Question

Describe the character sketch of Portia in the Merchant of Venice.

Answer 1

Portia is the heroine of William Shakespeare 's The Merchant of Venice. A rich, beautiful, and intelligent heiress, she is bound by the lottery set forth in her father's will, which gives potential suitors the chance to choose between three caskets composed of gold, silver and lead. If they choose the right casket – the casket containing Portia's portrait and a scroll– they win Portia's hand in marriage. If they choose the wrong casket, they must leave and never seek another woman in marriage. Portia is glad when two suitors, one driven by greed and another by vanity, fail to choose correctly. She favours Bassanio, a young Venetian noble, but is not allowed to give him any clues to assist in his choice. Later in the play, she disguises herself as a man, then assumes the role of a lawyer's apprentice (named Balthazar) whereby she saves the life of Bassanio's friend, Antonio , in court.

Answer 2

Portia's primary qualities are a love of delicacy, goodness, compassion and mercy. As suitor after suitor comes to try for her hand according to the guidelines in her father's strange will, she mercifully finds ways of dismissing them with the truth, but the truth compassionately disguised so that it doesn't have a painful knife's edge to it. She doesn't tell them she dislikes them, she tells them that they have as fair a chance at winning her hand as any other she has seen.Portia's primary qualities are a love of delicacy, goodness, compassion and mercy. As suitor after suitor comes to try for her hand according to the guidelines in her father's strange will, she mercifully finds ways of dismissing them with the truth, but the truth compassionately disguised so that it doesn't have a painful knife's edge to it. She doesn't tell them she dislikes them, she tells them that they have as fair a chance at winning her hand as any other she has seen.