THE QUALITY OF MERCY

William Shakespeare (1564-1616) of Stratford-upon-Avon is England's, and the world's, most noted playwright. Shakespeare lived during the reigns of Queen Elizabeth l (1558-1603) and King James l (1603-1625), who commissioned the Authorized King James Version of the Holy Bible, published in 1611.

William was born to John and Mary Shakespeare, and baptized on April 26, 1564, one of eight children. It is evident from his plays that he was moved by his studies of Greek and Latin classics. He married Anne Hathaway at age eighteen, and they had three children, Susanna, and the twins Hamnet and Judith. The death of his only son Hamnet at age eleven was devastating for Shakespeare, and proved a powerful influence on his Tragedy Hamlet.

Shakespeare's popularity rests on his perceptive understanding of human nature. His 34 plays are generally divided into Tragedies, such as Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet, Othello, King Lear, MacBeth, Julius Caesar, and Antony and Cleopatra; Comedies, as the Merchant of Venice, A Midsummer's Night Dream, Much Ado about Nothing, and the Taming of the Shrew; and Histories, such as King Richard the Second, the Life and Death of King John, and All Is True (on Henry VIII).

This beautiful piece on mercy is from The Merchant of Venice, first performed in 1596 and published in 1600, when Portia speaks to Shylock in Act IV, Scene I.

The Quality of Mercy

The quality of mercy is not strained.
It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven
Upon the place beneath. It is twice blest:
It blesseth him that gives and him that takes.
Tis mightiest in the mightiest; it becomes
The throned monarch better than his crown.
His scepter shows the force of temporal power,
The attribute to awe and majesty,
Wherein doth sit the dread and fear of kings.
But mercy is above this sceptered sway;
It is enthroned in the hearts of kings;
It is an attribute of God himself;
And earthly power doth then show like God's
When mercy seasons justice.

William Shakespeare
1600


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