Justice AND Mercy in MOV

1) I think there is no true justice at the end of the trial scene. I must frankly admit that I am a supporter of Shylock. The bond clearly stated that Shylock would be getting the pound of flesh from Antonio when Antonio was unable to repay Shylock the sum of money he borrowed. However the manipulative nature of Portia and her intelligence in spotting the loopholes in the bond, adding to it the biased Duke had contributed to the prevention of true justice. Firstly Portia manipulated the whole court, firstly she manipulated Shylock's feeling luring him into the trap (Shylock want to seek for true justice), and at the point of time Shylock was being lured into the trap Portia used the play of words. She said that since the bond only stated that Shylock would cut off the one pound of flesh from Antonio so there should be no drop of blood. This is JUST A PLAY OF WORDS, how can there be no blood when you cut off flesh from someone's body. In the end Shylock instead of Antonio was punished.

At this point of time, I would also want to defend Shylock for his deeds. Shylock is known as the "villain" in the text but look at how Antonio treats Shylock, don't you think that Antonio is also the "villain". When Antonio wanted to lend money from Shylock, it was him that told Shylock that think of lending money to him as ending money to an enemy not a friend. Antonio has already made it clear so can't we say that Shylock was just listening to his instructions. Although having empathy and being forgiving is a good quality, however how many of us would still be forgiving after being insulted like how Antonio insulted Shylock. How many of us would turn the other cheek to be slapped after being slapped once. We often say we must have empathy, be forgiving but how many of us really did that. Shylock is also a human, he too will feel angry and urge for revenge thus I do not think that Shylock should be considered a "villain".

2)I think there was no true mercy. "Mercy" in the trial scene is used by Portia as a tool to trap Shylock. When Shylock realized the loophole in the bond, he decided not to pursue the matter. Bassanio asked him to take the ducats and go but it was Portia, the one who talked about "mercy" who stopped him and forced him into the situation where there was no turning back. Antonio thought that he was being merciful to let Shylock convert to Christianity and sparing his life. However by taking away the means he live and his religion, was the actions of the Christian Characters true mercy?

3)I agree that Justice and Law can be manipulated by people in power. From the text the Christian Venetians are considered the powerful people and they certainly manipulated Justice and Law. Portia used the play of words and her manipulative nature and manipulated law and justice. She being under-covered as a fake scholar,using the twist of words and controlled the court and the law. There was no true justice achieved at the end! In our modern day lives, this is also the scenario. Look at the Lockerbie bombing, there was a;ready evidence to say that the mastermind behind the Lockerbie bombing was Gaddafi, however he was not being convicted for his instigating the killings.

However in Singapore, Justice and Law can hardly be manipulated by people in power. In the Michael Faye vandalizing case, the punishment for him was to receive caning and indeed he received the punishment he should get despite appeals by the President of the US, Bill Clinton. This is a example where Justice and Law cannot be manipulated by people in power.