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A sharp young woman in a lawyer’s disguise, trying to win a case with an idea before she has to win it with a trick.

1:10Dramatic20s–30sIntermediate

The speech120 words · 3 beats

0:00 / 1:10

Off-book

The quality of mercy is not strain’d, It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven Upon the place beneath. It is twice blest: It blesseth him that gives and him that takes.

’Tis mightiest in the mightiest; it becomes The throned monarch better than his crown. His sceptre shows the force of temporal power, The attribute to awe and majesty, Wherein doth sit the dread and fear of kings;

But mercy is above this sceptred sway, It is enthroned in the hearts of kings, It is an attribute to God himself; And earthly power doth then show likest God’s When mercy seasons justice.turn

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Speaking to: Shylock — reasonable, not pleading, one intelligent person to another.
What just happened: She has asked Shylock to show mercy. He has asked why he should. This is the answer.
Objective: To talk him out of the knife by making mercy sound like the more powerful choice, not the weaker one.
The turn: ‘But mercy is above this sceptred sway’ — she stops describing power and raises the stakes to the divine.
Watch out for: Very famous, so the trap is recital. She is thinking it up in the moment to persuade one specific, unmoved man — not delivering a hymn.

Full work: The Merchant of Venice New to the vocabulary? What’s a beat? →

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The Merchant of Venice · William Shakespeare · 1:10 · 120 words

The quality of mercy is not strain’d, It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven Upon the place beneath. It is twice blest: It blesseth him that gives and him that takes. ’Tis mightiest in the mightiest; it becomes The throned monarch better than his crown. His sceptre shows the force of temporal power, The attribute to awe and majesty, Wherein doth sit the dread and fear of kings; But mercy is above this sceptred sway, It is enthroned in the hearts of kings, It is an attribute to God himself; And earthly power doth then show likest God’s When mercy seasons justice.

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