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Trail scene in The Merchant of Venice

The Trail scene in The Merchant of Venice is one of the greatest scenes in the whole range of Shakespearean drama. Here Shylock  who first seems to have succeeded in his revengeful desire for a pound of Antonio’s flesh to be cut off from his bosom, is subsequently thwarted  in his purpose by the sagacity of Portia’s who is a woman disguised as  a man.

Antonio borrowed money for his friend Bassanio from Shylock on the condition that if Antonio fails to repay the money within three  months; Shylock would have the right to cut off a pound of flesh from any part of Antonio’s body he likes. Antonio has forfeited the bond and Shylock is now demanding he pound he pound of flesh. The case is at last brought before the Venetian court of law.

At first the Duke arises to melt Shylock heart to show mercy to Antonio referring to the heavy losses of Antonio. Assanio offers Shylock “twice the sum” to show mercy to Antonio. But Shylock rejects the appeal and is relentlessly demanding the pound of flesh. So, here Antonio is in such a condition that he tells Bassanio:

“I am tainted wether of the flock.

Meetest for death: the weakest kind of fruit

Drops earliest to the ground; and so let me ”

Then comes the turn of Portia. She also asks Shylock to show mercy to Antonio. But Shylock asks why he will show mercy. Then Portia makes a famous “Quality of Mercy” speech, one of the celebrated passages in Shakespearean drama. A few of these lines are:

“The quality of mercy is not strained

It droppeth as the gentle rain form heaven

Upon the place beneath; it is twice blessed.

It blesseth him that gives and his that takes:

‘Tis mightiest in the mightest”

But Shylock remains unmoved to the appeals for mercy. He wants the law to be enforced. Portia now says that Shylock is entitled to a pound of Antonio’s flesh and Shylock is delirious with joy and calls the judge a Daniel. But when Shylock gets ready to cut off the flesh, Portia plays her trump card by bidding Shylock:

"Take then the bond, take thou the pound of flesh

But in the cutting it, if thou dost shed

One drop of Christian blood, thy lands and goods

Are by the laws of Venice confiscate

Unto the State of Venice."

Thus Shylock cannot have the pound of flesh. Even when he is going to leave the court Portia says that of a foreigner plots against the life of a Venetian citizen the foreigner forfeits all his possessions, the one half of them going to the victim, the other half to the state while his life things on the mercy of the Duke. Shylock is now completely  caught in his own net. Though the duke pardons his life, he is compelled to turn a Christian.

Thus the punishment which Shylock receives at the end of The trail scene is very excessive. It proves that precise legal justice is often gross injustice. The Trail scene is the climax of The Merchant of Venice. It is a “drama within a drama.”

 

You Can also Read:

• Write on Shakespeare's Characterization of Shylock.

• "The Merchant of Venice" is a Comedy of Incidents and not of Characters.

• Consider "The Merchant of Venice" as a Tragi-Comedy