What the conflict between justice and mercy is as depicted in the merchant of Venice?

Answer 1

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 so advocates. I would say the difference between mercy and justice (especially in the play) is what law people call the difference between equity and justice. Justice is set in stone and wrong and right are easily distinguishable while mercy is more based on compassion and thus is not necessarily justice. For Shylock to be served Justice, he has to deny Antonio mercy. In return, for Portia to be equally just, she chooses to be strictly law abiding with the absence of mercy. Hope this makes sense, Bezi

Answer 2

In the"Merchant of Venice" he did not want to temper justice with mercy because he hate Antonio from the depth of his heart as they both belong to different communities and moreover, Atonio call him dog and also spit on him and now he got the chance to take revenge on him and so he dont want to loose this chance at any cost. In the"Merchant of Venice" he did not want to temper justice with mercy because he hate Antonio from the depth of his heart as they both belong to different communities and moreover, Atonio call him dog and also spit on him and now he got the chance to take revenge on him and so he dont want to loose this chance at any cost.

Answer 3

Response:

After Portia and Nerrisa impersonate themselves as a lawyer and his clerk, they went to Venice to conduct and try the case of the Jew, Shylock, against the Christian merchant called Antonio. Portia started by familiarising herself with the plaintiff and the defendant and asked the Jew to be merciful to the Christian. In a quest to find reasons for forgiving Antonio, Portia spelt out a quality of mercy speech. In the speech, she uses allusion and comparison to reiterate on the need to forgive one another rather than seeking revenge or justice from the ones who would have offended us.

To commence, Portia enlightened to the audience and the Jew that one can not be forced to forgive others as there are no laws that govern or compels one to do so. Portia begins by saying, "The quality of mercy is not strained." The statement shows that pure heart of forgiveness is not forced upon the one who has been wronged. This thus serves as a stepping stone in her preaching about forgiveness as compared to seeking justice.

In addition, she symbolically shows that mercy comes from above, from God as she likens it with a gentle drizzle that comes from the sky. She says,

It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven

Upon the place beneath.

The citation above implies that mercy calls for a light-hearted person to forgive others and that means mercy is God given. Symbolically, the rainfall is associated with growth and health of plants on earth.

This then brings the aspect of mercy being two-fold as it blesses the giver and the receiver. Portia proceed to say,

It is twice blest

It blesseth him that gives and him that takes.

This implies that by forgiving Antonio, Shylock would be consecrated as he would have taught the Christians their own gospel of forgiveness and at the same time, Antonio would also be sanctified. The concept of reciprocity is noted here as it benefits both parties.

During the speech, one can note that Portia uses comparisons to show that mercy is enshrined in the one who possesses it than the ones title as she compares it to royalty. She says,

Tis mightiest in the mightiest, it becomes

The throned monarch better than his crown.

The quotation above shows that mercy is greater than the title (crown) one might have. This entails that mercy should not be temporary like the sceptre or rod that kings possess.

Moreover, Portia contrasts mercy with royalty as she outlines that because royalty one is responsible and feared for he possesses powers vested in him by the laws of the states. To her, mercy is above respect and fear kings receive even if one does not have the sceptre. She says,

The attribute to awe and majesty

Wherein doth sit the dread and fear of kings

But mercy is above this sceptre sway.

Since mercy comes from God, it is here presented as more powerful and strong than the sceptre of kings.

Portia repeats the notion that mercy is in the heart of the forgive as she says, "it is enthroned in the hearts of kings" and attributed it to the creator, God. This allude in the minds of the audience about 1 John 4 verse 8 which states that,

He who does not love does not know God:

For God is love.

Therefore, it is Godly to love and forgive others and this would make Shylock want to resemble God and forgive Antonio.

On the contrary, Portia talks about the malicious effects of seeking justice vis-à-vis mercy. She purports that when mercy is surpassed by justice the no one would live for everyone must die because all humans are sinners. She reminds the Jew that,

In the course of justice none of us

Should see salvation.

From that statement, one can say that if God would insist on nothing but justice towards all the people who offend him then human kind would be condemned to punishment, for we are all sinners.

Moreover, she pleads for mercy rather than justice in her quality of mercy speech as she highlights that as people pray, they pray for forgiveness saying,

"forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us"[1] and the same should serve as a lesson for everyone to, "render the deeds of mercy." She uses prayer as an instrument which brings people closer to God hence they are obliged to forgive one another.

The quality of mercy speech highlights that justice is harmful and wrong as Portia clearly shows that the strict court of Venice had no option but to give a judgement against Antonio for failing to honour his part of the bond. She says justice,

Which if thou follow, this strict court of Venice

Must needs give sentence gainst the merchant

There.

This citation shows that if justice was to be followed, Antonio would be found guilty and sentenced accordingly meaning to say that Shylock was to get his pound of flesh hence that might result in death of Antonio.

In conclusion, mercy is considered as mitigation factor which lessens the harmful and destructive nature of seeking justice when one is offended by others.

NB: additions and further suggestions are well.

By cassimsilumba@Yahoo.com

[1] The Bible RSV, Matthew 6 verse 12

Answer 4

A simple-minded view of The Merchant of Venice which was popular in the nineteenth century was that the Christians (good guys, white hats, yay!) had a religion which favoured mercy, whereas the Jews (bad guys, black hats, boo!) had a religion which favoured strict and unbending law. This interpretation was bolstered by the tendency of the Victorians to focus on what was said in speeches in Shakespeare's plays, taking them at face value without the slightest hint of irony, and building their interpretation of the play around it. In the case of The Merchant, the speech is Portia's "quality of mercy" speech. But Shakespeare was not all that simple-minded. The issues of justice and mercy in this play are much more complex. Shylock, like all the Venetian Jews, has been the victim of anti-Semitism all his life. He resents it, and would like revenge. I say revenge, and not justice, because justice is not what Shylock seeks. He cannot get justice against Gratiano, Salerio and all the nastiest anti-Semites, but he sees a way to get at Antonio through the bond. He will make Antonio the scapegoat to pay for all the insults of the Christian community and will do it, he thinks, in a way which will be legal, for he knows that the Christian community would surely destroy him if he did not have some legal justification for his revenge. Unlike most revengers in plays of the era, Shylock hopes to survive it. But clearly it is not justice to make someone a scapegoat, or to cut their heart out in a courtroom for someone else's insults. Justice demands that Shylock's case should fail. Probably he should forfeit his right to collect his loan.

But that is not the statute which is pressed. He is charged under a law which says "if it be proved against any alien, that by direct or indirect attempts he seek the life of any citizen" he is subject to a fine of everything he owns and, in the Duke's discretion, the death penalty. This is interpreted to mean that Shylock, although born and raised in Venice, cannot be a citizen because he is a Jew, and that he is therefore an alien, and unable to invoke the laws of Venice if the result is likely to be the death of one of the Christians in Venice. The Christians are at complete liberty to connive at the death of the Jews using the courts, but the Jews cannot use the laws against Christians. This cannot be justice by any definition, and the idea that the people who are foisting this travesty on Shylock are merciful is laughable. It is not mercy to be slightly less totally unjust than you might have been.