In Act 1, Scene 2 of The Merchant of Venice Portia complains about her potential suitors to Nerissa. Although she admits that "In truth I know it is a sin to be a mocker"(1.2.57), that admission doesn't prevent her mocking the foibles of her suitors to great comic effect. Her suitors are all foreign-born outsiders who fail to conform to the proper etiquette and standards of Belmont (and presumably to Shakespeare's audience as well). One way Shakespeare's comedy operates seems to be to expose and satirize the outsider (not unlike some television sitcoms like The Big Bang Theory that satirizes geeks, another outside group)
What about the other outsiders in this play such as Morocco, Shylock and perhaps even Portia herself? Are they too held up to ridicule for refusing to conform to conventional norms? Are they merely stereotypical figures (the Black African, the Jew, the Single Woman) that serve as the butt of the play's jokes? Or is there something else going on? Do these characters have a different role in the play? Do they rise above being a stereotype?
In Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice, the outsiders, such as Morocco and Shylock, are used to accentuate the theme of appearance vs. reality in the play by preaching one thing and then proceeding to be hypocritical.
ReplyDeleteWhen Morocco, who is black, voyages to Belmont in order to have his hand at suiting Portia, she judges him based on his complexion and doesn’t want to marry him. He tells her to, “Mislike me not for my complexion” (2.1.1) and suggests pricking a northern man to “prove whose blood is reddest, his or mine” (2.1.7). Morocco tries to send the message that what is inside is what matters. Regardless of his skin color, he believes that the appearance Portia receives of him isn’t truly the reality of his character. Morocco seems to be certain that he can be just as good of a husband as any white man and determined to defeat judgments regarding his appearance.
However, Morocco doesn’t follow his own advice while choosing chests to win Portia’s hand in marriage. He has to decide between a lead, silver, and gold chest with an answer inside. While deciding, he says, “A golden mind stoops not to shows of dross./ I’ll then nor give nor hazard aught for lead”(2.7.24). He proceeds to choose the gold chest, which is not the correct one, off of appearance. By doing so, he doesn’t realize that he overlooked the lead and silver based solely on their appearance, just like Portia overlooked Morocco based on his skin tone.
Shylock, a Jewish moneylender, is continuously discriminated against by Christians for his religion in the play. He becomes fed up with being judged by his appearance and says Jews and Christians are, “Fed with the/ same good, hurt with the same weapons, subject to/ the same diseases, healed by the same means” (3.1.59), preaching for equality or at least an end to his condemnation.
Although Shylock seems to want equality between Jews and Christians, he counters it by his own disdain for Christians. When Bassanio asks Shylock to dine with him, Shylock says,
“I will buy with you, sell with you, talk/
with you, walk with you, and so following; but I/
will not eat with you, drink with you, nor pray with you” (1.3.35).
By responding so harshly to the invitation to dine at a Christian meal, Shylock sharply separates the Jews form Christians and makes the levels of hostility between the two groups heighten. He expects to be treated equally when he scoffs at the Christian “smell of pork!” (1.3.33).
The outsiders show that although they don’t want to be judged by their appearance, in reality, they are judging others by appearances.
In Shakespeare’s Comedy, The Merchant of Venice, there is the reoccurring theme of the outsiders verses the insiders. There is the constant conflict between who the ridiculer is and the one that is being mocked. Shylock, Morocco and even Portia are all outsiders on some level in this play.
ReplyDeleteShylock, being a Jewish man living in Venice, is constantly harassed and made fun of by “insiders” such as Antonio and Bassanio. In Act 1, Scene 3 Shylock considers whether or not he should lend Antonio money because he treats him so bad. Shylock says:
Shall I bend low, and in a bondman’s key,
With bated breath and whisp’ring humbleness,
Say this: ‘Fair sir, you spet on me on Wednesday
last;
You spurned me such a day; another time
You called me ‘dog’; and for these courtesies
I’ll lend you thus much moneys’? (1.3.133-139).
In this case Shylock blatantly reminds Antonio of his cruelness towards him and calls him out on it. Shylock is ridiculed for being Jewish and is put into the character of a Jewish stereotype when they describe him as a greedy, usury man that is inferior. They even go as far as to refer to him as the devil. Shylock, as a character, rises up against these hateful stereotypes. In his speech in Act 3, Scene 1 he goes about telling Salarino that he is no different from a Christian.
The Prince of Morocco is another character that is ridiculed not for his religion but for his skin color, race and foreignness. Portia sees him only for his skin color and not for the person that he is. The Prince of Morocco even tells Portia, “Mislike me not for my complexion…/and let us make incision for your love/ To prove whose blood is reddest, his or mine” (2.1.1-7). He makes this statement that he is no different from any other man. Their blood is both red. Morocco does not seem to overcome his stereotype in the play and when he chooses the wrong casket he reads the scroll inside that rhymes, making him sound like a fool.
Lastly, Portia, although she may not seem like an outsider, is a foreigner in her own life. She does not get to choose who she will marry because of her father’s orders after his death. She still follows the values of her father even though he is dead and chooses a suitor from the trail of the three caskets. She explains this to the reader when she says, “O, me, the word ‘choose’! I/ May neither choose who I would nor refuse who I/ dislike. So is the will of a living daughter curbed by/ the will of a dead father” (1.2.22-25). She cannot make her own decision which separates her from the insiders.
Although all of these characters are not mocked in this play they all have some obstacle that they must overcome in their society whether it be of religion, race or responsibility.
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ReplyDeleteI see the outsiders of the play as comical showing merely their stereotypes. The reason I think this is because we do not really get to know the characters beyond their stereotypes. In the scene where Portia is judging here suitors, the only thing the audience knows about them is what she says. There is no character development for these characters. The scene is supposed to be funny and light with no hidden meanings. All of the things that Portia says about her suitors are very broad assumptions that can be summed up with simple adjectives like conceited, drunk, and serious. Even as we meet the bigger outsiders like Morocco, the audience is already clouded with the ideas that Portia had thought herself about him before even meeting him. The fact that this stereotype was based on appearance rather than European ethnicity makes it even clearer that the audience will not see anything past the stereotypes of dark skinned people. The biggest outsider Shylock actually projects his own stereotypes, namely greed. There is no getting around the dialogue that Shylock has and how reflective it is of common Jewish stereotypes. The strongest example of Shylock’s greed is what he says after he learns his daughter has run off with a Christian with a large portion of his money. He says sullenly, “I would my / daughter dead at my foot and the jewels in her / ear” (3.1.87-9). I think that if the characters were meant to mean something more they would have played a bigger role in the play collectively, rather than just Shylock.
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