THE QUALITY OF MERCY

This topic is on Portia's speech about the 'quality of mercy' extracted from the famous play - The Merchant of Venice is a tragic comedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1596 and 1598. Though classified as a comedy in the First Folio and sharing certain aspects with Shakespeare's other romantic comedies, the play is perhaps most remembered for its dramatic scenes, and is best known for Shylock and the famous 'Hath not a Jew eyes' speech. 

PORTIA'S SPEECH
The quality of mercy is not strain'd,
It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven
Upon the place beneath: it is twice blest;
It blesseth him that gives and him that takes:
'Tis mightiest in the mightiest: it becomes  185
The throned monarch better than his crown;
His sceptre shows the force of temporal power,
The attribute to awe and majesty,
Wherein doth sit the dread and fear of kings;
But mercy is above this sceptred sway;
It is enthroned in the hearts of kings,
It is an attribute to God himself;
And earthly power doth then show likest God's
When mercy seasons justice.  Therefore, Jew,
Though justice be thy plea, consider this,  195
That, in the course of justice, none of us
Should see salvation: we do pray for mercy;

Prejudice and Intolerance

     The Venetians in The Merchant of Venice express extreme intolerance of Shylock and the other Jews in Venice. It is possible to argue that Shakespeare himself shares his characters’ certainty that the Jews are naturally wicked and inferior to Christians because of Shylock’s ultimate refusal to show any mercy at all.

     Yet there are also reasons to think that Shakespeare may be actually criticizing the prejudices of his characters.  Shylock’s anger and his desire of revenge are the result of years of abuse and mistreatment.  Shylock insists that he “learned” his hatred from Christians.  It is Shylock alone who argues that all of the characters are the same, in terms of biology and under the law.

Mercy vs Justice

  The conflict between Shylock and the Christian characters centers around mercy. The other characters acknowledge that the law is on Shylock’s side, but they all expect him to show mercy, which he refuses to do.  When, during the trial, Shylock asks Portia what could possibly force him to be merciful, Portia’s long reply, beginning with the words, “The quality of mercy is not strained,” explains that human beings should be merciful because God is merciful: mercy is an attribute of God himself and therefore greater than power, majesty, or law.

  Shylock, on the other hand, is not capable of showing mercy towards Antonio.  He insists on the letter of the bond, asking for a pound of flesh from Antonio’s body.  He calls for justice and repeats the word as his slogan. 

  Shylock says that Christians pretend to be merciful, but they actually are not.  He says that he has learned the lesson on revenge and intolerance from them.  Shylock gives many examples on how mercy has never been shown to him by Christians. By the end of the trial, Portia, in spite of her speech about mercy, does not show any mercy towards Shylock.

STORYLINE----

 A young Venetian, Bassanio, needs a loan of three thousand ducats so that he can woo Portia, a wealthy Venetian heiress. He approaches his friend Antonio, a merchant. Antonio is short of money because all his wealth is invested in his fleet, which is currently at sea. He goes to a Jewish moneylender, Shylock, who hates Antonio because of Antonio's anti-semitic behaviour towards him. Shylock nevertheless agrees to make the short-term loan, but, in a moment of dark humour, he makes a condition - the loan must be repaid in three months or Shylock will exact a pound of flesh from Antonio. Antonio agrees, confident that his ships will return in time.

 Because of the terms of Portia's father's will, all suitors must choose from among three caskets, one of which contains a portrait of her. If he chooses that he may marry Portia, but if doesn't he must vow never to marry or court another woman. The Princes of Morocco and Arragon fail the test and are rejected. As Bassanio prepares to travel to Belmont for the test, his friend Lorenzo elopes with Shylock's daughter, Jessica.

RELEVANCE TODAY

Shakespeare  undoubtedly transcends all barriers of time and space. He is not of an age but of all time. Every phase of feeling lay within the scope of Shakespeare’s understanding and sympathy. There is no point of morals, of philosophy, of conduct of life that he has not touched upon, no mystery of human nature that he has not penetrated.

Merchant of Venice also has great significance to present date. In today’s time when there is want of sincerity, moral values and justice, the play delineates all this very successfully. Shylock is totally given to materialistic values. For him money is the most sought after thing. He is a money lender who tries to enrich himself and accumulate wealth by exploiting the financial needs of others.

He has hoarded a lot of wealth by his usury, but his craving for money is not yet satisfied. In today’s time also there are many Shylocks who brutally exploit people in all ways to accumulate wealth. Shylock repels us not only by his usury but also by his religious intolerance. The play depicts great polarization between the Jews and the Christians.  If Shylock has become an intolerant monster then the blame lies solely on the Christians. The same religious intolerance is apparent in present day times and it has taken the ugly shape of terrorism. Harmonious coexistence of divergent religious groups is the need of Shylock’s and this is precisely the present day’s requirement.