twitter
rss

Week 5 blog prompt

1. Is there true justice? Why?
I think that there is no true justice in the scene. Shylock seek justice to take revenge against Antonio but in the end, the justice was twisted by Portia where he was allowed to take the penalty he seeks, Antonio's flesh, but could not take a drop of Antonio's blood. Portia uses justice to twist the law which it was impossible for human to take flesh without dropping a drop of blood. Thus I believe that the court was more of a trick to trap Shylock instead of giving true justice to Shylock.


2. Is there true mercy, as expounded by Portia? Why?
I think that true mercy was indeed given to Shylock. Portia and Bassanio requested Shylock more than 3 times for mercy, and I think that it is true mercy given to him because I believe that Portia already know how to trick Shylock into her trap but still giving him a chance to rescue himself. Also, I believe that Antonio has also given Shylock mercy by allowing him to convert to Christianity. Although this could be seen as an insult to Shylock, but I believe that Antonio did view it as mercy given to Shylock.

3. Justice and Law can be manipulated by people in power. Comment on this with reference to the text and other real-life cases and examples.

I think that Justice and laws can of course be manipulated in the text but only available for certain circumstances in real life. With reference to the text, the Duke did said that 'With my power I may dismiss this court' which clearly indicated that Justice and Law can be banned under the power of people. Justice and laws were also manipulated by Portia, she uses her status as a lawyer to imply laws against Shylock and making him receive punishments instead of getting the justice that he wants. Similarly, in real life, we know that in a court, the people with the most power is usually the judge. Laws are created by human and could be changed by human too! Thus I believe that the judge are given the power to manipulate justice and laws. For a real-life example, In the Lockerbie bomber case, justice and laws are manipulated and the bomber was set free due to the decision of the judge. However, what mentioned above could only be available in certain circumstances. In most of the cases, judgement are given stick to the law and regardless how rich or how powerful is, the people in power usually unable to change the laws, because court is a place where every people should be treated equally.

3 comments |

3 comments:

  1. ℕⒿℕ
    August 1, 2011 at 3:39 AM

    Dear Yuet Tung,

    I am Jia Neng. I disagree with you that there is true mercy for Shylock. Antonio wanted Shylock to convert to Christianity can also be seen as a revenge. Antonio wanted to insult shylock's religion. When Shylock get converted to a christian, he betrayed his religion, his fellow Jews. Hence, i think that there is no mercy and the conversion to christianity is just a form of revenge.

    Thank you,
    Ng Jia Neng :):):):):):)
    http://literatureviewed.blogspot.com

  1. Lim Jerome
    August 6, 2011 at 7:54 PM

    Dear Yuet Tung,

    I am Jerome. Actually for whether there is true justice or not, I partially agree with you. It can be a yes or no. It all depends on the different perspectives. From Shylock's perspective, it is a no. Like what you have said, Portia just twists the words of the law a little and Shylock loses the case. In a sense this is unfair. Also, Portia is a woman and is not allowed in court at that time as women are considered to be clever. But in the court's perspective, there is true justice. Since Shylock has said that he wants true justice, Portia gave him the justice he wants. The bond does not say that there would be blood from Antonio's flesh, so by right Shylock should only get Antonio's flesh.

    For the true mercy, I also partially agree with you. There is a yes and no. The court is merciful not to take Shylock's life away and Antonio also suggested that Shylock be converted to Christianity. This is good because he will lead a better life. But in a sense it is not true mercy because Shylock will be mocked by the Jews and he may be homeless.

    Overall good blog prompt but need to think of the different sides of the points.

    Please comment on my blog too!:) (http://the-world-of-volkswagen.blogspot.com/)

    Thanks.

    Regards,
    Jerome

  1. LNJK
    August 19, 2011 at 9:08 AM

    I am Leon Ng from 2O2. One should think from different perspectives because when Antonio wanted Shylock to convert to Christianity, he might be going it out of kindness but to Shylock, this is not at all mercy, rather it was a form of insult and torture as he would be ostracized by both the Jews and Christians. I agree with you about the point that it is impossible to drip no blood when removing flesh. I find this utterly nonsensical and disturbing. I also think that you raised a good point about the Christians showing mercy. In the courtroom, Portia probably already had her argument yet she still plead for the mercy of Shylock because she wanted to give him a chance but Shylock vengefully and vindictively denied. I disagree with your last sentence. Although everyone should be treated equally in the courtroom, the jury is made up of humans, ans the fairness of the verdict will have to depend on the jury. The stereotypes of the jury will be brought into the court when one side will suffer while the other gains.

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)