Blog Prompt #5 - Justice and Mercy

1. Is there true justice? Why?

2. Is there true mercy, as expounded by Portia? Why?

3. Justice and Law can be manipulated by people in power. Comment on this with reference to the text and other real-life cases and examples.

1) No, I don't believe that there is true justice in this world. There will always be exceptions and things that can defy the power of justice. Although we always try to make unbiased decisions, justice is not totally black and white; there is a grey area. Our past prejudices will act against how we make our decisions, for example, those with different religions and races, and those with different wealth. Moreover, the people can change and obstruct justice to their own means. 

2) I do not believe there is true mercy. True mercy does not always happen at important situations. Look at the trial scene in Merchant of Venice. Shylock had declined all offers, including the six thousand ducats that Bassanio offers, and was only determined to get his pound of flesh, or simply killing Antonio. He has not shown any form of mercy towards Antonio. The hatred in his heart only tells him to get rid of Antonio. Nothing else. However, Shylock eventually gets trapped by Portia. The duke showed mercy by not killing Shylock for threatening the life of a Venetian. Shylock, on the other hand, did not think that the punishment meted out was any merciful as he had to convert to Christianity, and he was stripped of his profession. Thus, in the trial scene, we can conclude that there is no form of true mercy, and that applies to the modern society too.

3) Yes, Justice and Law can be manipulated by people in power. In the MOV trial scene, Portia manipulated the law to turn against Shylock and let him receive punishment instead of his much yearned revenge. Justice is manipulated to the favour of the majority and the minority definitely have the lower hand, such as the Venetians (Christians) and Jews in MOV. In real life, people with power and wealth constantly abuse their power and use it in their own means; if they are determined to do this, they will do it no matter what. They will use bribes, blackmail, and in any retarded way they will still do it. I am shocked. Retarded people like Dominic Strauss-Kahn abused his power as the Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund and did perverted things which I wouldn't want to state. After everything was revealed, he paid a enormous sum of cold hard cash and was released out for custody. Even though the maid's statements might be unreliable, we can see that with money and power, anything is possible, right to the point where justice is manipulated, changed and abused. It's still outright possible.