This 'zzz' blog is based on Merchant of Venice Act 4 Scene 1.
1) Is there true justice? Frankly speaking I don't think so. Portia purposely twisted the law so that the law backfires to Shylock, which is not actually the intended result or true justice.
2) Is there true mercy in the scene? It may seem so at the first glance when Portia and Antonio give Shylock a chance to evade death by taking his properties and convert him to Christianity, but actually it's highly debatable. During Shakespeare's times, Christians and Jews are potential enemies and converting to another religion means betraying their original religion and to think of converting to a religion you discriminate really gives you a guilty and uncomfortable feeling doesn't it? Antonio and Portia and other Christians in the court may view Shylock's conversion to Christianity as an act of mercy, but to Shylock is it really so? I think not. Shylock even propose to die rather than be converted to Christianity in the trial scene.
3) Justice and Law can be manipulated by people in power? Well, let's view this issue from two sides. On one side, justice and law are just and fair, and every people who disobey the law will get the same punishment for every people regardless of rank or power. On the other side, however, these punishments are usually imposed by the judge, and a person with a higher rank or greater power will try to force the judge to lighten the punishment or even judge them not guilty in exchange for some benefits. This is obviously a second against-the-law-and-justice act(for the judge, first for the client).
Let's relate this topic to the MOV trial scene again. Notice that the intended justice of Shylock of getting a pound of Antonio's flesh (meaning sentencing Antonio to death) was entirely manipulated and now the arrow, first facing Antonio, faces Shylock as Portia(the people in power?) twisted the law against him, thus making this entirely going the wrong way, achieving the wrong result. While it may seem that Portia is an intelligent girl, her aim is to save Antonio's life and thus she has to do this since she could not beg for Shylock's mercy of sparing his life.
As a Malaysian who knows a bit of Malaysia's politics, as far as I know the judge as well as the police (and most of the Malays?) supports the current ruling party, the Barisan Nasional. They gave a lot of incentives to Malays and the natives, however biased against the Chinese and the Indians. In courts, such cases happen A LOT. As what I said, a lot of people with power accused of committing a crime-and at rare times even confirmed'-turned out to be innocent instead! This is totally going against law and justice. Some things which I feel that is too bizarre is that former prime ministers, the so-called "Tuns", will not be sentenced to prison or death no matter what crime or how many crimes he committed unless he commits a very serious crime.
In conclusion, to solve this issue largely depends on the person, notably the judges. If a judge are fair and just, justice and law will not be manipulated no matter how much power his client holds. Likewise if the judge is afraid of the client for the power he/she holds, justice and law will surely be manipulated.
Hi Charles, you should know who I am, I am Wei Hng(just in case you don't know). I think you should elaborate more on why isn't there true justice in MoV, you argument is weak and you do not provide any good example to support your point. But you do provide a very good example to claim that there is no mercy in MoV, your stand is not clear, though. You have also stated clearly that mercy and justice can be manipulated by people in power, but your argument is one-sided I think, you do not state clearly how justice and mercy can be done fairly.
ReplyDeleteOverall, your blog relates to your theme--L.O.L.