Week 5 Blog prompt -By the end of the trial scene, do you think true justice and mercy was achieved?

At the end of the trial in Merchant of Venice justice and mercy were achieved, although the genuineness of those achievements are arguable. These must be considered from the points of view of Shylock, the law and the Christians.

Justice may be defined as the quality of being fair and reasonable. When a mother punishes her child for doing something wrong, she is being just. It is reasonable and well within the scope of her duty as a mother to discipline her child, and a punishment is fair.

Mercy may be defined as compassion or forgiveness shown toward someone whom it is within one's power to punish or harm. When a judge decides not to impart life imprisonment out of compassion, he is showing mercy. I am not saying that it may always be the best choice to make, but it is all about compassion and forgiveness.

So why has justice been achieved? Was it true justice? Shylock was punished for his misdeed, although it was Portia who manipulated the law to make him look wrong, and not because he had borne evil intentions. Certainly in the law justice has been achieved. But Shylock had sealed the bond legally and in the end had not laid a finger on Antonio. Did he truly deserve to be punished like this? Although he was offered three chances to grant mercy and show his kingly virtue, he refused. Perhaps he does deserve to be punished, but not in the way he was. So true justice was not achieved. Antonio had some responsibility for taking the bond too. But no punishment was given to him in the end.

But mercy... the Duke spared his life and Antonio did not take half of Shylock's wealth for himself. By sparing him of worst things, they showed mercy to him. However, they did not show him it out of pure compassion. It was more like not letting him have a quick death. They probably wanted him to have a slow painful life. Also Antonio used this opportunity to make Shylock renounce Jewism. Technically mercy was shown, but in terms of compassion and forgiveness we can see this kind of mercy is not born from morals. It is more of a kind of masking revenge with virtue. This is not exactly true mercy.

Then again, what is true? How can we ever judge what is true mercy? If everyone thought Shylock should die, is that justice true? Is trueness based on morals or law?

Thus I conclude that the justice and mercy portrayed in the trial scene is perverted. But having said that, we do not have a measure to check how true something is. Thus, it can only be left to oneself to make that conclusion.

In real life, Anti-Corruption Commission investigations manager, Sukai Tongogara, confirmed to The Zimbabwean this week that the commission had received complaints against some individuals at all levels of the judicial system. Magistrates, prosecutors, clerks of court, legal practitioners, officers of the Labour Court, traditional chiefs and judges are all involved. We can see how perverted justice is.