Princess Portia

Portia embodies qualities of many fictional, fairy-tale princesses…

Belle: Unlike Belle, Portia is an “unlessoned girl, unschooled, unpracticed” (3.2:159) princess. Unlike Belle, Portia has enormous wealth. But, like Belle, Portia is bound to a mate based on the actions of her father; and, like Belle, Portia and her true love join in union only after an imposing male presence (Shylock / Gaston) is disposed.

Ariel: Ariel has a fraught relationship with her father, Triton, who seeks to limit her ambitions. Portia’s adoption of an alternate male identity in her most influential moment is reminiscent of Ariel’s adoption of legs as an effort to meet Eric. What proceeds is sort of a trick; will Eric choose to marry the iron casket, the core of the girl, the voiceless Ariel, or will he choose Ursula, the holder of Ariel’s voice: the golden casket?

Jasmine: Portia is unimpressed by wealth; she has all she needs, thanks to her father. The Prince of Morocco is a lot like Prince Ali in “Aladdin”; Jasmine is unimpressed by Ali’s riches, and wants to marry someone who she actually loves. Jasmine also disguises herself as a commoner to walk the streets of Agrabah.

Mulan: Mulan’s similarity to Portia is that she disguises herself as a man and saves her homeland from a foreign force; aside from these main points, the two characters are practically complete opposites. Mulan takes her disguise in order to save her father from going to war, while Portia takes hers in order to play an elaborate prank.

Alice: In Wonderland, Alice ends up in a ridiculous trial. The Queen is a proxy for Shylock here, as she attempts angrily to enact her death sentence for Alice. Alice doesn’t take the same role in the proceedings as Portia, but she is the only one on the room with clear understanding of things.

Portia is the most agent and catalyzing force in Shakespeare’s “Merchant of Venice.” Her character is perhaps the ultimate embodiment of a fairy-tale princess. She has desires that are unachievable due to restraints placed in her environment by her father; she finds “true love” that enables her own personal agency and releases her father’s restraints; she uses almost magical means to influence the plot of the narrative when she disguises as a man; and she finally actualizes those of her desires that were once unachievable: to “choose one” (in choosing for Antonio to live and in taking Bassanio back after he gave away her ring) and to “deny one” (in denying Shylock his bond). Portia’s influence in “Merchant” is not only as the instigator of the central, dramatic debt in the work; she is ultimately also the determining force in resolving that debt.