The Merchant Of Venice
Comments(3) If to do were as easy as to know what were good to
do, chapels had been churches and poor men’s
cottages princes’ palaces. It is a good divine that
follows his own instructions: I can easier teach
twenty what were good to be done, than be one of the
twenty to follow mine own teaching. The brain may
devise laws for the blood, but a hot temper leaps
o’er a cold decree: such a hare is madness the
youth, to skip o’er the meshes of good counsel the
cripple. But this reasoning is not in the fashion to
choose me a husband. O me, the word ‘choose!’ I may
neither choose whom I would nor refuse whom I
dislike; so is the will of a living daughter curbed
by the will of a dead father. Is it not hard,
Nerissa, that I cannot choose one nor refuse none?Is Portia suggesting that she wants the responsibility of choosing a husband or is she rejecting the method in which her husband is to be chosen? The method being the will of her father contained within one of three chests. I pose the question because Portia seems to want to reject her father’s will but out of respect, honor and ritual she must abide by it.
Though in the end she sounds upset that her farther arranged to settle her marriage in that way and she has to follow it out of respect, but from the first few lines it seems like she is quite hesitant to make that choice based on her own reasoning as she seems to be afraid that her feelings and hot temper can mislead her. It is interesting that Portia, who seems to possess quite a determined character, talks about uncertainty of her own choice when she says that it would be easier for her to tell others what to do rather than follow her own teaching/ advice.
It is safe to say, Portia wants to be married and that is her father’s wish, but it is his method that Portia frowns upon and does not favor. If Portia could choose her own husband, in her own way, then she would be much happier as opposed to her father’s method of selecting from three chests and the suitor who chooses correctly is eligible to marry Portia. This is what you call an “arranged marriage” and Portia is entrapped with the thought of marrying a man who she has has no desire be with or emotional connection to forge a relationship to lead to marriage.
I think she DOES want to reject her father’s will but she instead complied with his instructions which may seem odd, as she proves to be an extremely independent and strong-willed character. However, her adherence to her father’s will establish an important aspect of her character: she plays by the rules. This is a very important quality given Portia’s subsequent importance in the development of the plot and the integral part she played in resolving the issues of the deal made between Antonio and Shylock