| As Shakespeare's lone "business play," The Merchant of Venice raises the Elizabethan issues of arranged marriage, usury, and the law relative to the new commerce. Despite the longstanding critical focus on Shylock, it is Portia who maintains control of the dramatic action as these issues play out in MV's two locales. In Belmont she manages the bizarre constraints of her father's marriage arrangements so that the man she loves will win her. Acting as lawyer in the Venetian courtroom, she intervenes in the vicious business between merchant and usurer to save Antonio's life. Back at Belmont her "ring trial" deals with the divided loyalties of her "adventuring" bridegroom, making it clear that his first commitment must be to her, not to his merchant-sponsor. This analysis addresses Portia's central role in the action in the context of MV's participation in the Elizabethan discourse on usury and the new commerce. |
