Can mercy and justice co-exist?
Firstly, I would like to define what these two terms mean. Justice refers to following the law by the book, punishing one for his acts which are considered wrong by the law. Mercy means to taking into consideration the circumstances of a situation that a person was in when he commits a mistake, giving him a lesser punishment, ultimately forgiving him. Some people find that both cannot co-exist as by showing mercy, justice would not be served as the convicted would be escaping with a lesser lighter sentence as compared to what is demanded of him. However, I believe that both of these two factors are able to co-exist peacefully.
Justice is a subjective term as everyone has different views to how justice should be served. Should we have an eye-for-eye system where each person should be punished according to how each crime was committed? Or should justice refer to punishment based on the circumstances that the crime was committed and its severity? It can be seen that justice has many different sides to it.
For me, I feel that mercy can co-exist with justice based on several factors: Circumstances of the crime and the severity of the crime. If the convicted was caught for committing henious crimes such as mass murder and arson, obviously mercy should not be shown to such criminals and justice should be served as charged. However, in circumstances where the crime is less serious than mercy can be taken into consideration if the person who committed the crime shows remorse for his/her mistakes and is willing to repent. When someone is willing to repent, we would be more willing to forgive and show mercy towards the accused. Also, we should take into account the mental state of the person as he committed the crime, is he was under the influence of drugs or alcohol, causing him to be unable to make proper decisions, than mercy can also be taken into consideration.
Hence, at the end of the day, I feel that justice and mercy can co-exist based on the different circumstances of the different crimes that were committed.
Monday, August 15, 2011
Friday, August 5, 2011
Term 3 Week 5 (Blogging Assignment)
In the play The Merchant of Venice, Shylock is potrayed as the main antagonist of the story. From the text iteslf, it is difficult to define what kind a character Shylock is, on one hand he is seen as a victim as racial discrimination and on the other he is seen as a vengeful person who is completely heartless. As such, I can only assume that Shakespeare's intention was to make the audience watching his play show more emphathy towards Jews but still stay true to the general sentiments towards the Jews then which were generally negative.
In one sense, he is potrayed as a victim of racial discrimination which can easily be supported by the racial remarks made by the characters such as Antonio and Bassanio:"The devil can cite Scripture for his purpose.
An evil soul producing holy witness
Is like a villain with a smiling cheek,
A goodly apple rotten at the heart:
O, what a goodly outside falsehood hath!"
These were quotes based in the scene where Bassanio attempts to borrow money from Shylock to fund his courtship of Portia. We can see that despite them requesting for a favour from Shylock, they nonetheless still criticize him. From this point of view, Shylock is represented as a victim of racial discrimination and undergoes all these criticism simply because he is a Jew. As such he should deserve our emphathy.
However, this sense of emphathy soon evaporates as he later manipulates Antonio into signing a bond that would allow Shylock to cut off one pound of flesh from Antonio if he fails to return the money on time which Antonio ultimately fails to do so in the end. Also, towards the end, Shylock turns from a man with feelings suffering from all of these injustice to an unfeeling man who remains hell-bent on taking revenge. Our emphathy towards him changes to a sense of anger when he cries for justice and refuses to show mercy to Antonio. As quoted:" My deeds upon my head!
I crave the law,
The penalty and forfeit of my bond."
As shown from this quote his seems to have lost his humanity and wants to kill Antonio there and then.
In conclusion, I feel that Shakespeare's intention was to raise awareness of the feelings of Jews during his era but at the same time not make it too obvious to keep in line with the norm of his time
In one sense, he is potrayed as a victim of racial discrimination which can easily be supported by the racial remarks made by the characters such as Antonio and Bassanio:"The devil can cite Scripture for his purpose.
An evil soul producing holy witness
Is like a villain with a smiling cheek,
A goodly apple rotten at the heart:
O, what a goodly outside falsehood hath!"
These were quotes based in the scene where Bassanio attempts to borrow money from Shylock to fund his courtship of Portia. We can see that despite them requesting for a favour from Shylock, they nonetheless still criticize him. From this point of view, Shylock is represented as a victim of racial discrimination and undergoes all these criticism simply because he is a Jew. As such he should deserve our emphathy.
However, this sense of emphathy soon evaporates as he later manipulates Antonio into signing a bond that would allow Shylock to cut off one pound of flesh from Antonio if he fails to return the money on time which Antonio ultimately fails to do so in the end. Also, towards the end, Shylock turns from a man with feelings suffering from all of these injustice to an unfeeling man who remains hell-bent on taking revenge. Our emphathy towards him changes to a sense of anger when he cries for justice and refuses to show mercy to Antonio. As quoted:" My deeds upon my head!
I crave the law,
The penalty and forfeit of my bond."
As shown from this quote his seems to have lost his humanity and wants to kill Antonio there and then.
In conclusion, I feel that Shakespeare's intention was to raise awareness of the feelings of Jews during his era but at the same time not make it too obvious to keep in line with the norm of his time
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