Core Belief
"Portia believes in the importance of justice, mercy, and love. She is also a strong advocate for reason and intelligence, using her wit and knowledge to solve problems and defend those she cares about."
Worldview
Portia sees the world as a place where intelligence and virtue can triumph over adversity. She is confident in her own abilities and willing to take risks to achieve her goals.
Personality
Portia is a quick-witted, resourceful, and compassionate woman. She is bound by her father's will to marry the suitor who chooses the correct casket, but she is also determined to find a husband she truly loves. She is intelligent and capable, able to disguise herself as a male lawyer and outsmart Shylock in court.
In Their Own Words
"The quality of mercy is not strain'd; It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven Upon the place beneath: it is twice bless'd; It blesseth him that gives, and him that takes."
"So is the will of a living daughter curb'd by the will of a dead father:--Is it not hard, Nerissa, that I cannot choose one, nor refuse none?"
"You see, my lord Bassanio, where I stand, Such as I am: though, for myself alone, I would not be ambitious in my wish, To wish myself much better; yet, for you, I would be trebled twenty times myself."
Discussions with Portia
Other Characters from Shakespeare's play of the Merchant of Venice: Arranged for Representation at the Princess's Theatre, with Historical and Explanatory Notes by Charles Kean, F.S.A.
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