Justice And Justice In Shakespeare's The Merchant Of Venice

Justice And Justice In Shakespeare's The Merchant Of Venice

In Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice, there is a conflict between two understandings of justice – justice as 'the letter of the law' and justice as mercy. Because this play is typically classified as a comedy, it is natural to view the trial's ruling against Shylock as just, since this best fits in with the genre of Comedy. My aim is to show that this interpretation is not without its problems, and is in fact called into question by the text. I will accomplish this analyzing the legal aspects of the court's ruling and the tribal behavior of the Venetian Christians, as well as taking a close look at the supposed mercy shown by Antonio to Shylock. After dissecting these ideas, I will relate them to several modern questions of justice and their accompanying tradeoffs.

Without further ado, et us meet our plaintiff turned defendant, Shylock. While his motives are questionable (to say the least), Shylock does remain logical in his own defense, at one point saying:

Till thou canst rail the seal from off my bond,

Thou but offend'st thy lungs to speak so loud.

Repair thy wit, good youth, or it will fall

To cureless ruin. I stand here for law.

(4.1.141–4) Here, Shylock stands firm in his argument, essentially asserting that his right to contract is unassailable, regardless of the emotional attacks his Christian opponents throw at him. This is quite representative of the trial as a whole: Shylock remains dispassionate and uses sound argument, while his adversaries are emotional and

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