Female Characters in The Merchant of Venice

Q6. Female Characters in ‘The Merchant of Venice’

Ans. William Shakespeare is a past master in creating life-like characters in his plays. There is large range of male and female characters in his plays painted in different shades of colours in life. Some of his female characters like Cordelia in King Lear, Portia in The Merchant of Venice, Lady Macbeth in Macbeth, Beatrice in Much Ado About Nothing, Juliet in Romeo and Juliet, Desdemona in Othello and so on are really wonderfully created female characters.

Let’s discuss female characters in the Merchant of Venice.

Shakespeare seems to have created female characters in this play intentionally stronger than their male counterparts. We have three female characters: Portia Jessica and Nerissa.

Portia dominates by her qualities not only the female but also the male characters. She has several qualities of head and heart. She has intelligence, wisdom, loyalty, romantic nature, presence of mind, confidence, kindness, wit, humour, etc.

These qualities make her stature very high. The reader/audience loves her even in her weak moments of life, when she feels herself caught in a difficulty due to the vow given to her late father. She is not free to choose her husband of her choice. She respects her father’s strange will unto the last. She shows her deep love for Bassanio and deep respect and loyalty to her father. She is also full of the milk of human kindness. When she comes to know from Bassanio about  Antonio’s  difficulty, she at once tells her husband to stop all his work and go to Venice to save his friend.

It is her presence of mind that she at once makes a plan to reach Venice to save Antonio in the Duke’s court. She intelligently and very confidently handles Antonio’s case. Thus she not only saves Antonio but also gets Shylock punished for his crime that he committed against humanity.

In this way, she also overshadows not only other female characters but also male ones including her husband Bassanio, who has been created in low profile. It is later on, Bassanio’s character is redeemed (saved/recovered) when he reaches Venice to help Antonio in the Duke’s court. There he shows much concern for his friend’s life. He offers Shylock several times more money than it was taken as a loan from him. But the Jew is not ready to forgive Antonio. Bassanio also tells the Jew that he can cut every part of his body but spare Antonio’s life.

Another female character is Jessica. She is Shylock’s daughter. She elopes with her lover Lorenzo taking with her a lot of valuables from her house. She does not love her father. She condemns him for his evil-doings. She also calls her house a hell. She feels ashamed of being called Shylock’s daughter. although she feels bad for such types of feelings for her father. Lorenzo and Jessica waste Shylock’s money when they stay at several places during elopement time. Thus we do not have a very high opinion about Jessica. She loves money. That is why she took diamonds and ducats with her. In Portia’s absence, Lorenzo and Jessica take care of her house.

The third female character in the play is Nerissa, who marries Gratiano. She is Portia’s woman-in-waiting. She provides (gives) company to her. Portia shares her thoughts and feelings with her. In Act I, Scene (ii), Portia feels sad to think that she is not free to choose the husband of her choice. Then she tells Portia that her father was really a wise person. She consoles her that she would finally get a husband who would truly love her. Nerissa also accompanies Portia in the Duke’s court. In the ring episode also, Nerissa has an equal part to play. In a way, she has been created as a foil to Portia to highlight her qualities.

In this way, there are three female characters in The Merchant of Venice, who dominate their male counterparts.