Volu m e II - Purdue University Calumet

Though Shakespeare’s comedy was written essentially to appease his Anti-Semitic Christian
audience through the spiritual, financial, and mental battering of the Jew, in Shylock’s monologue,
Shakespeare gives voice to the Jewish community and provides a window into revolutionary thinking—that
we are essentially and innately equal. It is only through empathy that Shakespeare is able to imagine himself
a Jew and give dignity and value to Shylock. It is only through a true recognition of the injustices committed
against Jews that Shakespeare crafts such a heart-wrenching and poignant speech delivered by the tongue of
the oppressed.
Another group robbed of equality until the 20 th century was women. Prior to the 1900’s a woman’s
profession was typically within the home as wife and mother. In the common law of England, married
women were required to give up their names and property to their husbands upon marriage. Similarly in
the colonial United States, a man owned his wife, children, and slaves, who were likened to material
possessions, and women and slaves were legally defenseless without their husbands’ or masters’
permissions. When granted the ability to work, Equity Laws used in England and the United States
prohibited women from working at night or lifting more than 15 pounds, which barred women from many
jobs and supervisory positions. In 1920, women were finally permitted the right to vote, and finally, in the
1960’s and with the onset of the Civil Rights Act, women gained greater educational and occupational
opportunities. The Equal Pay Act was passed that required equal wages for men and women performing
equal work and women were protected from discrimination by employers.
Like Shylock, Portia, who is Bassanio’s wife-to-be, was considered a less-than-equal member of
Venetian society, despite her aristocratic lineage and wealth, having been born a woman. In Western
Europe, women were subjected to laws and social norms that served as a constant reminder of their “place”
in society including whom they belonged to and how they were expected to speak or act. These notions,
concreted into the fiber of women’s beings, were of little consequence to Portia as is particularly evident in
the court scene of The Merchant of Venice.
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