The Merchant of Venice, act IV, scene 1.

• Author: Berch, Rebecca White
• Position: Law-based books as an inspiration to lawyers and judges

Many lawyers and judges have been inspired by legal masterpieces such as The Bramble Bush, or The Path of the Law, or The Nature of the Judicial Process. (1) But long before I met a lawyer or subjected myself to torture by case method, my interest in the law was piqued by the trial scene in Shakespeare's masterpiece, The Merchant of Venice.

This short essay does not permit a full analysis of Merchant, or even just its trial scene. Much ink has been devoted to these topics. (2) Instead, my purpose is to explain why this snippet of literature deserves a place alongside the great law-based books as an inspiration to lawyers and judges.

For those who have forgotten or repressed the story of The Merchant of Venice to make room for canons of construction or other legal principles, here is a reminder of the essential facts relating to the trial scene: The moneylender Shylock lends 3000 ducats to his enemy, Antonio. (3) The contract memorializing the loan does not call for interest, but provides that if Antonio fails to repay the debt on time, he must sacrifice a pound of flesh, to be taken from "nearest his heart," (4) a penalty sure to result in Antonio's death. Antonio wants the money to lend to his friend Bassanio so that he can court the beautiful Portia. (5) Antonio relies confidently on his laden ships' safe return to enable him to repay the loan. (6) After we later hear that the ships have vanished at sea, (7) Shylock demands enforcement of the contract, bringing us to the trial scene.

In an attempt to save Antonio's life, Portia, who is by then Bassanio's betrothed, enters the courtroom disguised as Balthasar, a Doctor of Laws. (8) She questions Shylock, who demands to enforce the contract as written, despite Antonio's friends' offer to recompense Shylock more than the value of the debt. Portia delivers the beautiful and moving "quality of mercy" speech, entreating Shylock to have mercy on Antonio. (9) She tells him of the Godlike goodness of mercy, but Shylock refuses the judge's entreaty. (10)

Shylock insists that he seeks only what the contract entitles him to, neither more nor less. (11) He is pleased when Portia notes the importance of enforcing agreements. But she then turns the tables. She observes that the contract says nothing about spilling any blood and warns Shylock that, if he draws any of Antonio's blood, he will have committed attempted murder, a serious crime under Venetian law. (12)

The shift in Shylock's fortunes is stunning. From appearing initially as the greedy yet probably victorious litigant, Shylock swiftly becomes the loser in every sense. Not only does the court deny him his pound of flesh, he also cannot recover the money he loaned to Antonio. (13) Worse still, Shylock is threatened with death, forced to give half of his fortune to Antonio and the other half to the Stale, and required to convert to Christianity (even if only in name). (14)

As an adolescent, I found the powerful message and beautiful cadence of Portia's "quality of mercy" speech moving. I admired a woman who could so eloquently entreat others to act in accord with their higher nature. Although I did not know then the names of the legal concepts involved, the premises seemed not open to debate: that civilized communities enforce commercial contracts generally, yet do not allow people to be killed for not paying monetary debts--especially when the borrower's friends offer to repay the loan, but the lender simply declines to accept the money. On that commonsense level, I saw little relationship between the contract entered into and the required forfeiture of Shylock's estate and renunciation of his religion. My sense of playground justice told me that the...