English 105A: Handout on Portia
From UCSB English Department Knowledge Base
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TA: Geoffrey McNeil
English 105A: Early Shakespeare
Fall 2002
1. Portia wants to be seen “as I am.” She wants Bassanio to “read” her, the way he read the lead casket.
2. Portia thinks of herself as a venture whose value can be, in Shylock’s terms, “bred”internally: “I would be trebled twenty times myself.” She later says that she is “not bred so dull” – echoing Shylock’s claims to profiting by usury.
3. Portia considers herself “banked” by Bassanio – she is valued as an “account”
4. Portia offers “virtues, beauties, livings, friends” to be considered in relation to Bassanio’s accounting (that is, to exceed her material wealth)
5. Portia undercuts this wealth by claiming she is “unlessoned, unschooled, unpracticed.” She says these qualities are “the full sum of me.” Portia separates her mental life from her material life – she undercuts it, but the separation is intentional.
6. Portia’s claim that she is “unlessoned, unschooled, unpracticed” is ironic, given her later performance in the Venetian court. There she reveals the full sum of herself (disguised) – can Bassanio, therefore, see her “as I am”?
7. She repeats “she may learn…she may learn…[she can] be directed.” This reveals her intellectual submission to Bassanio (her first). It reiterates Kate’s utter submission to Petruchio. It is ironic, as Portia seems at least as intelligent as Bassanio.
8. She then submits to “her lord, her governor, her king,” echoing Kate’s lines almost identically. she has moved from the intellectual to the social realm of obedience.
9. She says “myself…is now converted,” reiterating her desire to “wish myself much better” for Bassanio – her mutability. It’s another ironic statement, given her change into “Balthasar.”
10. She calls herself “lord” and “master” and also “Queen,” juxtaposing masculine and feminine terms of authority – foreshadowing her change into Balthasar.
11. The ring becomes the form of both her material estate (“this house, these servants”) and her “self.” Bassanio gives away the ring because he does not “see” what the ring represents.
12. Portia threatens to “exclaim on you,” to speak against Bassanio -- his power over her is conditional (con- strained) and not freely given – as all things in the play seem to be materially conditioned. In contrast, Kate seeks Petruchio’s hand “if he please” – without condition.
13. Portia asks Bassanio to see her, and yet she continually undercuts the possibility of a clear picture by presenting herself as a material object to be considered financially, then as a “gross” ignorant character. Here she seems to claim her essence is intellectual rather than financial. Furthermore, her claim is an exaggeration if not a lie, as she is clearly educated. Then, she commits herself (intellectually, materially) to Bassanio but not before setting limits on his power. She reveals that she is “convert”-able, and “can learn,” and is therefore not a fixed presence. She seems to be a gold, silver, and lead casket all at once.
