1) Is there true justice?
No. there is no true Justice. Justice is the rightful consequence that results in the fulfillment of a specific law. Laws are set by people and people can never be fair. At times, justice removes people of their free will and cause them suffering. In other words, justice is also injustice. Those under the hands of justice are facing injustice. When dealing with the law, one is dealing with justice and it is hard to arrive at a conclusion of both parties gaining or rather not losing anything or being harmed. Most likely, justice would cause one side to lose something.
On the other hand, there is also true justice. Many who had gone to the lawyers are in seek of justice as they felt that they have been denied what is rightfully theirs. With the help of justice one may be able to retrieve these. from these people's point of view, there is true justice.
In conclusion, whether there is true justice depends on your stand.
2) Is there true mercy, as expounded by Portia? Why?
There is both true and untrue mercy, as expounded by Portia. Lets talk about why there is true mercy first. In act 4 scene 1 of Merchant of Vernice, Shylock had been arguing with the Duke over his pound of flesh from Antonio. When being offered ducats, he rejected and asked for only the pound of flesh that is rightfully his, showing no sign of mercy towards Antonio. Clearly, Shylock wanted Antonio's life. In the end, Shylock got himself trapped and Portia had showed mercy by not killing Shylock. In return, Shylock was forced to convert to Christianity. From the people's point of view, mercy has been shown to Shylock as his life was spared.
However, from Shylock's point of view, mercy was not shown to him. Although his life was spared, he was forced to abandon his religion and give up his wealth. At the end, Shylock was left with nothing and was forced to continue living. In the end, there is no true mercy.
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.
Is is true that justice and law can be manipulated by people in power. For example, Portia in act 4 scene 1 had the power to manipulate law and justice. In real life, many powerful people in companies have power over many things some might even overwrite justice and the law.
Firstly, good choice of songs :) Really calmed my nerves.
ReplyDeleteNow, if there is no form of true justice, it means that justices is dependent and subjective to the point of view the various people take. If there is true justice, it would be like a standard math answer in a test, it is just that and nothing else. No argument will be made. However, since that is not the case, I guess that it is not true justice. The word that you should use should be 'justified' and not 'true justice'.
Yes I do agree that justice can be both 'true' or 'untrue'. This brings us back to the topic of whether there is true justice. In this case, we can see the difference in the point of view in justice.
Regarding your 3rd response, I suggest you input some real live examples to 'solidify' and strengthen your argument. However, it is true that many influential people have the ability to overwrite justice and law through bribe and threats to the government.