The Quality of Mercy

Of Justice, Social and Otherwise

“How does one man assert his power over another, Winston?“

Winston thought. “By making him suffer”, he said.

“Exactly. By making him suffer. Obedience is not enough. Unless he is suffering, how can you be sure that he is obeying your will and not his own? Power is in inflicting pain and humiliation.” ~George Orwell, “1984”

Invoking Orwell nowadays is as ubiquitous as the abuse of Godwin’s law, but the above excerpt is germane to my subject. 

I’m a classically trained actor and Shakespeare scholar. The English of Shakespeare and his contemporaries was a living language; it was being fresh-minted daily, in the plays and poetry of the time. Digging into the complexities of language, and studying the historical and cultural contexts in which these works were written are obsessions of mine. Shakespeare may be an “old dead white guy,” but there’s a reason he’s endured for over 400 years. Shakespeare belongs to us all. Shakespeare belongs to the World. Ask Akira Kurosawa.

I’ve been musing upon some Shakespeare parallels that have resonance for today’s racial and cultural angst. I’ve been thinking about the righteousness and wrongness of Shylock, and Portia’s immortal speech about Mercy.

Okay, “Cliffs Notes.” In Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice, Shylock, an orthodox Jew and money lender, enters into a bond with his enemy, the rich merchant Antonio, an antisemite who has humiliated, shamed and marginalized Shylock—but has the chutzpah to ask for a loan. Shylock lashes out:

You call me misbeliever, cutthroat dog,

 And spet upon my Jewish gaberdine,

 And all for use of that which is mine own.

 Well then, it now appears you need my help.

 Go to, then. 

Shylock makes the loan, with the caveat that if Antonio defaults, he will pay a pound of his own flesh.  Antonio’s arrogance is such that he agrees to allow the butchery of his own body, thinking it will never happen. Sure enough, as fate would have it, his ships are sunk and his fortune is lost. Bankrupted and unable to pay, Antonio seeks redress from the courts to defend him from Shylock’s exaction of the penalty he signed off on—essentially, his own death.

Edmund Kean as Shylock

Meantime, Shylock has lost everything: his daughter, his wealth and his good name, and he’s intent not just on restitution, but revenge.

TRIGGER WARNING: the following 400 year old speech contains references to slavery.

In a speech to the court that is breathtaking even today, Shylock demands his bond, whilst calling out the assemblage of gentiles for their barbaric practice of slavery:

What judgment shall I dread, doing no wrong?

You have among you many a purchased slave,

 Which, like your asses and your dogs and mules,

 You use in abject and in slavish parts

 Because you bought them. Shall I say to you

 “Let them be free! Marry them to your heirs!

 Why sweat they under burdens? Let their beds

 Be made as soft as yours, and let their palates

 Be seasoned with such viands”? You will answer

 “The slaves are ours!” So do I answer you:

 The pound of flesh which I demand of him

 Is dearly bought; ’tis mine and I will have it.

Knife in hand, Shylock is ready to carve out his revenge. Bassanio rushes into the courtroom, ready not just to repay the loan, but to double the money due. But Shylock? He’s been pushed too far and lost too much and he wants his pound of flesh.  He has his oppressor right where he wants him. And he’s righteous.

Portia, in male drag as Antonio’s lawyer (I’m telling you kids, Mr. Shakespeare invented genderqueer) intervenes, admonishing Shylock with the famous “Quality of Mercy” speech. Now, just for our brains: in this context, and in Elizabethan English, “Quality” means capacity and “mercy” means forgiveness. “Strain’d” is constrained.

The quality of mercy is not strain’d,

It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven

Upon the place beneath: it is twice blest;

It blesseth him that gives and him that takes:

‘Tis mightiest in the mightiest: it becomes

The throned monarch better than his crown;

His sceptre shows the force of temporal power,

The attribute to awe and majesty,

Wherein doth sit the dread and fear of kings;

But mercy is above this sceptred sway;

It is enthroned in the hearts of kings,

It is an attribute to God himself;

And earthly power doth then show likest God’s

When mercy seasons justice. Therefore, Jew,

Though justice be thy plea, consider this,

That, in the course of justice, none of us

Should see salvation: we do pray for mercy;

And that same prayer doth teach us all to render

The deeds of mercy.

It’s a potent appeal. Tragically, Shylock presses his suit, only to be thwarted by Portia’s cleverness. She concedes the pound of flesh, but only if it can be extracted without spilling a drop of blood. Nothing about blood in the fine print of that contract. Shylock loses everything because his desire for blood overtakes his humanity, yes, but in practical terms, he acts against his own self interest. He pushes it. And pays.

Which somehow, gentle reader, brings me back round to Orwell. Hear me out.

I’ve been in the kind of workspace where the work at hand is jettisoned, and a spontaneous social justice ritual enters the room and takes over. There is an insistence upon the imposition of terms and ideology, behavior and inter-company vigilance that quite frankly, crosses the line. In the industry of theatre, where I’ve worked more than three decades, this is antithetical to the creation of good work. Yet, even in this time of historic, unprecedented, extraordinary visibility, opportunity and representation for BIPOC artists and stories in all media, there still has to be this atmosphere of psychological abuse and division? Why not celebrate, all of us, the way the arts has championed diversity, riding a wave of societal verve and purpose. All of my brilliant BIPOC coaching clients are riding that wave, and finding fantastic work in theatre, film and TV. So why do people still want blood? Why the need to make others suffer?

I can’t posit any useful opinion or stand on the subject of Reparations. I am sure there’s a just and meaningful answer to it. I am not equipped or qualified to even speculate. But I do know that meaningful change is happening. I just feel so strongly that the more militant, more—as James Lindsay might say—neo-Marxist elements of the social justice movement and DEI industry are bringing negativity and stress to the interactions between people, and ultimately fomenting racism of all sorts.

Though justice be thy plea, consider this, that in the course of justice, none of us should see salvation: we do pray for mercy; and that same prayer doth teach us all to render the deeds of mercy.

We must forgive each other. Forgive ourselves. Forgive all the long dead, flawed humans who came before us and did their best. Or worst. We must render the deeds of mercy. I really believe this. Grievance is a bottomless well. It devours your life. As Viktor Frankl wrote: “Even when it is not fully attained, we become better by striving for a higher goal.”

A Zissen Pesach. Happy Easter. Ramadan Mubarak.

Forgiveness does not mean ignoring what has been done or putting a false label on an evil act. It means, rather, that the evil act no longer remains as a barrier to the relationship. Forgiveness is a catalyst creating the atmosphere necessary for a fresh start and a new beginning.” ~Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.