Sophocles, an outstanding tragic master in ancient Greece, put it well: "Women are more equal than men when they are together." In fact, Portia's victory in court is only borrowed from a man's outer packaging, which is far from being equal to a man.
Through The Merchant of Venice, we can easily see that the veil of civilization in the European humanistic era, whether it is "good" victory or "evil" defeat, shows a unique trick of "playing with the law". Shylock's cruel attempt to cut human flesh is actually in line with the law. In order to achieve his own goal, Portia adopted a way that is incompatible with modern criminal law-deception, unconsciously pushing the plaintiff to the dock and the guillotine, which is also legal.
Of course, "you" can kill people as livestock under the guise of the law. Why can't "I" send "you" and "civilization" to the grave under the guise of law?
In Shakespeare's fantastic and changeable works, if we look at it with the aura of "wisdom", Portia's image is vivid, calm and typical. She turned her hands into clouds, skillfully played with the world, and only sang with Germany. The unity of external beauty and internal beauty was destined to enter the world literature gallery and be immortal.
However, behind her immortality, I seem to see the heaviness of female life again. Portia, as an excellent social person (the word "female" is omitted here for the time being), can't openly enter the court to handle a case, but depends on disguised as a man. How pathetic.
It turns out that the so-called people-oriented, equality and fraternity in the humanistic era only reflects the expectations and requirements of the bourgeois circle centered on men. Only men are liberated, and women have no chance of liberation.
From this, it can be considered that gender discrimination caused by gender differences is a social problem that cannot be ignored even in the open era. For a long time, women, as vassals of men, rarely have the opportunity to get out of the trough of their subjective personality. From this, I suspect that the characters in Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa are genuine smiles.
At most, I can only be a high-class wife, unable to get rid of men's needs and having my own independent personality. From the male-dominated world, she is just another decoration. In that case, why does his smile come from the heart?
Botticelli actually came at that time. Although Venus in his famous painting "The Birth of Venus" stood in a shell and rose from the waves, the God of Spring on the left blew the spring breeze for her, and the God of Spring on the right presented her with new clothes, but her expression did not show optimism and confidence in the future. On the contrary, it shows an unpredictable melancholy and confusion. I'm afraid his heart is praying for a wish-the liberation of women.
Wedding story
Portia decided his marriage by drawing lots according to his father's will. Whoever can choose one of the three boxes of gold, silver and lead with her portrait can match her and get married. The Moroccan prince chose the gold box, the Aragon prince chose the silver box, Bassanio chose the lead box, and Bassaro made the right choice and became Portia's husband.
Perhaps women in love are blind, and there is no convincing reason why Portia fell in love with Bassanio. Bassanio proposed to Portia for money. Bassanio is a declining aristocrat, a prodigal son, who has nothing but noble birth and owes a lot of debts. He hopes to get Portia's wealth to pay off his debts and maintain his luxurious life.
He broke his promise, was unfaithful to love, and gave him the token of love that Portia gave him at will. He was unfaithful to his friends, abused Antonio's friendship with him and made Antonio sign a dangerous contract for him. When Antonio was in danger, he did not actively try to save him, but comforted his conscience with empty words.
Portia is rich, witty, decisive and chivalrous, but he humbly confessed to Bassanio, saying, "I have nothing in my life. I am just an uneducated, uneducated and ignorant woman. " What makes Portia so humble and fall in love with Bassanio?
Portia thought Bassanio proposed to her purely for love, because the words engraved on the lead box Bassanio chose seemed to indicate his intention: "Whoever chooses me must be prepared to sacrifice everything." Ironically, Bassanio's proposal is to ask for something. On the contrary, Portia is prepared to sacrifice everything she has.
Bassanio hypocritically expressed his determination to sacrifice for love, which actually made women sacrifice everything for men regardless of gains and losses, which reflected men's expectations for women in marriage in a patriarchal society. The willingness and happiness that Portia felt when he sacrificed himself was a man's wishful thinking.
In The Merchant of Venice, the real speakers are the male-dominated society that has the right to speak and tries to suppress the female discourse and the unyielding women who try to subvert the male-dominated discourse. Despite Shakespeare's efforts to create a woman with extraordinary ability, he still failed to get rid of the limitations of male chauvinism, and limited Portia's virtue to the range of men's interests. Portia's image, in turn, strengthens the moral requirements for women in the patriarchal society.