"I'll have my bond": The Concept of Justice in The Merchant of Venice

The Merchant of Venice is so often seen as a commentary of anti-Semitism that it's hard to see the message of the play as anything but. The play's most famous line "If you prick us, do we not bleed?" seems to affirm Shakespeare's sympathies towards Jews.

But alas, the meaning of a play does not hinge upon the popularity of one line (or, more accurately, a few lines, as in Shylock's speech). No doubt Shakespeare shows that he disdains prejudices or anti-Semitism through these famous words; but I would argue that he writes these words not because he is trying to paint a favourable picture of Shylock. Apart from this scene, Shylock is not meant to be likable; and in fact, throughout the play, he is depicted as the antagonist.

This isn't to say that Shakespeare himself was anti-Semitic. In fact, these lines do clearly show the awareness that Shakespeare has towards the individuality and humanity of Jews. But I read these lines as a sort of disclaimer to say that he is not prejudiced against Jewish people, before he finally moves on to address the meaning of the play.

It is interesting that Shylock's speech, starting out as a plea of for sympathy, for some human connection, dissolves into this angry diatribe about revenge. And I think why Shylock's speech ended the way it did was because, although Shakespeare is not insulting Jews per se (as we remember from his "disclaimer"), he is trying to show the skewed concept of justice that we as humans have.

The play as a whole teases out the tension between the supposed dichotomy of justice and grace. It seems as if they are both opposing ends of a spectrum, and are generally irreconcilable. And the danger is when people fall into either extremes. On one end, there is the exacting, self-righteous, sanctimonious Shylock, who wants justice and disdains mercy, without realising that he himself is in need of grace too. As Portia (disguised as Balthazar) tells Shylock,

"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."

But Shylock is unable to see this. He is unable to understand the concept of grace. So when Portia finally turns the law against him, he sees how much he falls short of it, and how he too cannot be perfect under the cold, hard law.

But this does not in any sense mean that Shakespeare is endorsing lawlessness, or that the law should be ignored. That would be veering to the other extreme: to think that the law could be bent, flouted, ignored, or twisted to how we want it to be is equally dangerous. There is this part which I found really significant,

Bassanio:     [...] And, I beseech you, / Wrest once the law to your authority. /  To do a great right, do a little wrong, / And curb this cruel devil of his will.

Portia:           It must not be. There is no power in Venice / Can alter a decree established. / 'Twill be recorded for a precedent, / And many an error by the same example / Will rush into the state. / It cannot be.

Very adamantly, Portia says that the law cannot be wrested, as Bassanio advises her to do. The law cannot simply be done away with.

What Shakespeare is basically getting at here is that "mercy seasons justice", that the notions of grace and justice are not antithetical... at least not in a Christian context. Grace does not supplant the law. Without understanding the law, without understanding how far we all have fallen short of adhering to it, we would not be able to understand our need for grace.

Measure for Measure deals with a lot of the same themes as well, and it's interesting that Shakespeare draws his title from Matthew 7:2, hinting at the hypocrisy of humans who demand justice, when we too are found wanting. In this play, there is more explicitly the depiction of grace as being something given, something granted by the offended person. It's interesting that the spotlight is on the Duke in this trial, which points to the importance of a judge, of a person who is able to interpret the law correctly, who doesn't make a calculated decision that is literally by-the-law, but instead judges based on the character of the guilty as well. What does means is that grace is given to those who are repentant (Angelo), and that justice is dealt to those who aren't (Luccio). The Law alone is not a sufficient judge of who is in the wrong or in the right - because a person's intentions, attitudes, motivations factor into a crime. It takes a judge to be able to weigh up all these factors and decree the appropriate sentence. That is the original principle of "measure for measure", "eye for an eye" statement in the Old Testament that many people distorted. It wasn't advocating retribution or revenge, it was in fact showing how the punishment should befit the crime. Thus, the play ends with the Duke, the allegory of God, who metes out justice and grace accordingly, by his perfect and impartial judgment.