"The quality of mercy" is a quote by Portia in William Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice; it occurs during Act 4, Scene 1, set in a Venetian Court of Justice. It is the speech in which Portia begs Shylock for mercy.
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The speech is regarded as one of the great speeches in Shakespeare and is made by Portia, disguised as young lawyer Balthazar, who speaks with heightened eloquence to beg Shylock for mercy after traveling from the fictional town of Belmont to Venice.
Mercy and forgiveness are enduring themes that pervade Shakespeare's works. The quote is an example of the esteem Shakespeare held for those who showed mercy as expressed in his poetry. Shakespeare presented mercy as a quality most valuable to the most powerful, strongest and highest people in society.
Professor Harold Fisch, formerly of Bar-Ilan University, argued that the words of Deuteronomy 32:2, "My doctrine shall drop as the rain, my speech shall distil as the dew; as the small rain upon the tender grass, and as the showers upon the herb," were echoed in the first words of the speech, "The quality of mercy is not strained. / It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven / Upon the place beneath."
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