Quality of Mercy

It’s funny how all my classes and extracurricular activities seem to mesh together into one big net of indistinguishable subjects and themes. This week we’ve talked about the cycle of revenge and how it can really never end unless someone decides to forgive, or extend mercy. In rehearsals for the Shakespeare play we’re putting on 4 weeks from now, November 1^st-4th (shameless MOV plug!), we’ve been discussing the quality of mercy. As a matter of fact, Mercy is the central theme of Merchant of Venice.

So, why does Orestes not offer his mother mercy when she, albeit in a roundabout way, asks for him to extend mercy? Is it because he believes he doesn’t have a choice since Apollo has told him to kill his mother? Perhaps. But what do we as Christians believe about mercy? Do we believe that revenge trumps mercy? Or do we believe that mercy trumps revenge? What should we believe about mercy?

I can’t tell you for sure what I would believe if I were in a situation like Orestes, or even Shylock, Antonio, or Portia from Merchant. What I do know is this, mercy is not something to be taken lightly. God extended His mercy to us when he had every right to condemn us all to an eternity separated from Him.

Tantum e tenebris receptum constabit,

~Meghan

PS. I commented on Malory’s blog “Orestes, Hamlet, Simba, and Socrates”