New woman meets shakespeare woman
The Struggle Over the Figure of Portia in England in the Late Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Centuries
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 4348129 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Linda Rozmovits (0000-0002-6460-0545, University of East London, corresponding author) |
| Year | 1995 |
| Volume | 4 |
| Issue | 4 |
| Pages | 441-464 |
| Publication date | 1995-12-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Women s History Review (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0961-2025 • E-ISSN: 1747-583X |
| Publisher | Informa UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/09612029500200094 |
| OpenAlex | W2044785712 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 1 |
Approaching the material from the perspective of cultural history, this essay explores the ways in which England, in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, witnessed considerable debate about the character of Portia from Shakespeare'sThe Merchant of Venice. Feminists seized upon her appearance as a lawyer to argue for Shakespeare's advocacy on behalf of women's emancipation. Anti-feminists stressed the character's acquiescence to male control of her affections and her estate. Thus for many readers and viewers of the play concern about the status of the New Woman, civic maternalism, married women's property rights, and women in the professions, overrode their interest in the play as a text about Christians and Jews
Acquiescence · Art · Emancipation · Estate · Literature · Political science · Politics · Sociology · Visual arts · Gender Studies · Historical Gender and Feminism Studies · Historical Studies on Reproduction, Gender, Health, and Societal Changes · History · Irish and British Studies · Law · Shakespeare, Adaptation, and Literary Criticism
| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |