Shakespearean literature has been long commended by scholars for its incorporation of legal discourse into its plot structures that further paves way for interdisciplinary study of law. Practically all of Shakespearean texts are known to have tangential relation and relevance to legal practice but plays like “Merchant of Venice” have scenes that do not only depict a courtroom trial but also shed light on some key aspects and methods of dispute resolution that are arbitration, conciliation, negotiations and mediation.
“The merchant of Venice” is not only appreciated by literary enthusiasts but it has also generated great interest in Lawyers more than any other Shakespearean text, sparking profound commentary on the legal facets that are assessed academically. Before delving deep in to the legal themes entailed in the play, the substance of the prose will examine the definition of the term “Alternative Dispute Resolution” or ADR. Alternative Dispute Resolution refers to a repertoire of mechanism that can substitute court trials and largely entail discussions between the disputant parties.
These methods are also referred to as “out of court settlements”, whereby the parties involved in the dispute are encouraged to negotiate and find a solution to resolve their dispute. The ADR system is subdivided into the following categories that are negotiation, mediation and arbitration. The process of negotiation consists of dialogues between the disputant parties whereas, “arbitration” and “mediation” require the involvement of a third party to act as a mediator or conciliator in order to find a solution and make unbiased judgment in the matter. It is important to understand that the decisions in a dispute are non-binding if they are made t...
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... it is discussed earlier, the prior relationships of the disputant parties is both economic and social, which were intensified due to the bond between the two parties. Despite the legal nature of their case, mediation could have provided a valid resolution to the dispute as this process of dispute resolution assesses the situation beyond the officially authorized frame of justice, which in many ways fell short of providing a verdict that as fitting for the involved parties. It was also pointed by Prof. Carrie Menkel Meadow in her article titled “women as lawyers” used Portia as an epitome to demonstrate the fact that her participation in the trial was similar to that of an “advocate” than a “mediator”.
From an advocate’s perspective, Portia’s arguments were strong and she did a commendable job in not only saving Antonio’s life but also brought ruin to Shylock.
In 1977, Nils Christie wrote the essay, “Conflicts as Properties”, in which he discusses the four problems that occur within the western legal system. The four problems that affect the legal system in four ways is that the courts are always located in areas that people may not have easy access to locate, the courthouses are challenging to find your way around, the parties are irrelevant to much of the proceedings and the proceedings makes conflicts between the actual parties involved turn into conflicts between the State and the parties 2.
The trial was used to paint Abina as a complainer since there were other young girls who worked for Quamina Eddoo who did not report him or his sister. Another way Abina’s was silenced was the fact that her perspective was not recorded. Even though the court case was documented by an observer in the court, Abina’s personal narrative was not. It is probable to assume that Abina was illiterate since she was a slave from a young age and would not have been provided the opportunity of education. Due to this fact, the audience is unaware if the represented story of Abina is an accurate depiction of her story. The documented court hearing provides the reader with a strong sense of who the powerful men are in the room since the dialog was dominated by the men. Another reason why Abina’s story was quieted was because of her
In our democratic societies, rife with vice and disputes over justice, there might have already been similar cases as those of our plays. Perhaps, one had already committed matricide under external pressure(a gun to his/her head, or a beloved one), perhaps one breached the fence of law, in order to achieve goodness(ran a red light to get to his/her dying mother) or even perhaps, someone had unknowingly committed incest with his mother who had been separated at birth. With all these morally perplexing question, how then, can we reason our way through the contested terrain of justice and injustice, equity and inequity? As the Greek plays have provided us, is to encounter with a hard moral dilemma. To start with an opinion, or a conviction about justice just like the Greek playwrights did.
Undoubtedly Artemisia made a big effort to rehabilitate from the story of the rape through a combined marriage, but especially through her career. Unfortunately, the episode clouded part of the artistic achievements of Artemisia, who was long considered a “curiosity...
West, Rebecca. “A Court and World Infected by the Disease of Corruption.” Readings on Hamlet. Ed. Don Nardo. San Diego: Greenhaven Press, 1999. Rpt. from The Court and the Castle. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1957.
West, Rebecca. “A Court and World Infected by the Disease of Corruption.” Readings on Hamlet. Ed. Don Nardo. San Diego: Greenhaven Press, 1999. Rpt. from The Court and the Castle. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1957.
Foakes, R.A.. “The Play’s Courtly Setting.” Readings on Hamlet. Ed. Don Nardo. San Diego: Greenhaven Press, 1999. Rpt. of “Hamlet and the Court of Elsinore.” Shakespeare Survey: An Annual Survey of Shakespearean Study and Production. No. 9. Ed. Allardyce Nicoll. Cambridge, Eng.: Cambridge University Press, 1956.
One of the crucial aspects of the play, is the quality and responsibility of civic responsibility that is of paramount importance, that all members of the Jury uphold this virtue obsequiously. As we analyse the story more obsequiously, we can prevail the personalities of the juror’s and a rough basis of their respected virtues are to be seen more evidentially. Although there are some jurors who do not exceed presumptuous assumptions in the jury room, some characters in the play already have a ‘pre-conception’, respectively, towards the initial accusation towards the sixteen-year-old boy.
...ivisive agent, actually been voided, or only cast aside? Is Shylock and Antonio’s code of honor truly obsolete? A sense of false sincerity permeates the final scene. The temporal ambiguity between night and day with which the play ends suggests that a complete resolution has not been achieved. In being neither night nor day, it ends in a kind of dramatic unreality. Metatheatrical in its elevation of words and language, The Merchant of Venice is consciously distinct from the realism of the off-stage world. And yet in the course of its five acts, the play fails to define a solid dramatic “otherworld,” in which new values and authorities are introduced and made permanent. Rather, it seems to end ambiguously, and fragmented. It falls short of true resolution, and concludes with a statement of shortcoming, informing us that there are still “two hours to day” (V.i.325).
Because the setting in The Merchant of Venice is characterized by a hierarchy of gender roles in which males hold authority over females, a character like Portia’s father, one who reigns in authority over his daughter, is made possible. Additionally, the presiding social structure allows for his action of subjecting Portia to the mechanism which will determine her husband. Fortunately for Porti...
The ideological construct of justice is a salient theme in both Susan Glaspell’s Trifles and Sophocles’ Antigone. Both plays depend on a struggle between what is legally correct and what is morally acceptable to further the conflict present in both plots. But justice is a malleable term - its meanings are so varied that a universal definition is impossible. When a word loses clear definition, it loses its usefulness. Both Trifles and Antigone provide perfect illustrations of how English is mutating beyond the idea of justice as a useful linguistic construct.
Throughout the rest of the play we see Portia fight back not only through giving herself control of who she marries but also through deceiving the Duke into believing that she is a clever, young lawyer named Balthazar by writing a letter that the Duke receives from, supposedly, Bellario telling him that he cannot make the court hearing but he has sent a young man, a disguised Portia, called Balthazar to take his place. She starts the letter with flattery, saying, ‘Your Grace shall understand…’ This makes the Duke feel elevated and respected because Your Grace is a sign of humbleness showing respect and a feeling of status. She then writes that Bellario is ‘very sick’ so that the Duke would have sympathy for Bellario and therefore be more likely to agree to Balthazar being the prosecution councillor.
is unfolded, the reader sees a wife in love with the husband who was wise enough to earn her love (and consequently her fortune!). Beware, gentle reader! Do not fall under the spell of Portia the control freak! The following scenerios must be proof that this woman is not to be trusted!
Upon an initial examination of William Shakespeare’s play, The Merchant of Venice, a reader is provided with superficial details regarding the moral dilemmas embedded in the text. Further analysis allows a reader to recognize the multi-faceted issues each character faces as an individual in response to his or her surroundings and/or situations. Nevertheless, the subtle yet vital motif of music is ingrained in the play in order to offer a unique approach to understanding the plot and its relationship with the characters. Whether the appearance of music be an actual song or an allusion to music in a mythological or social context, the world of Venice and Belmont that Shakespeare was writing about was teeming with music. The acceptance or denunciation
...sfied with the outcome and resolution from the mediation session, the parties are given liberties to engage with a court procedure.