Portia in Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice and Abigail of Marlowe's the Jew of Malta
Portia and Abigail are two characters with very different values. Portia in Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice remained true to her religion, and her father’s wishes throughout the play. Abigail, on the other hand, changed religions and disobeyed her father. However, the writers used these two women to make similar statements about religion. Portia represented the quintessential Christian. Abigail of Marlowe’s The Jew of Malta, was more of an ethically ambiguous character, but it can still be argued that she was the most principled character in the play. Both Shakespeare and Marlowe used the daughter character to represent the ideal human being. In The Merchant of Venice the ideal human being is the perfect Christian. In The Jew of Malta the ideal is more of a Machiavellian that can still display some love and loyalty. Regardless of the principles Shakespeare and Marlowe wish to convey in their plays, they both chose young, females to express them.
Portia was defined by her obedience. She remained strictly obedient to the law and to her father’s wishes without ever wavering. She did complain a little but did not consider breaking either the rules of the law or her father. Portia first showed her law-abiding nature when she remained true to her father’s wishes despite her desire to do otherwise. In Portia’s first scene she is quite upset about the terms of her father’s will. “I may neither choose who I would, nor/ refuse who I dislike; so is the will of a living daughter/ curb’d be the will of a dead father. Is it not hard,/ Nerissa, that I cannot choose one, now refuse none?” (Merchant of Venice, I.ii.23-26). ...
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...conform with her father’s religion, unlike Portia who wanted only a Christian like her father. Abigail was so upset by Mathias’ death caused by Barabas, that she converts to Christianity and becomes a nun. Abigail’s conversion was the ultimate betrayal of her father.
It was not the law of Malta that governed Abigail’s actions before Mathias’ death, but the rules of her father. She stayed loyal to her father’s laws in everything but loving Mathias. When Barabas’ demands of her caused the death of her lover, Abigail decided to defy him. To Abigail, love was more important than her duty to her family. Regardless of whether Abigail was governed more by her love for Mathias or her duty to Barabas, what set her apart from the other characters in The Jew of Malta was that she was governed less by Machiavellian principles and more by Christian-like motives.
The true antagonist of the play is the town of Salem itself, because of the judgemental and self concerned peoples, and its oppressive views. Abigail;s outrageous actions are due to her desensitized views on death and actions otherwise viewed as unethical. From her youth ABigail recalls: “ I saw indians smash my dear parents’ head on the pillow next to mine and i have seen some reddish work at night” (Miller 20), because of this Abigail is numb to death and suffering and is in fact quite morbid. There is no problem in condemning other to death in Abigail’s eyes because she doesn’t see the issue with it. Abigail does not seem to comprehend that it is unethical to let people be hanged and stoned to death and has no issue telling others that she “ can make you wish you had never seen the sun go down” (Miller 20). Not only is Abigail desensitized to murder and death, she is also numb to other unethical dilemmas. Abigail is desensitized to corrupting the Proctor’s marriage because of her childish lust and obsession for John Proctor. Such desires can be seen through her encounters with Proctor. In regards to their so called “relationship” she says: “it’s she put me out, you cannot pretend it were you. I saw your face when she put me out, and you loved me then and you love me now!” (Miller 22). Abigail does not view her behavior t...
Abigail was able to easily deceive and manipulate the court to try and get what she had set her eyes on, being John Proctor; a much older, married man who had had an affair with Abigail once when she was a sort of servant in his household. After finding of this, his wife Elizabeth had banished Abigail from their house. Abigail sought revenge...
After the incident she was raised by her Uncle Parris. Although being raised by her uncle she never felt loved by him because he was never really fond of children. Abigail never had a father or mother figures in her life. She will always flirt with John whenever Elizabeth was not around. Abigail will talk bad about Elizabeth which shows she has some jealousy toward the couple’s marriage.
Being an individual and trying to separate yourself by being different is not usual in the puritan community. They do everything as a whole and that is what they believe in. In this article it says, “Such an adamantly ridged society of course implies that any form of individuality will be considered subversive and dangerous” (Bonnet 32). The main cause of this entire process is a mixture of individual and social forces. The character Abigail is out of lust for Proctor and out of jealousy for Elizabeth Proctor which was mentioned earlier. In the article it also approaches that “Every single person can avail himself of the opportunity to weak his own personal vengeance on his neighbor. At the same time that fallen state of things becomes a social
Although she tried not to act like it, Abigail was no more than a child. Evidence of this is when Proctor continuously called Abigail a “child” but she refused to accept it and answered back, “How could you call me a child!” (Miller 470-71). Because Abigail was only a girl and people such as Proctor viewed her as one, the town should have known better than to listen to her and should have believed she was making it up. They really should not have believed her though because she was troubled and came from a rough background. The girl “saw Indians smash [her] dear parents’ heads on the pillow next to [hers]” (Miller 468). She watched her parents die and this would explain why she was living with her uncle. She had no mother figure in her life and she was troubled. Again, this is evidence that the town should have known better than to listen to her due to her
Abigail’s selfish nature is prominent throughout the entire play through her actions and speech inside and outside the court. In Act 1, the adults in Salem continue to question numerous girls about the dancing that was seen by Reverend Parris.
Abigail is a major character in the play. She leads a group of liars, has a lot of power, and can get
Abigail was the main antagonist within the context of the story, she made many decisions that decided many outcomes, one being her reputation. She accused Elizabeth of witchcraft and it gave Abigail a bad reputation. Especially with Proctor, he thought that she was the worst person in the world. Not only did Proctor think she was a bad person, so did Elizabeth because she states that, “And she may dote on it now-I am sure she doesn’t-and thinks to kill me, then to take my place” (Miller, 2003, p. 58). Elizabeth
...ong after John Proctor and other accused members of the town attempt to debunk Abigail’s act, she mysteriously “[vanishes]…she does not return and… [has] robbed [her uncle]” (126). Her blatant disregard for important aspects of Puritanism shows her lack of reverence for God; and although Abigail manages to escape prosecution in her hometown of Salem, she is no safer from hell than a true witch.
One of the people that she claims is witching her is Elizabeth, because Abigail wants her dead so she can be with John Proctor. Elizabeth indentifies what Abigai is trying to do, “... And she may dote on it now - I’m sure she does - and thinks to kill me, and take my place” (1035). With this quote I think that her lieing to the court about all of this id the reason that the court is falling apart. John has now come i to save his wife because of Abigails lies. Now that her lies have been brought to attention, she starts to lie on top of the lies she has already told. The choices that Abigail has made has changed the town and the court for the worst. Abigails plan start to fall apart when her lies and the other girls lies are brought to attention. To fix the problem they start to lie more, truning on one of their own where is Mary Warren. Just to get the court to believe that they are not
Abigail Williams is motivated by the lustful desires and jealousy towards John Proctor. “You love me, John Proctor, and whatever sin it is, you love me yet! John, pitty me, pitty me!” (150)! Abigail says this becase she wants John Proctor to want the same lustful desires that she wants with him. Abigail is wanting John to leave his wife Elizabet Proctor and his two sons because she wants to be the wife of John . She becomes manipulative to do this very thing. Abigail plots and schemes a plan ,but it does not work they way she expected it to. She becomes so overly jealous that
Of the major characters, Abigail Williams is clearly the villain of the play: she tells lies, manipulates her friends and the entire town, and eventually sends nineteen innocent people to their deaths. Throughout the hysteria, Abigail’s motivations never seem more than simple jealousy and a desire to have revenge on Elizabeth Proctor. When the first girl, Betty Parris, is accused of witchcraft, Abigail is trying to convince her uncle that there is a rumor of witchcraft circulating in town; “Uncle, the rumor of witchcraft is all about; I think you’d best go down and deny it yourself”(1130). She convinces him that he should go down talk the rumor, she is attempting to cover her tracks, and shift the attention away from her and the girls. This is the main example of how Abigail is a liar.
Whether character in the book or reader, everyone despises Abigail. She is selfish, vengeful, manipulative, and has a demented life style. She uses these traits to win people, and have them believe she is the “Good Guy”.
The Merchant of Venice is a play set in a very male and Christian dominated society where other religions and women rights weren’t very well accepted by the community. However Portia, a rich woman who had previously been controlled by men, triumphs as she manipulates tricks and saves the lives of the men.
Shakespeare highlights three of Portia’s suitors, the Prince of Morocco, the Prince of Arragon and Bassanio. He does this to heighten dramatic tension, as these three men are the most important candidates to win Portia’s hand in marriage. They reveal the contents of the three caskets and their different characters as exposed as being proud, vain and humble. They also emphasise the racial prejudices of Venice a place where many races clash. Their attitudes towards the caskets and their choices indicate what their character is like. This essay will compare and contrast the three suitors and will explore how Shakespeare influences the audience’s attitudes towards the three men.