The Quality of Mercy

"I pray you, think you question with the Jew?
You may as well go stand upon the beach
And bid the main flood bate his usual height.
You may as well use question with the wolf
Why he hath made the ewe bleat for the lamb.
You may as well forbid the mountain pines
To wag their high tops and to make no noise
When they are fretten with the gusts of heaven.
You may as well do anything most hard,
As seek to soften that—than which what's harder?—
His Jewish heart."

Paraphrase

"Please don't bother arguing with the Jew. You might as well go stand on the beach and ask the ocean to get smaller. You might as well ask a wolf why he killed the lamb and made its mother cry. You might as well tell the pine trees on the mountain to stop waving their treetops when the storms blow through them. You might as well do the impossible rather than try to soften his Jewish heart. It's the hardest thing imaginable."


This is a part of a speech given by a Antonio, a character in Shakespeare's The Mechant of Venice. Antonio borrowed some money from a Jew Merchant and in return the Jew wanted no money but ONE POUND OF FLESH. Just wanted to point out that their brutality is not a new thing. People who lived ages ago are acquainted with it.