Throughout the first act, Shakespeare seems to use some of the characters as sounding-boards in order to get his person ideas on political issues out there. In particular, Portia seems to be one of the characters that Shakespeare wants us to think about the most. When we think about Portia, Shakespeare wants us to think of weakness while at the same time thinking of purity of mind. While Shakespeare portrays Portia as a weaker woman, having all of the men do the work in the play, he does give her several character-defining lines. When the loan cannot be coerced from Shylock, Portia offers to pay triple to cover the cost. This shows that Shakespeare wants us to think that she’s weak because he has her just giving money away. However at the same time, he portrays Portia as a person of true good. She trusts fully and offers assistance with little ego involved. Shakespeare also wants the reader to realize that Portia is important not only because she is the center of the male attention but because of her character traits. By making her the most predominant of the three women introduced so far, Shakespeare is telling the reader ahead of time that something about the general demeanor of this character is important.