The Constitution of Mercy
A Merchant of Venice Oneshot
Disclaimer: I do not own Merchant of Venice. Shakespeare did, and whatever publishing company/companies do.
In fair and quiet Belmont- which lay across the water from bustling Venice and its great population- in a waterfront castle, a princess paced.
Portia, the fair owner of the equally fair estate, had begun to pace- after receiving word from her husband's dear friend Antonio many fortnights ago, she had inadvertently condemned a crazed man to a fate that he both did and did not deserve. She had debated with herself many times after the trial if what Antonio did was too cruel, or if the moneylender had sealed his fate.
Walking out to the balcony that overlooked the river, she thought back to the seemingly innocuous letter that lay upon the table. She sighed, Jessica's father had had several fits of madness, and she knew that his daughter, her husband and her husband's friends were not a positive influence on the broken man.
Portia knew now the sequence of events in Shylock's life that caused him to lose himself: the constant social mockery and belittling, the loss of business, his young daughter eloping with a man who tormented him, stealing from him and selling her mother's ring for a monkey... As Portia stared into the waning day, she found herself thinking more and more about the 'merciful' verdict given to the usurer.
"Mercy? What constitutes mercy? Is making a man so against Christianity convert, and be guided by men he loathes, to never see that which gave him business, or his own flesh and blood, and would now rather die than live, live mercy?" She fell once more into thoughtful silence- a silence broken only by the clicking of boot heels and Nerissa's voice searching out for her.
At the same time, in Venice, Antonio stood, breaking out of the melancholic daze he had been stewing in for the past hour. His younger compatriots had absconded earlier to indulge themselves in Venetian wine and the torment of the newly converted Shylock. The former moneylender, he mused, steadfastly kept trying to off himself via any convenient rope, dagger or canal and, Gratiano, ever the braying jack, had kept ribbing the distraught man to these extreme means.
'That was justice- after all,' the man would shout, 'he was after your 'ead!' But, Antonio reflected, was it really justice?
Hearing the intoxicated.. yowling.. of his younger fellows, the thought of pushing the offenders out of his mason was alluring, but not the Christian thing- 'no, no, 'twould be barbaric..'- to do.
A few hours later in Belmont at Portia's castle-villa...
It was now night, and Lorenzo had returned with his new riches- precious stones, gold, silver and copper bands- to shower upon his Jessica. The girl, for her part reveled in riches gifted to her. Portia had been shocked to hear that the younger had sold her mother's ring- a ring that she could have given to her daughter as a memento, or to her daughter-in-law as a dower.. She shook her head. The girl is young, she would remind herself, but to give an heirloom such as a mother's ring in exchange for a monkey and promises of love- and promises of riches more than her moneylender father could have provided...
It had prompted much thinking for Portia on what the younger women believed in for love and marriage- she and Nerissa had married their husbands for love, her own mother and father had married out of necessity- but the pair of younger adults? It seemed that rebellion from the norms, riches and- if she heard Lorenzo correctly before he left most recently- an escape from another (possible) fiancée, were the driving forces behind the matrimonial union. Portia sighed, she hoped that Lorenzo and Jessica's love would last, she hoped that the pair's love held true...
Fin
Thank you, whomever deigned to read this! I sincerely hope you enjoyed the read!