Kennon - Identity Post #3

Most people have experienced an identity crisis in some form or another. Usually they strike after a particularly bad breakup, upon changing college majors, or after discovering that you do, in fact, enjoy Kanye West’s music. 

Though I cannot say I personally have experienced identity crises’ as a result of any of the above (I totally have), my identity shifts a bit day-to-day, sometimes even minute-to-minute. Though a desire for stability and sanity necessitates that we have a few fixed staples of our identity that for the most part do not change, society and other forces beyond our control often determine aspects of our identities for us, with or without our consent. This is not a new development – factors beyond my control established my identity as a middle class white millennial in the same way that 18^th century Russian serfs were born into serfdom with very little say in the matter. Likewise, the characters in The Merchant of Venice frequently have their identities determined by factors beyond their control like financial status, gender, and race; and often they are able to assume another identity via performance. 

Bassanio asks his friend Antonio for money to court Portia because his identity as a potential suitor is determined by the amount of money he appears to have. To contend with Portia's other suitors and earn the right to choose a casket, Bassanio must at least outwardly appear to be wealthy by going to Belmont with gifts and expensive clothing. Though someone more idealistic may attempt to argue that our identity is too internal and pure to be affected by these outward material signs, our society and Bassanio's alike take cues about our identity based solely on our "stuff". In order to assume the identity of someone worthy of marrying the wealthy Portia, Bassanio must at least appear as wealthy as his competitors. Fortunately for him he already has the identity of a nobleman by name and family connections, but he relies on his friend Antonio (who assumes the identity of the titular merchant) to gain the material indicators of wealth to back it up. When Bassanio receives word of Antonio's ships crashing and his consequential imprisonment, he is forced to admit to Portia his true identity of a nobleman who has lost his wealth: "I freely told you all the wealth I had/Ran in my veins - I was a gentleman/And then I told you true....much I was a braggart/When I told you/My state was nothing, I should have then told you/That I was worse than nothing" (III 2, ll. 257-260). Though Bassanio's noble birth is a constant influence on his identity, he is able to feign the identity of someone wealthier until this scene. Not only is identity in Merchant highly performative, but it is very much dependent on the characters' monetary value. 

Portia’s identity is determined not only by her worth as a potential wife, but by her gender. Her position as a woman, a predetermined aspect of her identity, prevents her from coming to Antonio's aid in court because the period in which she lives does not allow female lawyers. This necessitates her masquerading as a man in the courtroom scene, which says a great deal about the performative nature of gender and identity as a whole. She first assumes the identity of an "unlesson'd girl" (III 2, ll. 159) so that Bassanio believes she will be an obedient wife worthy of marriage, but later performs a different identity entirely in order to save Antonio. Portia's speech to Nerissa prior to their departure for Venice gets to the essence of the performative nature of gender identity: "When we are both accoutered like young men/I'll prove the prettier fellow of the two..." (III 4, ll. 62-63). Portia is able to alter her identity completely through performance, proving that gender can be even more performative than wealth and other attributes that are performed in the play. 

Of course, most obviously, Shylock’s identity is predetermined by his being a Jew. Though the society he lives in makes this trait even more limiting than Portia being a woman, he cannot as easily perform his way out it. In order to avoid death or further persecution following the trial scene he is forced to convert to Christianity, indicating that though racial identity cannot be changed, religious identity is more fluid and, you guessed it: performative. 

I could probably write a lengthy thesis on the topic of identity in The Merchant of Venice,  but as it has already been done many a time, I will end this post here. Because while with a good deal of time and research I could perform the identity of a Shakespeare scholar, I will assume the identity that comes a bit more naturally - that of a tired but student attempting to publish a blog post before the 5pm deadline.