The Merchant of Venice – Women in the Elizabethan Era
Women’s rights and equality is new to our society and it hasn’t been around for a long time, and some people haven’t caught up to the idea even (they really should though, it’s a great thing.) |
| Portia from The Merchant of Venice, 2004 |
In the movie, the main characters who were
women were basically Nerissa and Portia. Even though they were the only two
main characters in the movie and in the play, they played pretty powerful
roles. Portia, who was the leading actress and the wife every suitor wanted,
was a very intelligent and classy woman. I’d say she was very independent and
she didn’t need a husband if she wasn’t to be married because her father had
planned it.
According to http://www.elizabethan-era.org,
during the Elizabethan era “women were raised to believe that they were inferior
to men and that men knew better.” (VERY glad this isn’t the social norm
anymore) For example, Elizabethan women were tutored at home, because there
 |
| Nerissa from The Merchant of Venice, 2004 |
were
no schools for girls, they weren’t allowed to enter University, and they could
not be heirs to their father’s titles…this is just to list a few things that
they weren’t allowed to do. During
this time, either women joined the church or got married, which really isn’t liberating
and it’s not a wide range of choices.
In the movie, inspired by the play, Portia
had to go through the same thing. She HAD to married because it was her father’s
choice and wishes. But I mean, at that time, what else could she have been? An
independent woman who could just focus on her career? No such thing. But even
though she couldn’t choose who she married because it was chosen by fate, it
was supported or controlled by the caskets and how smart the suitor is, and I liked
that option. I think that was some respect that she could have received because
at least she could marry a smart man who’s passionate, rather than someone who’s
just rich with a title. Another thing, Portia was very smart and I’m pretty
sure she couldn’t have practiced law, but she knew how to handle the situation
while Shylock and Antonio were in court for the bond. In the movie, Portia was
a powerful representation of the women who could have had the chance to do
something greater than the stereotype of having to get married, cook, clean,
and look after your husband children.
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