Do Katherine, Isabella and Portia have a Choice?

    While Shakespeare is known for the bold actions of his characters, complicated plots and various themes of race, religion and identity, does he give the women in his plays any choices?

     In “Henry V” Katherine does have a choice in her marriage to Henry. When it became obvious that France was going to lose the war, Shakespeare gives his audience a scene with Katherine and Alice. He shows how quickly Katherine accepts the fact that Henry will become her husband. While it is debated how to perform this scene, it is evident that Katherine understands her need to learn English. Yet, the audience sees very little of Katherine so it is difficult to tell how she accepts France’s defeat and the singularity of her choice. In the final few scenes the audience gets to understand Katherine more as she talks with Henry. While it seems that she may simply not understand Henry due to a language barrier, could Katherine also be using the language barrier to keep distance between them? The variety of ways in which this scene is performed suggests both scenarios. However, it is quite clear that Katherine has no choice in this play. She is expected by both social convention and by her father to marry Henry as a way to create peace between England and France.

     In “Measure for Measure,” Isabella is given much more independence than Katherine in “Henry V.” She is given a choice to save her brother or to let him die. However, other characters manipulate her and influence her to the point that it becomes unclear whether she makes a choice or not. While she is initially given a choice, the manipulation of her character renders her to the same situation as Katherine. The ending of the play emphasizes this. Although she escapes from Angelo and his plot, she still is rendered option-less by the Duke. The audience is never given her answer to the Duke’s proposal because there is no need for her to answer. The Duke by proposing to her, gives her no choice and audiences can assume she was forced to marry him.

     In “A Merchant of Venice,” Portia seems to not be able to make any choices for herself. She is the daughter of a rich man and is expected to let him make choices for her. However, the death of her father as well as his absence makes audiences believe that she would be in control of the decisions being made regarding herself. Like Isabella, it is also unclear whether she has any autonomy and able to make any decisions for herself. Audiences mostly encounter her during the casket scenes. While the test was set up by her father to determine what man would be worthy enough to marry his daughter, Portia manipulates the test to her advantage to marry the man she wants to marry. Not only does Portia manipulate the casket test to her advantage, she also manipulates other characters in order to save Antonio’s life in the court scene. Not only this, she continues her theme of manipulating others and tricking her husband-to-be by giving her the ring she gave him. Shakespeare presents her autonomous only through the means of manipulation.

     Ultimately, many of the women of Shakespeare’s plays do not have a choice. Others control them either directly or through manipulation and other various ways. However, these women were not given many options to begin with. Even the seemingly more autonomous characters such as Isabella and Portia are subservient to the desires and wants of those around them. In these examples, the only way for these women to have a shred of autonomy is through manipulation of the men around them. It is unclear whether Shakespeare intentionally used these female characters to show the realities of women in the time period or simply to use them to advance his plot. This also displays the difficult questions of how and why Shakespeare used female characters in his plays.