Mercy Trumps Justice

Mercy

Write a new post in response to today’s one-word prompt. 

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Justice is when you get what you deserve.

Grace is when you get what you don’t deserve.

Mercy is when you don’t get what you deserve.

I’m teaching a group of high school homeschoolers Shakespeare’s Merchant of Venice.  One of the important themes is mercy.  Portia’s speech is perhaps the most well-known speech in the play. Shylock had demanded a pound of flesh instead of monetary interest if his loan to Antonio could not be repaid. Portia’s pleas was to let mercy prevail over justice.

Indeed, we could all benefit by showing a bit more mercy in these troubled times.

 

The quality of mercy is not strained;
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:
‘T is 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 enthronèd 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. I have spoke thus much
To mitigate the justice of thy plea;
Which if thou follow, this strict court of Venice
Must needs give sentence ‘gainst the merchant there.

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