Newman's critical essay, Portia's Ring: Unruly Women and Structures of Exchange in The Merchant of Venice, focuses on the structures of exchange as they exist Karen in Shakespeare's play. ... Newman explains that The Merchant of Venice offers circumstances of not only Levi-Strauss's exchange system but also the feminist criticism of it. ... Newman goes on to quote Gayle Rubin who argues that the "traffic of women- (p. 23) is only a component of a system of patriarchy based on sexual access, patrilineal issues and economic arrangement. ... This literature as well as the com...

• Word Count: 772
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

William Shakespeare's, The Merchant of Venice, is an abiding play in terms of the values and ideas. ... Portia 'may neither choose whom she would nor refuse whom she dislikes', which she quoted while expressing her opinion on her father's will in Act 1, scene 2. ... The blunt, straightforward tone Portia uses, emphasises her anger on the inequality she must experience.These quotes demonstrate how women had no choice over their future and the idea of freedom to Portia was not a possibility, as she was demanded to follow whatever she was instructed by her father. ... This quo...

• Word Count: 927
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

To this day, expressions such as 'too much of a good thing' (As You Like It), 'in my mind's eye' (Hamlet), 'it was Greek to me' (Julius Caesar), 'break the ice' (The Taming of the Shrew) and 'bated breath' (The Merchant of Venice) are used in everyday speech and writing. Shakespearean quotes such as "To be, or not to be: that is the question " (Hamlet - Act III, Scene I) and "This above all: to thine own self be true " (Hamlet - Act I, Scene III) have passed into standard usage. ... A number of writers have quoted Shakespeare in their wr...

• Word Count: 1032
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: Undergraduate