Page 28 - Knighted_Issue2.0

father. Is it not hard,Nerissa, that I cannot choose one nor
refuse none?” (1.2.21-26)
Portia struggles with the idea that if an unworthy suitor would guess correctly she could not
reject him, just like she could not accept a suitor who she likes but guessed in her father’s game
incorrectly. Her future is based on her dead father’s will. Because of his preconceived gender
stereotypes Portia’s father thought that leaving her without any way of choosing her own destiny
was the best thing for her because she, being a woman, couldn’t possibly make the correct choice
if given the opportunity.
After two suitors have failed her Father’s test, Portia tries to delay Bassanio’s opportunity
to make a choice because, if he chooses wrong he must immediately go away and she wants to
be with him longer. Bassanio is eager and wants to get things done and over with so, Portia and
her crew sing Bassanio a song while he thinks about which casket to choose.
“Tell me where is fancy bred,
Or in the heart, or in the head?
How begot, how nourished?
Reply, reply.
It is engender'd in the eyes,
With gazing fed; and fancy dies
In the cradle where it lies.
Let us all ring fancy's knell
I'll begin it,--Ding, dong, bell.” (3.2.72)
Incidentally, many of the words from the song which Portia has chosen rhyme with the word
“lead.” Portia did not do this for any of her previous suitors signifying that Bassanio is more