Hwa-Seon Kim, "The Geography of
Difference in The Merchant of Venice"
Abstract
The location of Shakespeares The Merchant
of Venice is based on the Venetian myth which expressed the Elizabethan ambition
for London. The Renaissance imperial myth of Venice seems just as alluring as
the classical imperial myth of Rome. The image of the maritime world in The
Merchant of Venice is not the Venetian reality but Elizabethan ambitions for
London. Shakespeare projects such ambitions in a Venetian fantasy because Venice
represented the idea of a world maritime capital which leading Elizabethan
merchants had in mind for London. In this context, The Merchant of Venice seems
to inscribe and affirm an ideological calculus that fused the interests of the
state and the assertions of a providentialist Christianity with the prerogatives
of an increasingly capitalist marketplace. Interestingly, London like Venice is
expected to profit from barbarous people without compromising its integrity as a
civilized and Christian state. However, the representation of Shylock and his
usury in the play reveals to us the contradictory state and the treatment of
Shylock appear to blur the distinctions on which the polarities depend, leading
us, in effect, to ask with Portia, “Which is the merchant here? And which the
Jew?”
In addition, the efforts to categorize the female body as a territory
by Bassanio and Morocco are examined in this cultural context. In the play,
there are contradictory feelings about the value of education and the
forwardness of female articulateness. Portia acts with authority, and she
retains full control of her financial affairs. Yet it is the husbands ownership
and control of his wife’s ‘ring’ that closes the play. This consummation
foregrounds the cultural context of the period which inscribes the ideology that
the female body is territory which should be safely contained and subordinated
to the male ownership.
Keywords: Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice