To what extent is Portia the most powerful character in the play?

Power has two significant meanings: ‘the ability or capacity to do something or act in a particular way’; and ‘the capacity or ability to direct or influence the behaviour of others or the course of events’. In the play, Portia displays both type of power. I will first look into the first definition of power, and then the second to tackle the question: To what extent is Portia the most powerful character in the play?

Portia certainly has a lot of capacity; she stops Shylock from killing Antonio when Antonio himself, Bassanio, Gratiano and the Duke is not able to. So, Portia had more intelligence than many other men other men. Portia is also powerful in the society in the sense she is a rich heiress. As she has a lot of money, men crave for her. Bassanio is eager to woo Portia not only because of her beauty but also for her money. Portia has a lot of wit also. In the court scene (act 4, scene 2), when asked what her fee will be by Bassanio, Portia (disguised as a young civil doctor) persuades Bassanio to give him the ring that she had given to him to keep. She fools Bassanio even more in Act 5 Scene 1, by jokingly saying that she slept with the civil doctor and then took the ring from him when she realised that it was the same ring that she gave to Bassanio.

Portia is arguably the the most intelligent character in the ‘Merchant of Venice’; however she is unable to direct or influence the behaviour of others or the course of events. In Act 1, Scene 2, Portia complains that she is ‘a living daughter curbed by the will of her dead father’. This shows how little influence Portia had over who will be her husband. Anyone wishing to be her husband had to go to test her late father had devised; the wooer had to choose one out of three caskets (gold, silver, lead) and if the wooer chose right, then he will be able to marry Portia, and otherwise if he chose wrong he would have to stay bachelor for rest of his life. From the words Portia uses, we can see that Portia feels powerless and restricted (she says ‘curbed’ - which means restricted’).

“The brain may devise laws for the blood, but a hot temper leaps o'er a cold decree;... 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?” These lamentation is important because it represent how strongly Portia felt about the restriction her father had put on her. She says that even though she is able to govern her passion (‘brain may devise laws for the blood’, here, blood is meant to represent passion), she cannot fulfill her passion because of the ‘cold degree’ (advice and instructions) her father has given her. At that day and age, woman would be expected to listen to their fathers, however, today, a daughter may not feel it is important to always follow their parent’s command. The restrictions that Portia’s father had imposed on Portia is a example how less influence Portia has on her life.

Portia loses her influence over wealth and estate when Bassanio chooses the right casket and so become her to-be husband. “You see me Lord Bassanio... As from her lord, her governor, her king. Myself and what is mine to you and yours is now converted. But now I was the lord of this fair mansion, master of my servants, Queen o'er myself; and even now, but now, This house, these servants, and this same myself, Are yours- my lord's.” This short-speech by Portia expresses that all wealth and estate of Portia (previously) is now of Bassanio. Portia’s speech implies that Portia is happy with Bassanio owning everything she owned till now, but anyways, all her values and possessions were entitled to the person Portia would marry (the note in the lead casket says ‘fortune fall to you’ - fortune can imply the wealth). Portia repeatedly calls Bassanio her ‘lord’, which exemplifies that Bassanio now owns of Portia’s wealth and Portia herself.

Portia’s speech marks the shift of power (over her inheritance) from Portia to Bassanio. Portia herself states that there is a shift in power - “Myself and what is mine to you and yours Is now converted. But now I was the lord Of this fair mansion, master of my servants, Queen o'er myself; and even now, but now, This house, these servants, and this same myself, Are yours- my lord's”. At first, Bassanio had come to seek Portia’s love and fortune while Portia was the lord of the house, but now, Portia became the seeker of Bassanio’s love (as evident by ‘That only to stand high in your account’ - Portia is ready to be anything to please Bassanio). The themes of the play are: argosies, usury, property, wealth and debt collection. So the shift in power also signifies the shift in wealth, and in the Merchant of Venice, wealth plays a big role in the importance(influence) of one person.

We can compare the poem by Katherine Philips, ‘A married state’, to the state Portia finds herself in. Philips writes that the woman is a possession of the man after marriage, but if woman does not marry, they can live freely. This is made evident by the lines ‘A virgin state is crowned with much content’ and ‘Few worldly crosses to distract your prayers’.

After reviewing the power Portia has throughout the play, I do not agree that Portia is most powerful character in the play. When she has the control over her estate and fortune, she did not have the control to chose the wooer she wished to and to refuse the wooer she wished to refuse. After Bassanio choosing the right casket, her power diminished to greater extent because she was not the lord of her house anymore. It may be argued that Portia is the most powerful character because she, being a woman, is the only one to able to stop Shylock from killing Antonio. However, this argument can be refuted because Portia has to dress us as a man to be able to act as the defender of Antonio. Yet again, we can see Portia is powerless, the limiting factor here is her gender. In the play, the stature and the influence a person has defines his/her power. Because Antonio is well-renowned ship merchant, he is able to get support from the Duke of Venice.