The Merchant Of Venice Feminist Analysis

Oprah Winfrey, Diane Sawyer, and J.K. Rowling are some of the most influential and powerful people in America. These women are known for how they exude their confidence and independence. This is contradictory to how women were perceived during the Renaissance. The women of this time period were given no rights and had no power to do anything. In Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice, the female characters are presented as strong women, who are not confined to the ideal woman position of the Renaissance and serve as independent characters. Jessica displays her strong-minded characteristic through her ability to make her own decision, despite the ideals of the male figures around her. Shylock is Jessica’s Jewish father, who has greatly conflicting ideas compared to the ideas of Jessica. Jessica is “ashamed to be [her] father’s child” (II.iii.16) and she plans to run off with her love, Lorenzo, and

It is true that when Bassanio and Portia become engaged she says that “what is mine to you and yours is now converted” (III.ii.167-8). It is true that she is quick to give up all her possessions to Bassanio. However, at the beginning of the scene, when Portia reunites with Bassanio, she says “I pray you tarry, pause a day or two before you hazard, for in choosing wrong I lose your company” (III.ii.1-3). Portia seems to want to be with Bassanio, not for her lack of independence but, because she truly cares for Bassanio. Portia even goes on to be nervous and flustered, as she continued to talk to Bassanio. This shows how some sort of love has come over her, making her unknowledgeable of what to do in this situation. Portia does not want to leave Bassanio’s side and with that, she shares her livelihood not because of a lack of strength and power but because she wants a form of union with Bassanio, as a result of Portia’s love for