Androgynous Aspects of Portia in The Merchant of Venice

Abstract

This study aims to present an ideal woman through Portia in The Merchant of Venice based on androgyny. In this play, Portia solves men's problems that nobody can, even the Duke of Venice. She can disguise herself as a man and take part in androgynous situations successfully. In Act 1, she is purely a traditional woman-subjective, passive, and obedient to her late father's will, and later to her husband Bassanio. Following the court scene, however, she has completely changed. Because of her disguise as a man, she can draw a man's qualities-intelligence, courage, fortitude, and combine them with her feminine qualities-wit, care, sympathy for others. With these combined qualities, she can sort out all problems that men face. In Act 5, when revealing her disguise and returning to a woman on the outside, she shows that she has men's merits by using her disguise and shows an ideal personality. She is no longer a passive and obedient woman. Through a disguise, Portia can keep and maintain the ideal balance of femininity and masculinity. So she has transformed from a passive and obedient wife into a partner of Bassanio. Some feminists highlight femininity and reject masculinity, but Portia shows that women need a balance of both qualities to be ideal women, therefore, women need to be androgynous to develop better personalities and to establish better positions in their families and society.