A Study On The Masculinities In The Merchant Of Venice

The Merchant of Venice mirrors the gender relations and gender order,especially the changes in the masculinities of different levels in the process of the England's transformation.In recent years,the plurality of masculinities has gained unanimous recognition and wide attention from both domestic and foreign academia.Foreign scholars mostly have tended to study the masculinity in all Shakespeare's works through comparing the masculinity in the sixteenth century with the words,manners and performances of the males in his works,focusing on very few characters.The domestic researches have been inclined to study the characters and the plots,while there are few researches directly investigating into the masculinity,and even fewer discussing the plurality and changes of the masculinities in this drama.This article concentrates on the research of the masculinities in The Merchant of Venice.Based on Connell's masculinity theory and the research findings of the gay masculinity and the masculinity in the females,and with cultural and textural analysis and reference to the masculinities built up in the theories of the medicine and the physiognomy in the sixteenth century,the writer of the thesis tries to expose the changing process of the masculinities and the reason in The Merchant of Venice.The disclosure of the changing masculinities and gender order helps to explore the effects posed by the social transformation of the England in the sixteenth century on the masculinities under the rule of patriarchy.At the same time,this article will illustrate the necessity of the changing masculinities and the rebuilding of the gender order which the society must experience in order to achieve the real gender equality.The first chapter tries to define “masculinity and masculinities”,based on the current research results of masculinity and its related theories,as well as the relevant discipline discourse and gender stereotypes in England in the sixteenth century.The first section gives the historical definition masculinity and the development history and status of its theories.The second section focuses on people's knowledge on masculinity in the sixteenth century and aims at the study of the discourseconstruction the temporal definition of the masculinity in the medicine and physiognomy at that time.The second,third and forth chapters form the main body of this dissemination.The second chapter demonstrates the declining traditional hegemonic masculinity represented by Portia's princely suitors and the construction of the complicit masculinity of the poor gentleman Bassanio,which provides a new reading perspective for the side line plot of choosing the right casket from the three to become Portia's husband.The third chapter focuses on the purpose why Launcelot with his subordinate masculinity does make a shift of his masters and how Shylock's marginalized masculinity is re-marginalized.The forth chapter puts its attention on the muffled gay masculinity of Antonio and the masculinity in the female body of Portia who utilizes the gender order to accomplish her own will.By analyzing the discourse related to the masculinities and the gender stereotypes in the text,this article aims to uncover the interrelationship between the masculinities and the transformation of society and to find a new way for the researches of the varied masculinities in the current society developing at a high speed.