문제 희극으로서의 『베니스의 상인』 : 포오셔의 미해결의 난제들

Kyu-Cheol HwangThis paper aims to reveal Portia's unsolved riddles and prove that The Merchant of Venice is the Problem Comedy. Many critics have viewed The Merchant of Venice focusing rather on Shylock and Antonio than on Portia. However, Portia is the main manipulator of the two plots developed in Belmont and Venice. At the same time, she also makes every effort to make this work lead to a happy ending. By the way, Portia fails to solve the inner conflicts and yearnings of Antonio, Shylock and Jessica, while she succeeds in marrying Bassanio. Portia saves Antonio's life and gives him a foundation to restore to Venice as a merchant. Nevertheless, Antonio's melancholy is not cured to the end at all because Portia indirectly demands that Antonio should give up his amity with Bassanio. Besides, Portia fails to persuade Shylock to repent of his former attempt to kill Antonio and be converted to a Christian voluntarily. That is mainly because she shows no self-reflection on her religious prejudices and hypocrisy against foreigners including Shylock. Furthermore, Portia gives Lorenzo and Jessica a special deed of gift from Shylock for securing their prosperous lives but cannot see through Jessica's inner conflicts on the Jewish identity among Gentiles and the difficulties of the successful assimilation into Venice.Conclusively, The Merchant of Venice can be viewed as the Problem Comedy because Portia's unsettled riddles concerning Antonio, Shylock and Jessica are still present in it. She has not realized to the last that her manipulation of the plot for a happy ending proved to be not altogether successful. KCI Citation Count: 1