The Quality of Mercy by Shakespeare
William Shakespeare's "The Merchant of Venice".
William Shakespeare's "The Merchant of Venice" is a play. In this play Portia makes a famous speech "The Quality of Mercy". Portia disguised as a lawyer makes this speech. She makes an appeal to Skylock the Jew, who has demanded a pound of flesh from Antonio, on his failure to repay debt.
Portia begs Skylock for showing mercy on Antonio. She tells that mercy is not forced on anyone. It should flow naturally like a rain. The person showing mercy is blessed and the person receiving mercy is also blessed. Therefore mercy is twice blessed.
" It blesseth him that gives and him that takes"
A King is mighty because of his earthly power. But when mercy is enthroned in his heart he becomes more mightier.
Mercy is a divine quality. The heart of a king is the seat of mercy. Mercy is far higher than earthly power. A man gets the status of a God when he softens justice with mercy.
Portia begs Skylock to be merciful to Antonio. God is all merciful. When we meet our creator, we seek mercy from him. We pray to God to be forgiven and expect God to temper Judgement with mercy.
Thus Shakespeares genius is seen here in this passage, where he highlights the quality of mercy.
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