Question

Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow:

Portia: The quality of mercy is not strained;              It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven              Upon the place beneath : it is twice blessed :             It blesseth him that gives and him that takes.             Tis mightiest in the mightiest; it becomes             The throned monarch better than his crown:

1. Where does this scene take place? Why Is Portia here?      [2]
2. To what is mercy compared in these lines?      [2]
3. Why does Portia call mercy ‘twice blessed’?
   Explain the lines:
   ‘Tis mightiest in the mightiest: it becomes
   the throned monarch better than his crown:      [3]
4. Later in her speech Portia mentions a sceptre. What is a sceptre?
   How, according to Portia, is mercy above the ‘sceptred sway’?    [3]

Answer 1

1. The scene takes place in the court of justice in Venice.
   Portia and Nerissa, disguised as lawyer and clerk, were there in the courtroom to defend Antonio against Shylock's inhuman claim to cut a pound of flesh from Antonio's body for forfeiting a bond which he had signed as a guarantee for the repayment of a loan of three thousand ducats.
2. Portia compares mercy to the gentle rain from heaven. It blesses the person who shows mercy by way of getting happiness in the generous act, and the one who is at the receiving end also benefits from the act. Mercy looks better in a king than his crown.
3. Portia says that the person who grants mercy is equally blessed as the one who receives it. This is because mercy is a characteristic of God, and the person who grants it is acting with the spirit and majesty of God. Thus, mercy is twice blessed: it blesses the one who gets the merciful treatment and the one who grants it.
4. Sceptre is the insignia of kingship. It represents power. The line "But mercy is above this sceptred sway" means that the king's sceptre is the emblem of his worldly power. It is the symbol of fear which kingship inspires in others. But mercy is higher and greater than the worldly authority which is symbolized by rod.