with Bassanio. After the court, Portia takes the ring that she gives to Bassanio before. When Bassanio goes back to Belmont, Portia pretends to blame him for giving the ring to other people because it shows Bassanio loves his friend Antonio more than her. At last, Bassanio realizes that it is Portia who saves them from Shylock when he is given the same ring by Portia. Through the ring trick, Portia wins two advantages in her marriage. First, it makes Bassanio realize his wife’s cleverness and know that giving the ring to other people is a violation of their marriage. Therefore, Bassanio will be more willing to submit to her. Second, it lets Bassanio know that she has the desire to control their marriage. Her action in helping Bassanio and his friend Antonio without telling Bassanio the truth first means that she does not need to completely submit to her husband after the marriage. At the same time, she makes Bassanio’s violation of their marriage a weapon to protect her right in future life. In a word, Portia takes full use of the ring to obtain the upper hand in their marriage.
From all above we can see that Portia handles her marriage with deep pondering and careful arrangements. Instead of being the victim of her dead father’s will, she makes the right decision with her own wit, and she obtains the upper hand position in her marriage at last. In conclusion, Portia’s wit on handling her marriage is very attractive to me. I think this is what I have learnt most from “The Merchant of Venice.”
by 林瑞霞
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