The Quality of Mercy
“The quality of mercy is not strained,
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.”
As the news is full of horrifying accounts of attacks on Asians and a rise in senseless hate crimes around the world, we could all be served by the words above from Portia, heroine of William Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice. This play is one of the bard’s most popular rom-coms, and Portia is often considered the wisest character in Shakespeare’s oeuvre.
The Merchant of Venice deals with the subjects of racism and justice, albeit from the limited perspective of a 16th century English writer. The primary character, Shylock, is a Jewish moneylender in the thriving port of Venice.
Venice, Italy
Shylock’s nemesis, Antonio, is a wealthy Christian, seemingly noble, but who is as flawed and duplicitous as any of us trying to live a spiritually awakened life in the 21st century.
Portia is the wise-beyond-her-years heiress, restrained by a ridiculous clause in her father’s will that forces her to marry the suitor that chooses the correct casket from a choice of three, in a solve-a-riddle, “Let’s Make a Deal” kind of way.
Nice method for a father to marry off his daughter from beyond the grave.
Not.
If you’re interested the riddle of the caskets, which has been dubbed “Portia’s puzzle,” click here, beginning with Act II, Scene 7 of The Merchant of Venice. If you (like my husband) don’t intend to read (or re-read) The Merchant of Venice but are interested in the puzzle, click here for the short version.
Portia’s Caskets: Gold ("Who chooseth me shall gain what many men desire”), Silver (“Who chooseth me shall get as much as he deserves”), and Lead (“Who chooseth me must give and hazard all he hath”)
Among the other characters is Bassanio, Antonio’s less-than-credit-worthy best friend, who needs a loan from Shylock in order to woo Portia and gain a chance to select the prize casket.
When Antonio guarantees the loan with a “pound of flesh” should it not be repaid, and his merchant ships are tragically lost at sea (rendering him unable to pay the debt), the stage is set for a particularly gruesome outcome.
Shylock threatening to carve a pound of flesh from Antonio.
It’s easy to say that Antonio is the “good guy” in this story, because he lends his money and his assistance freely, without interest. Even though Bassanio is deeply in debt to Antonio (and many others), Antonio doesn’t judge him, and offers to help in any way he can. He is the friend you can count on who bears no grudge and willingly supports you in time of need.
As is often true with Shakespeare, however, that is not the whole story.
Antonio is also the one who denigrates Shylock at every turn, acknowledges spitting on him in public, and belittles Shylock for making money from borrowers’ unfortunate circumstances.
Upon closer inspection, Shakespeare makes it clear that Antonio’s generosity isn’t so limitless after all.
How can he be so merciful and accommodating to his irresponsible friend, Bassanio, and so hateful to the Jewish businessman? The incongruity is stark and all too familiar at the same time.
Aren’t we just like Antonio, showing our generosity and mercy when it’s easy, when it suits us, when we are congratulated for it, and when it involves no risk?
What do we do when called to be merciful in difficult circumstances?
Shakespeare makes it clear that if Antonio had offered mercy to everyone from the outset, he wouldn’t have been on the verge of a flaying for an unpaid debt. Shylock cracked under the pressure of being unjustly disparaged and demeaned day after day.
Antonio had no reason to hate Shylock, who had done nothing wrong other than to be a Jewish businessman in a “Christian” community. It was Antonio’s lack of mercy that brought the characters to their day of reckoning.
Act IV opens with Shakespeare’s version of courtroom drama: the Duke of Venice is solicited to decide whether the pound of flesh can be exacted as payment for the defaulted loan. If Antonio loses the case he will also lose his life. Get the popcorn - this is going to be good!
At the time of trial, Bassanio is able to gather the money to pay double the debt to save Antonio, but Shylock refuses to accept any payment other than the bond he originally required - a pound of Antonio’s flesh.
Throughout the trial, the Duke, Bassanio, and Antonio attempt to convince Shylock that his insistence on the letter of the law is morally wrong, but he immediately points out their hypocrisy:
“What judgment shall I dread, doing no wrong?
You have among you many a purchased slave,
Which - like your asses and your dogs and mules
You use in abject and in slavish parts
Because you bought them. Shall I say to you,
’Let them be free! Marry them to your heirs!
Why sweat they under burdens? Let their beds
Be made as soft as yours and let their palates
Be seasoned with such viands?’ You will answer
’The slaves are ours.’ So do I answer you.”
Shylock shows them the error of their thinking: they find the “letter of the law” argument perfectly acceptable when applied to the gentrified class’ ownership of slaves, but rail against it when a Jewish businessman wants to rely on it to uphold the original (albeit horrifying) terms of a loan.
He’s right, of course.
The best part of the trial scene is when Portia appears (in disguise as Balthazar, a learned “doctor of letters” from Padua) in response to a request from the Duke to Portia’s cousin to help him decide the merits of the case.
Portia/Balthazar encourages Shylock to choose mercy rather than justice, explaining that mercy is like the gentle rain that blesses the giver and receiver.
She’s right, of course.
Shylock is not swayed, however. He chooses justice over mercy. Everyone is shocked when Portia, as Balthazar, agrees that Shylock is within his rights under the law, and acknowledges that it is his choice to make.
Reading that scene, I could almost hear the Globe’s groundlings roaring their disapproval.
Shylock, emboldened bt Portia’s support, begins to sing Balthazar’s praises, and that’s when Portia knows she’s got him.
After giving Shylock several additional opportunities to choose mercy, but supporting his right to enforce the law, Portia turns the tables on him and explains that he shall exact his pound of flesh, according to the precise wording of the bond, but notes that he cannot spill one drop of blood in the process, because the strict provisions of the bond did not include blood.
Wait, what?
Balthazar explains that should blood be spilled, or should Antonio be killed, Shylock must be prosecuted under the same rigid legal authority he means to enforce.
Portia further notes that upon the flesh being weighed, if more than one pound of flesh is taken (assuming no drop of blood is spilled), then Shylock will have violated the bond, and will be punished under the law for taking in excess of the bond and likely killing Antonio in the process.
Upon further reflection and a final opportunity to choose justice over mercy, Shylock quickly chooses mercy, Bassanio pays the debt in ducats, and Antonio is saved.
Although there are a myriad of other themes in The Merchant of Venice, I find the call to mercy and the push/pull of brain vs. heart are the themes that resonate with me most right now.
In The Merchant of Venice, Shakespeare states that the quality of mercy is a twofold blessing: it blesses the giver and the receiver, but I like to think that he knew a little more than he let on.
As a playwright, crafting words to be spoken on the stage before large crowds, he was keenly aware that mercy also bestows a third blessing.
But on whom? Can you guess?
On us, of course.
Therefore, the quality of mercy is actually thrice blest: On the giver, on the receiver, and on the observers, who being fortunate to witness mercy in action, may have the courage to offer it in our own lives.
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