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By the end of the trial scene, do you think true justice and mercy was achieved? Reflect and write on the following questions:
1. Is there true justice? Why?
I feel that true justice was not met out in the trial scene of Merchant of Venice. True justice is when you have what is rightfully your's by law despite of whoever you are. It was in the bond that Shylock may cut out a pound of flesh of Antonio, however, Shylock was not granted what was rightfully his. Not just not being able to get what was his, Shylock was also humiliated and mistreated because he was born a Jew. This could be seen as Shylock was played under Portia's words.
2. Is there true mercy, as expounded by Portia? Why?
True mercy was also not met out. Mercy is to show compassion or forgiveness towards someone by one who has power to punish or harm him. However, Portia did not show mercy, as she has made Shylock lose his bond, worse still, forfeiting what he possessed. She did not show compassion to Shylock as she knew that he would carry a great hatred and sorrow, but she did not care.
3. Justice and Law can be manipulated by people in power. Comment on this with reference to the text and other real-life cases and examples.
I do agree that justice and law can be manipulated by people in power. One example during the court scene was that women were not allowed to enter the court, however, Portia sneaked into the court in the disguise of a man. She continued to manipulate the court to influence Shylock and also manipulated the law to condemn Shylock. All these would not be possible if Portia did not disguise herself as a judge. This made her become someone in power who was able to turn the situation around, manipulating the justice and the law within the court.
I agree with your definition of true justice. True justice is when you have what is rightfully your's by law despite of whoever you are. Indeed, justice enables us to get what we deserve in accordance to our deeds, be it good or bad. And in the case of the trial scene, Shylock does not get what he really deserves, irregardless of his evil nature. Oh yes! I think you have forgotten to include in real-life cases in your third question.
ReplyDeleteJack Tan 2O307
Hi Jiehan, this is Darrel. I like your way of defining the key terms first before you carry on with your argument as this was not seen in the other peoples' posts. Your arguments are short and sweet however, you seem to be lacking in real life examples in the third part of your post as you only referred back to the text. Good effort though!
ReplyDeleteA short and precise blog post. I agree with the definitions of true justice about how you have what is rightfully your's by law despite of whoever you are. This is especially true in the case of Shylock. He is tried in court by Christians who are already prejudiced against him. The Christians are supporting Antonio which is evident from the text and just because Shylock is a Jew, he is not given what is rightfully his.
ReplyDeleteI agree with your answers but I would like to add on: that some mercy and justice was still met out. If we think along this way: that Shylock wanted to kill Antonio, and that it is only right that he should be stopped, we would syphatize and agree with Portia instead.
ReplyDeleteYes, there definitely was no true justice OR mercy at the end. In the first place Antonio owed Shylock money and AGREED to give Shylock a pound of flesh if he failed to return the money after the deadline. Any idiot would know that Shylock wants Antonio's life and Antonio agreed to pay his life. Yet Portia, perhaps too smart to comprehend that, "misinterpreted" that.
ReplyDeleteMercy? Well, Portia definitely "practiced what she preached".