ABSTRACT
In this chapter, the author investigates some of the contemporary concerns which define feminist legal thought. He discusses briefly uses of literature and literary theory in legal theory and re-examines Portia’s role in the trial scene; a role which has been taken increasingly by certain feminist legal thinkers. The author destabilises the symbolism, introducing in the process a number of insights suggested by contemporary literary and Shakespearean criticism. Rational determination of the sovereign prerogative was common ground in constitutional discourse of Shakespeare’s England. To seek recourse outside that common law would have been to diminish it, and to destabilise it in way which would have seriously shocked Shakespeare’s audience. It is common now to see legal apparel as inherently sexist, and to decry need for women to appear in court wearing clothing usually worn by men. But it must be remembered that, in Shakespeare’s day, lawyers wore particular clothing appropriate to their essentially theatrical role.
