Yes, the audience, even if seeing the play for the first time, knows that it is Portia and Nerissa entering the courtroom disguised as men. We know this because Portia reveals her plan to disguise herself as a man to Nerissa in Act 3. Portia says that she will carry...
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Yes, the audience, even if seeing the play for the first time, knows that it is Portia and Nerissa entering the courtroom disguised as men. We know this because Portia reveals her plan to disguise herself as a man to Nerissa in Act 3. Portia says that she will carry a dagger:
And speak between the change of man and boyWith a reed voice, and turn two mincing stepsInto a manly stride, and speak of frays ...
Why, shall we turn to men?
Yes, the audience would know that Nerissa and Portia are men because Act 3 Scene 4 shows the two women planning to dress and behave as men to help Bassanio help his friend. In fact, they brag how easy it will be for them to pass as men, Portia saying "When we are both accoutred like young men / I'll prove the prettier fellow of the two, / And wear my dagger with the braver grace . . . and turn two mincing steps / Into a manly stride . . . .I have within my mind / a thousand raw ricks of these bragging jacks, Which I will practise" (65-77). In addition, this would not be difficult for the audience to follow, because the convention was that all actors were men. So the actual situation is two men dressed like women then dressing like men and pretending to be men!