Portia, the romantic heroine in ‘The Merchant of Venice’, is a beautiful, intelligent and wealthy heiress living in Belmont. She is “curbed by the will of a dead father” as her potential suitors must choose between three caskets; gold, silver and lead, to win Portia’s hand in marriage, which therefore, makes her “powerless”. Her behaviour in the face of her late father’s actions proves she is a strong character who is able to make the best of every situation. For example, she is able to take control to help her husband, Bassanio, when his friend is in trouble. She instructs Bassanio to “Pay him six thousand, and deface the bond. Double six thousand and then treble that”. Shakespeare uses imperatives to highlight her authority and capability
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This can be seen as putting herself into a position of power because she is giving her husband more than he can return. Yet, when Portia disguised as Balthazar tricks Bassanio into giving it to her it puts her in a position to ‘mock’ Bassanio when she later on confronts him about ‘willingly’ giving her ring to Balthazar. Portia is able to regain control which she “loses” after marrying Bassanio, as he becomes “her Lord”. Portia traps her husband, and pursues the argument, utterly determined to have the last …show more content…
Portia notices the “shrewd contents in yond same paper that steals the colour from Bassanio’s cheek”. She uses a lovely metaphor which shows her care for Bassanio and says she is half of him and the union of marriage brings them together. Shakespeare uses letters as a dramatic device to speed up the pace or get vital plot information, such as this letter, which leads on to Bassanio coming clean to Portia, confessing that he is “worse than nothing”, and he put his friend in danger with his worst enemy. Portia takes control and demonstrates she is a loving, compassionate and caring wife who comes to his side when he needs her. She says “double six thousand, then treble that, before a friend of this description shall lose a hair through Bassanio’s
This can be seen as putting herself into a position of power because she is giving her husband more than he can return. Yet, when Portia disguised as Balthazar tricks Bassanio into giving it to her it puts her in a position to ‘mock’ Bassanio when she later on confronts him about ‘willingly’ giving her ring to Balthazar. Portia is able to regain control which she “loses” after marrying Bassanio, as he becomes “her Lord”. Portia traps her husband, and pursues the argument, utterly determined to have the last …show more content…
Portia notices the “shrewd contents in yond same paper that steals the colour from Bassanio’s cheek”. She uses a lovely metaphor which shows her care for Bassanio and says she is half of him and the union of marriage brings them together. Shakespeare uses letters as a dramatic device to speed up the pace or get vital plot information, such as this letter, which leads on to Bassanio coming clean to Portia, confessing that he is “worse than nothing”, and he put his friend in danger with his worst enemy. Portia takes control and demonstrates she is a loving, compassionate and caring wife who comes to his side when he needs her. She says “double six thousand, then treble that, before a friend of this description shall lose a hair through Bassanio’s