Portia In Julius Caesar Essay

In Shakespeare’s famous play, Julius Caesar, he wrote about a woman named Portia. Anyone who has read or seen the play knows that she is Brutus’ wife. But who was she really? To see who she really was one must look at her lifestyle, characteristics, and her actions. First, Portia’s lifestyle began in a household of a reputable man named Cato. Portia was raised to be a woman of extreme beauty and elegance. She was brought up in a society that viewed women as ‘weak’, and did not value human emotions. Instead, they valued Stoicism and relied on it to belie their true feelings. Despite the time periods philosophy of Stoicism, Portia married Brutus and loved him deeply. Second, Portia had many characteristics which made her the popular character that she is. Portia was a humble woman. She accepted her husband’s requests and obeyed them with diligence. In act 2, scene 1, Brutus dismissed her rudely and she obeyed, even though she wanted to know what was bothering her husband. Portia believed that as a husband and wife, she and Brutus were united as one. She felt that, because they were married, they should not keep secrets from each other. She was desperate to know what was troubling her husband.
In the second act of the play she gets down on her knees and begs to know what, or who is troubling her husband. Portia has a desire to be valued as strong. She does not want to be labeled as weak just because she is a woman. So she stabs herself in the thigh to prove to Brutus that she is strong and can handle whatever he throws her way. Later in the play, Portia becomes so distraught about Antony and Octavius’ rising power that she commits suicide. She could not bear the thought of living in a world where Antony and Octavius