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important to her and she is willing to help him by indirectly dropping hints as to the correct
casket to choose. Bassanio correctly chooses the lead casket containing Portia’s picture and wins
her hand in marriage. Portia played within her father’s rules and manipulated the situation in her
benefit. In the end Portia did end up choosing the person who she wanted to marry all while
making it seem that Bassanio and her dad were the ones to decide for her.

After having satisfied her father’s wishes, Portia learns that Bassanio’s friend was in
danger of death because of a loan he took out to help Bassanio get to Portia. Bassanio goes off to
try and help his friend and leaves Portia behind to wait for his return. Portia, being the
intellectual and strong-willed woman that she is, decides to go after her husband and offer her
help, but disguised as men. Because of the gender stereotypes Portia knows that there is no way
that Bassanio and his friend would accept help from a woman. So, she decides that Nerissa and
she will disguise themselves as a lawyer and his companion. Unlike many of Shakespeare’s male
characters, Portia is not tricking in order to bolster her status or to gain influence, in fact, she is
lowering herself from her social status in order to help a person who she does not know.

“Come on, Nerissa; I have work in hand
That you yet know not of: we'll see our husbands
Before they think of us…
That they shall think we are accomplished
With that we lack. I'll hold thee any wager,
When we are both accoutred like young men,
I'll prove the prettier fellow of the two,
And wear my dagger with the braver grace,
And speak between the change of man and boy