In the play The Merchant Of Venice by William Shakespeare, the author examines
the themes of justice, mercy and forgiveness. Shylock is looking for an excuse to be
vindictive, to exact revenge, to punish, to hurt and to be spiteful and vengeful. In
some ways, Portia is wasting her breath trying to show him what mercy should be
like - he is glad of the opportunity to get his own back and therfore mercy has use for
him. Portia also tries to explain that mercy is gentle and no respecter of class or
staus - it should "fall" on,or be available to, all. It is enobling for the giver to be
capable of offering mercy - but Shylock does not want to be noble,he just wants to
be avenged.
The speech that has these words in it is spoken by Portia in Act IV, Scene 1 of this play. In it,
she is lecturing Shylock about mercy.
What she is telling Shylock is that mercy is not something that can be forced (strained).
Instead, it has to be given freely. She says that when you act mercifully, you help yourself
and you help the person that you are showing mercy to. She tells Shylock that what he
should strive for is not justice, but rather mercy.
By saying these things, she is asking him not to try to get his "pound of flesh" from Antonio.
It's one of those Shakespeare speeches, I think, like "To be or not to be", where
everyone knows the first line or two lines, and then very little about what comes next.
Portia is talking about mercy, which, she argues
...blesseth him that gives, and him that takes:
'Tis mightiest in the mightiest; it becomes
The throned monarch better than his crown
Being merciful, she argues, blesses the person being merciful, and the person who
receives the mercy. It is, therefore at its strongest, shown by people who are the
most powerful. It becomes a monarch (i.e. is more kingly) better than his crown
does.
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,
The king's sceptre shows the force of his power on earth ("temporal power"), and is
part of his awe and his majesty, which is why people dread and are scared of kings.
However, mercy is above the influence and power of the sceptre ("sceptred sway")...
It is an attribute to God himself;
And earthly power doth then show likest God's
When mercy seasons justice.
Mercy is an attribute of God himself, the king of kings. And earthly power becomes
most godly when it is merciful: when decisions of justice are "seasoned" (made more
palatable) with mercy
In Act IV sc.1 Portia disguised as lawyer "Balthasar" arrives at the duke's court to
save Antonio from the evil clutches of the malicious Shylock. Earlier the Duke and
the others present in the court had failed to convince Shylock to be kind and merciful
towards Antonio and spare his life, but Shylock remains adamant and unreasonable
and replies:
"So can I give no reason, nor I will not,
More than a lodged hate and a certain loathing
I bear Antonio, that I follow thus
A losing suit against him."
Portia, to begin with, requests Shylock to be merciful but he arrogantly turns down
her plea. It is then that Portia makes a long and eloquent plea for mercy on Antonio's
behalf.
She says mercy is a noble and tender feeling which should spring spontaneously
from the heart of a person. It is like the gentle showers from heaven which nourish
the earth. It blesses the person who shows mercy by making him feel good and
earning for himself a heavenly reward in addition to the blessing of the recipient of
his mercy. It is a powerful attribute "enthroned" in the heart of a mighty emperor. It is
a noble and divine attribute and when a person tempers harsh justice with mercy he
becomes like God himself. She then directly appeals to Shylock to spare Antonio's
life saying that just like how we all pray for mercy and are saved by God being
merciful towards us we should also be merciful to others.
Portia shows several characteristics in this speech. The first is that she is intelligent
and logical. She also uses strong references to the Christian faith against Shylock,
the Jew. Thus, she shows a strong religious belief. Her argument begins with the
idea that forgiveness benefits the person doing the forgiving as well as the person
forgiven. In an obvious allusion to Christianity, she says that forgiveness and mercy
are a part of the character of God and that by seeking justice without mercy Shylock
may well damn himself because he will disobey God's law. She is also self-confident.
She shows give no apology for her beliefs and in fact implies that hers is the
superior faith. This speech contributes to the theme that in showing mercy, one
becomes closest to God. In the "love we show towards our friends, the compassion
we show those in trouble, and the forgiveness we offer" to those who "sin against
us", we show that we love and obey God.
