Portia (The Merchant of Venice) Portia (The Merchant of Venice) Portia is the protagonist of William Shakespeare's "The Merchant of Venice". A rich, beautiful, and intelligent heiress of Belmont, she is bound by the lottery set forth in her father's will, which gives potential suitors the chance to choose among three caskets. If he chooses the right casket, he wins Portia's hand in marriage. If he chooses the incorrect casket, he must leave and never seek another woman in marriage. She is said to be blonde and has curly hair. As Bassanio says to Antonio in (Act I scene I), she is more beautiful than
The 37's opposed to ones featuring "domestic or familial relationship[s]." In "The 37's", Lawrence was drawn to the relationship Earhart has with Janeway: two women, two professional pilots who have risen to great heights in their chosen fields. Not only did the historical character appeal to her, Lawrence also reveled in the "what-if" twist, the alternate historical story about what happened. Lawrence grew up watching Mulgrew as Mary Ryan on the soap opera "Ryan's Hope". As Lawrence came from a family where women more often than not became homemakers, Mary Ryan was an "exotic" character—with her career and life in New York