Portia: The Smartest Person in Every Room

Portia's father has left her in a puzzle: any man who wants to marry her must choose between three caskets (gold, silver, and lead) knowing that the wrong choice means he can never marry anyone. She watches unsuitable suitors fail with visible relief. When Bassanio arrives, she cannot tell him which box to choose, but she can slow the music down and let the moment breathe.

Her mercy speech in Act 4 Scene 1 is the most famous set piece in the play. It is also a trap. She argues that mercy should temper justice, then applies the law against Shylock with absolute precision and no mercy at all. Whether that contradiction is intentional on her part or on Shakespeare's is something critics still argue about.

She spends most of Act 4 disguised as a young lawyer named Balthazar. It is a good disguise. She outmanoeuvres Shylock, saves Antonio, and then engineers a scene in Act 5 where she exposes Bassanio's failure to keep the ring she gave him, all before revealing who she is. She controls nearly everything.