Money & treasure show TMOV sexism

In The Merchant of Venice, Shakespeare repeatedly associates female characters with items of treasure to emphasize the viewpoint that women are merely possessions. When justifying why he thinks the gold box holds Portia’s portrait, the Prince of Morocco reasons that “never so rich a gem/Was set in worse than gold.” (2.7.54-55). In referring to Portia as a “gem” in this metaphor, he dehumanizes her and makes her simply a piece of property that is good for only money and beauty. While he seems to be complimenting her, his choice of the word “rich” also calls into question his motivations for the marriage, suggesting that he really only wants Portia for her wealth and status. Another suitor, the Prince of Arragon, calls the silver box a “silver treasure-house” when he believes that it is the box with Portia’s portrait inside (2.9.33). By saying that the box contains a “treasure,” the Prince hints that Portia, as a wife, is a “treasure.” Although he is not necessarily interested in her for the money, he still treats her as more of a prize than a person, reinforcing the idea that women are objects and really only valuable as political, bargaining tools. However, Shakespeare shows that it is not only potential wives who are objectified. Solanio recounts how Shylock also relates his daughter Jessica to coins, saying, “My daughter! O my ducats! O my daughter!/Fled with a Christian! O my Christian ducats!” (2.8.15-16). While Shylock is understandably angry about both the loss of his daughter and the loss of his ducats, he has trouble separating the two problems from each other, going back and forth between “daughter” and “ducats” and even transitioning from “Fled with a Christian” to “Christian ducats.” Since Shylock cannot distinguish which situation he is more upset about and uses very similar sentence structure for each outburst, Shakespeare implies that Shylock considers his daughter to be on the same level of value as the money stolen. Just like the stolen money, Shylock considers her to be his property and his possession to use and manipulate as he sees fit. By using the motif of money and treasure, Shakespeare calls attention to the unfair attitude of women as objects, as well as how that type of thinking justifies the lack of female power in Venetian, and by extension, Elizabethan society.