The Merchant Of Venice: Why The Main Themes Are Still Actual?

Justice and Mercy are both relevant topics to the story and to modern-day life. Even though it was expected to be around 423 years ago when it was written and played. Shakespeare uses justice and mercy to show what wrong could be done with it such as people like Shylock taking advantage of it and using it against others to benefit himself. He also used justice and mercy as qualities of god and this is shown when Portia says “Droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven Upon the place beneath” and this meant justice was raining from above which was a thing that God did. Shakespeare also used Portia to say “The throned monarch better than its crown” this was also an attribute of God and which is why Shakespeare used it. In conclusion, Shakespeare used this concept because he wanted to show himself.

This concept of justice and mercy is represented to the court and from the money owed. This is evident in many scenes such as where Bassanio is begging Shylock to give mercy to Antonio and in return, he would pay him thrice the amount. However, Shylock wanted justice over Antonio and also wanted all his belongings so he declined the offer but in return, he ended up losing all of his belongings because of all his greed and selfishness. It is also shown in the scene where Shylock is begging Antonio for mercy after the tables had turned everything Shylock owned would be taken away. Antonio showed mercy to Shylock by taking his property and in return, he had to supply Lorenzo and Jessica with a rough start. Mercy is also shown when Antonio gives a chance to Shylock to change to a better person by converting from a Jew to a Christian even though Antonio knew it was the worst punishment he could’ve done. Another scene is when Portia gives judgment over Shylock and gives mercy to Antonio. Furthermore, in this scene, Portia gives justice over Shylock by punishing him by taking all his property because of all his greed and hate for Antonio. She also gives mercy to Antonio by saving him from Shylock’s hate towards him by getting rid of the bond against Antonio.

Justice and mercy is relevant to the modern-day world because of many reasons one being in court where most justice is served to criminals and other bad things. Another example of justice is the laws as it supports justice by putting down wrongdoing and tries giving justice to criminals. Mercy could be giving someone a second chance, such as in court when something bad has happened but the judge shows mercy and give them a better sentence. Some small sentences would be to only change the person and try giving them a second chance to redeem themselves. Justice and mercy are relevant in my life and most others as people have been through the same thing. This is parents when they try showing justice to all the wrongdoings that we all do and this is through their punishments. Mercy is shown when parents are willing to give us a second chance and do not punish us harshly as we should’ve been.

Therefore justice and mercy are relevant to our modern world because of how important and essential it is to our world or otherwise the world would be in chaos. It’s relevant to our world to show justice to all the evildoers.