How we cite our quotes: (Part.Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
"Your heart going to beat hard enough to kill you because you don't love and don't have peace." (1.3.120)
Portia's idea sounds nice until you realize that in terms of the book, it's just plain wrong. Characters like Copeland and Mick experience love so intensely that it gives them no peace and does in fact nearly kill them.
Quote #2
What would Portia say if she knew that always there had been one person after another? And every time it was like some part of her would bust in a hundred pieces.
But she had always kept it to herself and no person had ever known. (1.3.128-29)
Now for your daily dose of ambiguity. Does this passage mean that Mick never told the people she loved that she did love them, or does it mean she never told people like Portia that she has loved before? Perhaps it's both? What do you think, Shmoopers?
Quote #3
The tears came up in his eyes and he reached for his glasses to try to hide them.
Portia saw and went up to him quickly. She put her arms around his head and pressed her cheek to his forehead. "I done hurt my Father's feelings," she said softly. (1.5.73-74)
That Portia has a pretty big heart. And it's clear here that she loves her father. This brief moment helps shine a sympathetic light on Copeland, whose domineering attitude and poor decisions often irk us. But here, despite the bad things he has done, we still feel for him and even like him.