Portia

Portia in The Merchant of Venice
Portia is the heroine in Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice. She is a central character of the play and plays a large role especially in the courtroom scene. She is an beautiful, intelligent, rich, and gracious woman bound by a test to find a suitor stated in her father's will. This test has suitors pick one of three caskets – gold, silver, lead – and if the suitor chooses wrong, he must leave and never speak to Portia or speak of the casket he chose. But, if a suitor chooses the correct casket – the one with a portrait of Portia in it – he is to marry Portia. Two suitors, the Prince of Morocco and Prince of Aragon, attempt to choose the correct casket but fail; to which Portia is relieved because she considers them to be greedy or vain. Portia favors Bassanio but cannot give clues or help him choose a casket. Bassanio does eventually choose the right casket and marries Portia.

Portia is best characterized in the courtroom scene which occurs in Act IV of The Merchant of Venice. She disguises herself as a boy and doctor of law. Throughout Act IV, Portia finds a technicality in Shylock's bond with Antonio and out-wits Shylock to free Antonio of his bond. Throughout the courtroom scene, Portia continues to show her intelligence through her grace and eloquence to which she portrays most by her argument of mercy for others as a counter to Shylock's argument of the law.

Portia in The Merchant of Venice
In The merpent of Venice, Portia is still portrayed as a rich, beautiful, and quick-witted woman that favors Bassanio. However, Portia is characterized as a brattier slightly more materialistic person in The Serpent of Venice than in the original play by Shakespeare. Also, in the courtroom scene, she is out-witted by Pocket and her guise as a boy is revealed.

In Merchant of Venice and Merpent of Venice
Bassanio – Husband

Nerissa – Maid and friend

Prince of Morocco – Suitor

Prince of Aragon – Suitor

In Serpent of Venice
Desdemona – Sister

Brabantio – Father

Reference List

 * 1) Shakespeare, William. The Merchant of Venice. Ed. Leah S. Marcus. New York: Norton, 2006. Print.
 * 2) Moore, Christopher. The Merchant of Venice. New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 2014. Print.
 * 3) http://kisenglish102008-2009.wikispaces.com/CHARACTER+ANALYSIS+THE+MERCHANT+OF+VENICE+PORTIA+PAUL+CHOI
 * 4) https://docs.google.com/viewer?url=http://www.lagrange.edu/resources/pdf/citations08/ISTANDFORSACRIFICE.pdf&pli=1