The Merchant of Venice is a well-known play that was written by William Shakespeare, a famous playwright, about a merchant in Venice named Antonio who has invested in many ships, but his friend Bassanio needs money to court the beautiful Portia, asking for a loan. But Antonio doesn’t have the money, and so directs Bassanio to a man named Shylock, who holds a grudge against Antonio but still agrees to the loan but in the contract, strangely asks for a pound of flesh, seemingly as a joke. Later, Shylock’s daughter elopes with Antonio’s friend Lorenzo, taking valuables. Two suitors vying for Portia’s hand have to try the lottery of caskets to find out who will marry her, and both fail, with the Prince of Morocco choosing the golden casket and the Prince of Aragon choosing the silver casket. Bassanio however manages to correctly choose the lead casket containing Portia’s portrait and wins her hand in marriage. Antonio’s ships have been lost at sea, and Shylock has enough hatred so that he insists on their prior agreement of a pound of flesh. The lawyers are Portia and her maid Nerissa, who save Antonio by declaring Shylock may not draw blood. For threatening the life of Antonio, Shylock forfeits his wealth, and later, Antonio finds that his ships are fine. The Merchant of Venice is an amazing piece of literature that is incredibly entertaining.
Law in the world is necessary for order, but it is only as just as the person who has written the laws and can have many flaws. For example, a binding contract can have unfair terms that the other person may not have thought were necessary, and this can be harmful to many parties. Inside of The Merchant of Venice, Shylock loathed how Antonio was seemingly anti-semitic and how he often made rude comments that were disrespectful to other Jews like Shylock. This caused him to create the contract written deal that Shylock said “Express'd in the condition, let the forfeit. Be nominated for an equal pound. Of your fair flesh, to be cut off and taken” This is because Shylock wants revenge against Antonio’s hate of his religion, and even more so once Antonio’s friend elopes with his daughter taking quite a bit of money before leaving. In the reality of our society, often Jewish people can be oppressed simply because of their religion and even more so in the setting of Shakespeare’s play. Also, Antonio’s business makes Shylock lose money due to how similar but better Antonio’s business is. Portia does manage to get out of the agreement by saying “This bond doth give thee here no jot of blood.” The contract that Shylock made was unfair but due to how it was law it was forced to be reinforced by law, but due to the specific nature of the demand loopholes were easily found. Law can be very helpful in our society, but it can also cause long, arduous circumstances that are detrimental to everyone involved.
Not having mercy can cause many negative effects and negative aspects to occur in our lives, but having fake mercy can be just as bad with just as many negative effects. By being kind and having mercy on others, we can encourage behavior that is less greedy and benefit everyone involved that has interacted with you. In The Merchant of Venice, Antonio has real mercy and “albeit I neither lend nor borrow. By taking nor by giving of excess.” Antonio does not take nor give when he lends money, because he charges no interest, and this does not make him profit but makes him friends with his generosity. Shylock on the other hand is greedy and insists that “I’ll have my bond. I will not hear thee speak.” He will not accept anything else and demands his pound of flesh, causing him to eventually suffer many negative effects and lose nearly everything. Shylock didn’t have mercy which is the reason that he had to face this tragic occurrence that was mainly because of his greedy demands. We have to encourage mercy and make sure to have compassion and empathy for everyone no matter how much our anger and hatred try to hurt others we have to control ourselves. Mercy is incredibly impactful while not having it is majorly negative and can harm many people which is why we have to have compassion.
Having real mercy is crucial in life as it shows that we want to improve and understand others rather than simply trying to be selfish and only benefit ourselves. Sharing knowledge and resources is beneficial in the long run as a society with less hatred and more kindness ultimately ends up prospering and thriving. Inside of The Merchant of Venice, Antonio didn’t create high interest rates for his money lending and never took any more money than he had given, and this gave him both friends and a good reputation. However Shylock chose to try and hurt Antonio using their deal. Later, as Shylock is defeated by Portia, Shylock had broken the contract and should be executed by Venetian law, but instead of this punishment he was spared and just lost quite a bit of his money. This is real mercy, as Antonio could have simply taken his money and had Shylock executed just like Shylock wanted to do to him. Real mercy transcends the normal boundaries and is so impactful on the lives of others. It is beneficial to many people and helps everyone. We have to try and be compassionate to others in order to minimize harm to everyone around us and to rather benefit them.
The Merchant of Venice is a fantastic book that teaches incredibly important themes that help allow us to better our lives, and it teaches us lessons about how we must try our best to follow the law but still stand up for the beliefs we believe are fair, to avoid fake mercy because of how it can entangle a situation, and to make sure to be compassionate to others and to understand them better. We have to try and make sure that the laws we follow are just and logical in order to help create order. Fake mercy is when we reduce our demands but still keep them high enough to be incredibly greedy and unkind, but real compassion is when we finally understand others enough to try and ease their lives rather than hurting them more. The Merchant of Venice is a great play written by the famous Shakespeare and I would recommend it for everyone.
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