social class, speech pattern, types of speaking situations, selection of words, etc
Portia represents the witty and resourceful woman in the Merchant of Venice. Her speech is poised and poetic. Check this quote out as she laments her late father not letting her chose her own husband,
O me, the word 'choose!' I may
neither choose whom I would nor refuse whom I
dislike; so is the will of a living daughter curbed
by the will of a dead father. Is it not hard,
Nerissa, that I cannot choose one nor refuse none?
She has not only poise but a rhyme scheme as well. Portia also extols the quality of Christian mercy (even though she is actually quite cruel to Shylock) in a way that is poetic, intellectual and eloquent,
The quality of mercy is not strain’d,
It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven
Upon the place beneath.
These types of lines make Portia more than just a girl with a rich daddy!
