Portia's father even though dead has the power over his daughter's will of a dead father. Do you think that parents dead or alive should have any influence over their children's marriage ?
This is a general opinion question rather than just about the play. It is difficult to apply modern customs and logic to replace Elizabethan customs and logic. Shakespeare's time was very patriarchal. The male was the responsible for a family's wealth and name. Portia's father would have "ownership" of Portia until she is married: then her husband would be responsible for her. In Shakespeare's time a father would have every right to influence Portia's marriage. Marriages were often brokered deals between two families. In today's secular Western society women are given much more power over their own destinies. That sort of respect for women is a good thing.
