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  • Essay / A feminist perspective of measure for measure and...

    A feminist perspective of measure for measure and The Merchant of Venice Isabella's only power could be to say "no", her "no" to Angelo that she would not leave the stripped and soulless world, “no” to Claudio that she would sacrifice herself, “no” to the convent she had wished to enter or “no” to the Duke's offer of marriage. Isabella's ability to be self-determined was very different from Portia's plea in The Merchant of Venice, as Isabella was the Duke's tool, carrying out his script. Her nun's costume should have assured her a neutral role, and she understood that her pity and love for her brother only drew him into this world to the extent that she advised him with honor. Despite her conception of herself, two men of the world with power over her considered her a beautiful sexual object to be acquired. On the other hand, Isabelle's strength lies in theological purity, going directly to the meaning of the Gospel. We cannot cast the first stone. We must have pity on others, because “he who is in the highest judgment” has had pity on us. Because censors generally eliminated the word "God", the references were oblique, but there could be no real substitution of "Jupiter" or "the gods" here where the meaning was so close to the New Testament. Isabella was preaching to a society that had gone far into condemnation and execution in the name of religion; she was a beacon of clear light. Portia actively sought pity as the greatest answer and carefully gave Shylock every option to release the bond that held him when she staged the dramatic last-minute revelation, showing that he too could be forfeited. It is significant that Portia and Isabella's plea is the same: mercy must be applied to the law. Could a duke's unique denouement be... middle of paper... expanded, and all prosper through the servitude and devotion of women. Petruchio did his part, as did the Duke of Isabella, to ensure that protectionism was the good end and the benchmark for the identity and role of women. Yet in the next section, Benedick will meet his equal, and this model, Portia, will tactfully remain within the rhetorical framework of male supremacy, costuming his more capable efforts....i Jill Bavin-Mizzi, Ravished (Sydney: University of New South Wales Press, 1995).ii Margaret Thornton, “Women as Margins of the Jurisprudential Community,” in Sex, Power and Justice (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1995), p. 190.iii Charlotte Lennox (née Ramsay), 1729 -1804, actress and poet, Women Reading Shakespeare 1660-1900, Anthology of Criticism, ed. Ann Thompson and Sasha Roberts (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1997), pp... 17-18.