Double-Gifting and Self-Interested Charity in The Merchant of Venice

Authors

  • Liam Tinker University of Pittsburgh

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5195/pur.2024.55

Keywords:

shakespeare, the merchant of venice, gift exchange

Abstract

This essay analyzes the enacting of charity in The Merchant of Venice, with particular emphasis on moments of “double-gifting” in the plotlines of Portia and Antonio. Building on Henry Berger Jr.’s reading of the play in “Mercifixion in The Merchant of Venice,” I argue that both Bassanio’s wife and friend attempt to exert power over him by weaponizing unspoken obligations of reciprocity underlying their extravagant, repeated gifts of both self and property. Though Portia’s success at winning Bassanio’s fealty (as well as personal freedom for herself) contrasts sharply with Antonio’s near-complete loss of influence, a close reading of the ring plot and merry bond reveals a similar strategy of manipulation via charity behind the actions of both characters. I conclude by connecting the essay’s discussion of the play’s altered gift exchanges to the reality of emergent mercantile capitalism in early modern England, suggesting that said exchanges can be read as instances of “purchasing” interpersonal goods in a manner less explicit than, though bearing resemblance to, Shylock’s use of the money lending contract to obtain revenge on Antonio.

References

Berger, Harry. “Mercifixion in The Merchant of Venice: The Riches of Embarrassment.” Renaissance Drama 38, no. 1 (2010): 3–45. https://doi.org/10.1353/rnd.2010.0004.

Daniel, Drew. “‘Let Me Have Judgment, and the Jew His Will’: Melancholy Epistemology and Masochistic Fantasy in The Merchant of Venice.” Shakespeare Quarterly 61, no. 2 (2010): 206–34. https://doi.org/10.1353/shq.0.0144.

Karen Newman. “Portia’s Ring: Gender, Sexuality, and Theories of Exchange in The Merchant of Venice.” In Essaying Shakespeare, NED-New edition., 59-. University of Minnesota Press, 2009.

Mauss, Marcel. The Gift : The Form and Reason for Exchange in Archaic Societies. London: Routledge, 1990.

Shakespeare, William, and John Drakakis. The Merchant of Venice. London: Arden Shakespeare, 2010.

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Published

2024-04-12

How to Cite

Tinker, L. (2024). Double-Gifting and Self-Interested Charity in The Merchant of Venice. Pittsburgh Undergraduate Review, 3(1). https://doi.org/10.5195/pur.2024.55

Issue

Vol. 3 No. 1 (2024): Pittsburgh Undergraduate Review

Section

Research

License

Copyright (c) 2024 Liam Tinker

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