Justice or Injustice in Shakespearean Plays: Merchant of Venice and Measure for Measure

Fatma Yalvaç, Şule Okuroğlu Özün

Abstract


This article discusses the concepts of “justice” and “injustice” in Shakespeare’s two plays: Merchant of Venice and Measure for Measure. The application of laws and its effects on the social life are the basic themes of this study. Shakespeare concluded these plays so masterfully and open endedly that it is now reader’s responsibility to decide whether the court and society are “just” enough. This study tries to give some examples from both of the plays admitting that the concept of “justice” is hard to define. The conclusions will shed further light on the discussion about the justness of Shakespearean plays. 


Keywords


justice; injustice; law; judgement

Full Text:

PDF

References


Bradbrook, M. C. (1941): Authority, Truth, and Justice in Measure for Measure, The Review of English Studies, 17. 68: 385-399. http://www.jstor.org/stable/509856

Canuto, J. C. G. (2013): Application of the Law and Power Abuse in Shakespeare’s Measure for Measure, Revele: Revista Virtual dos Estudantes de Letras, 5: 197- 210. http://www.periodicos.letras.ufmg.br/index.php/revele/article/viewFile/4390/4199

Coolidge, J. S. (1976): Law and love in The Merchant of Venice, Shakespeare Quarterly, 27. 3: 243-263. http://www.jstor.org/stable/2869499?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents

Dunkel, W. (1962): Law and Equity in "Measure for Measure", Shakespeare Quarterly, 13. 3: 275-285. http://www.jstor.org/stable/2866816

Knight, W. N. (1972): Equity and Mercy in English Law and Drama (1405-1641), Comparative Drama, 6. 1: 51-67. http://www.jstor.org/stable/41152574

Magedanz, S. (2004): Public Justice and Private Mercy in Measure for Measure, SEL Studies in English Literature 1500-1900, 44.2: 317-332. http://www.jstor.org/stable/3844632

MacKay, M. (1964): The Merchant of Venice: A Reflection of the Early Conflict between Courts of Law and Courts of Equity, Shakespeare Quarterly, 15. 4: 371-375. http://www.jstor.org/stable/2868095

Murphy, J. G. (1988): Forgiveness, Mercy, and the Retributive Emotions, Criminal Justice Ethics, 7.2: 3-15. http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/0731129X.1988.9991835

Öztürk, A. S. (2012): Shakespeare’in Oyunlarında Adaletin Tecellisini Etkileyen Faktörler, Sosyal Bilimler Araştırmaları Dergisi, 1: 100-115. http://www.acarindex.com/dosyalar/makale/acarindex-1423881420.pdf

Restivo, G. (2010): Shylock and Equity in Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice, Tigor: rivista di scienze della comunicazione, 2. 1:24- 42. http://etabeta.univ.trieste.it/dspace/bitstream/10077/3827/1/Tigor_3_restivo.pdf

Stevens, J. P. (1992): The Shakespeare Canon of Statutory Construction, University of Pennsylvania Law Review, 140. 4: 1373-1387. http://www.jstor.org/stable/3312407

Stephens, V. R. (2004): “Mortality and Mercy”: Measure for Measure and the Law, available from https://getd.libs.uga.edu/pdfs/stephens_virginia_r_200408_ma.pdf (1-58).

Ward, I. (1999): Shakespeare and the Legal Imagination, London: Butterworths, Cited in STEPHENS, V. R. (2004): “Mortality and Mercy”: Measure for Measure and the Law, available from https://getd.libs.uga.edu/pdfs/stephens_virginia_r_200408_ma.pdf (1-58).

Willson, M. J. (1994): View of Justice in Shakespeare's the Merchant of Venice and Measure for Measure, Notre Dame L. Rev., 70.3: 695- 726. http://scholarship.law.nd.edu/ndlr/vol70/iss3/6




DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.17951/lsmll.2017.41.1.114
Date of publication: 2017-07-04 09:02:34
Date of submission: 2016-09-09 18:44:54


Statistics


Total abstract view - 1707
Downloads (from 2020-06-17) - PDF - 848

Indicators



Refbacks

  • There are currently no refbacks.


Copyright (c) 2017 FATMA YALVAÇ, ŞULE OKUROĞLU ÖZÜN

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.