What is the difference between mercy and compassion?
The difference is the recipient. Compassion most often extends to others without regard to their moral performance. Mercy extends even to the vile.
In The Merchant of Venice what is the difference between justice and mercy?
I always try to view the difference between justice and mercy as complex as the difference between Shylock and Portia, the Jew and the Christians. It is quite interesting that Mercy is such a central theme in the play because in a way, it is absent. Shylock seeks just with the absence of mercy while Portia seeks Justice with the seasoned or flavoured by mercy. In the end, even Portia discards the mercy that she…