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Megen O'Donnell

Jay Farness

Eng 335.01

18 October 2010

A Woman of Worth: The Best of The Venetians

In Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice, Portia is quite a character. She often is argued

to be Shakespeare's strongest female role, and many audiences are left in awe at her intelligence,

wit, and strength. However, Portia is not interpreted as just the best of the Venetians, or the worst

of them: she is oftentimes both. While she is beautiful, rich, and virtuous, she is also cunning,

clever, and manipulative. These last three attributes therefore probably startled many people in

Shakespeare's audience in Elizabethan England, especially the men. However, when it boils

down to it, Portia turns out to be "the best of the Venetians," full of forgiveness as well as

understanding.

Bassanio's Portia is “richly left,/ And she is fair, and, fairer than that word,/ Of wondrous

virtues” (The Merchant of Venice, I.i.168-170). These traits can be summed up as rich, pretty,

and virtuous; in other words, the three things most men at the time would want in a woman. The

one trait Bassanio seems to focus on is Portia's wealth, even going so far as to compare her to a

golden fleece: “her sunny locks/ Hang on her temples like a golden fleece,. . .And many Jasons

come in quest of her” (Merchant, I.i.176-178). This is a comparison that not only gets repeated

throughout the play, but also works well for Bassanio, as he is up to his ears in debt to Antonio.

Thus, Portia really is for him a prize to be won. She is the “best of the Venetians” with regards to

any woman he could marry, and holds all the aspects males in Shakespeare's audiences would

have wanted as well.

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Portia herself forwards this notion of being an innocent, rich, lovely girl with nothing

more than meets the eye. When Bassanio guesses the correct casket and therefore wins Portia,

Portia addresses him, wishing she could be even more beautiful, virtuous and rich. During this

monologue to him, she also adds “But the full sum of me/ Is sum of something, which, to term in

gross,/ Is an unlessoned girl, unschooled, unpracticed;. . . But she may learn” (Merchant,

III.ii.161-165). She therefore on the surface agrees with her stereotypes, allowing Bassanio to

think he has gained a beautiful but simple wife. However, if one looks closer, her words are not

as they first appear. The terms she uses to explain her simplicity are educated and intelligent.

“Sum,” “gross,” and “account”are all terms of computation, which in fact implies that Portia is

lessoned, schooled, and practiced; indeed, the very opposite of what she says she is. She also

adds that until recently, “[she] was the lord/ of [her] fair mansion, master of [her] servants,/

Queen o'er [herself]” (Merchant, III.ii.171-173). This small, additional comment makes it clear

she has to have intelligence. To run a mansion and servants takes at the very least a small

measure of skill. Furthermore, her speech itself is an indication of her ability. If Bassanio paid

attention (though he does not seem to), he would realize what she says to him is a double-edged

sword. That she can manipulate her words to seem innocent, that she actually has this inner

strength, and that she can be both cunning and clever is the true message she is sending.

It is also in this part of the text that Portia secures Bassanio—though she says she is

giving herself to him—by gifting him her ring. She explains to him her meaning: “when you part

from, lose, or give away [this ring],/ Let it presage the ruin of your love,/ And be my vantage to

exclaim on you” (Merchant, III.ii.176-178). Again, Portia is using both her cunning and

intelligence. She does so in thinking of a way to keep his faith, and also to give her some strength

over him. In this way Portia slyly proves to be the enemy of Elizabethan husbands: a woman with
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a mind of her own. Though women in Shakespeare's audience might have enjoyed this

manipulative behavior, the men certainly would not have.

Again, yet another passage that shows off Portia's ability would be her song prepared for

Bassanio while he chooses of the three caskets. Portia clearly is enamored with Bassanio:

“There's something tells me (but it is not love)/ I would not lose you, and you know yourself/

Hate counsels not in such a quality” (Merchant, III.ii.4-6). Hence, she also wishes for him to pick

the right casket, the one of lead. To guide him in the correct direction, her song carries in it three

hints. “Bred,” “head,” “nourishèd,” “engendred,” and “fed,” (Merchant, III.ii.65-70) all are,

firstly, words that rhyme with lead. Second, Portia's song alludes to coffins, which at the time

often contained lead to keep them heavy and water proof. Last of all, her song talks of where

“fancy dies” (Merchant, III.ii.70), which means something not pretty since “[fancy] is

engendered in the eye” (Merchant, III.ii.69). Gold and silver, the other two caskets, are

aesthetically pleasing; thus, lead can be the only answer. The careful crafting of this song shows

an undercurrent of intellect and wit in Portia. “Unschooled,” at this point, is definitely a lie.

Finally, the ultimate passage in which the audience sees Portia's full extent of her

ingenuity is within her performance as “Balthazar,” a young but extremely astute and keen

“doctor of laws.” When she appears, disguised in such a way that even Bassanio cannot

recognize her, she enters a room filled with men—all except one—on the edge of despair. Not

one can reason with Shylock to give up his forfeiture, a pound of Antonio's flesh. The Duke

himself seems resigned. Yet, though all these men who are supposedly the smarter of the two

genders cannot get Shylock to back down, Portia can. However this is where one must stand back

and look at everything she does first.

Balthazar (Portia) gives Shylock the opportunity four times to “Be merciful;/ Take thrice
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[his] money; bid [her] tear the bond” (Merchant, IV.i.242-243). She does so when she first hears

of the bond, claiming “Then must the Jew be merciful” (Merchant, IV.i.188). She does so again

in her monologue in which she explains that “The quality of mercy is not strained” (Merchant,

IV.i.190). Once more she gives him the chance to have mercy when she points out “there's thrice

[his] money offered [to him]” (Merchant, IV.i.235), and finally in the line mentioned at the

beginning of the paragraph. This attitude is important, for if a member of an audience who feels

sympathy towards Shylock did not note it, what Portia does next might seem harsher than it

actually is. But these lines indicate kindness and compassion, something that needs to be taken

into account.

Coming back to the fact that not one of the men in the court room can save Antonio,

this is yet another time in which Portia might startle the Elizabethan men in Shakespeare's

audiences. This is the scene in which she is able to fully prove herself to Bassanio as well as to

Antonio; because, though they do not recognize her now, they certainly will later. Howbeit no

one has the knowledge to bend the laws of the bond and of Venice, she does. She lets Antonio

worry a bit first, probably in attempt to have his gratitude towards her deepen, but then stops

Shylock. She explains that while Shylock can have his pound of flesh, “if [he] dost shed/ One

drop of Christian blood, [his] lands and goods/ Are by the laws of Venice confiscate” (Merchant,

IV.i.324-325). She also explains that he must “cut less nor more/ But just a pound. . . [or else he]

diest, and all [his] goods are confiscate” (Merchant, IV.i.339-346). In condemning Shylock and

saving Antonio, she is therefore proving her intelligence in manipulation of the law, her cunning,

and her power. Once again, to men of the Renaissance, this aptitude is not necessarily attractive.

As well as this, if she had not tried to give Shylock a way out beforehand, she could be

interpreted as the “worst of the Venetians.” She is not however, in that she is saving a man from
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a cruel end, proving her abilities, and is not completely happy about Shylock's fate. He is just an

unfortunate tool for her to show her abilities to her husband and Antonio who said husband

would “sacrifice [her] to the devil, to deliver [him]” (Merchant, IV.i.298-299).

Yet, as previously demonstrated, Portia has the ability to be compassionate and kind.

Her attempt to get Shylock to back down is but one passage that shows these traits. The biggest

and possibly best example circles back to giving Bassanio her ring, which if he lost would be the

ruin of his love. As Balthazar, after saving Antonio, she manipulates and guilts Bassanio into

giving her this ring. This exchange is a bit tricky, in that one can argue that this is Bassanio

betraying Portia, or on the other hand that he had no choice against her wiles. Either way, she

receives her ring much to her own dismay. Regardless, upon Bassanio's arrival back at Belmont,

though she at first rejects him, it is temporary act. Instead, she hands Antonio the ring to give

back to Bassanio, and “bid[s] him keep it better than the other” (Merchant, V.i.274). In other

words, she forgives her husband, and welcomes him back into her house along with Antonio.

This mercy in her reiterates her earlier speech in which “it droppeth as the gentle rain from

heaven/ Upon the place beneath” (Merchant, IV.i.191-192). She therefore is once more proving

herself. However, this time, she is proving her kindness and forgiveness, showing her true worth

to both Bassanio and Antonio. This is a statement equally if not more loud than her others

concerning her acuity and intelligence. In combination with the superficiality of her wealth,

beauty, and virtues, this compassion shows her to truly be the best of the Venetians.

Portia is a woman filled with attributes. Whether they be her intelligence, cleverness,

strength, and ability to manipulate, her richness, beauty, and virtues, or her mercy and kindness,

she is definitely the best of the best. Though men in Elizabethan audiences might argue that her

aptitude makes her unattractive, women might think otherwise. Regardless, they would not be
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able to overlook the other positive aspects in her character. Along with this, though her leash on

Bassanio—the giving of her ring—and her condemnation of Shylock might seem harsh, she ends

up forgiving her husband, and tries very hard to prevent Shylock's fate beforehand. Therefore, it

is apparent in all ways that she is the best of the Venetians, and definitely a woman of worth.