Portia is often seen as the hero of Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice for several reasons. First, she offers to cover Antonio's debt to Shylock with her considerable funds. When Shylock refuses, Portia disguises herself as a lawyer and outsmarts Shylock in court, forcing him to abandon his claim to a pound of Antonio's flesh and to give up a considerable sum of money in the process. In many respects, Portia saves the day single-handedly.
If one is to regard Portia as a hero, however, it's important to see the potential drawbacks to her character. While Shylock's intention to extract his pound of flesh from Antonio is undeniably cruel, it's hard not to empathize with him, as he endures a substantial barrage of anti-Semitism from Antonio and others throughout the play. Thus, when Portia humiliates Shylock in court, it's hard to see her actions as entirely "heroic," and it's particularly troubling that she shows little mercy to Shylock directly after giving a truly profound speech on the benefits of mercy.
That's not to say that Portia is not heroic at all. Rather, it's simply important to take her heroism with a grain of salt, as her many virtuous qualities come along with some suggested prejudices that are uncomfortable and troubling.
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