Discuss how the trial scene in The Merchant of Venice reveals a conflict between justice and mercy.

The Merchant of Venice has its good
guys and its comic villain.  This set-up is necessary to the comic complications and
tensions that provide the suspense that holds the audience's attention.  The culmination
of this battle between forces for good and villainy comes in Act IV, scene i, the trial
scene. The forces of good are also the forces of Christianity which, by the code under
which Christians live, represent the need for mercy.  Shylock, the comic villain, and a
Jew, represents the code of Old Testament justice or "an eye for an
eye."

In particular, Shylock is demanding a "pound of flesh
to be, by him, cut off/Nearest the merchant's [Antonio's] heart."  Portia, disguised as
a "doctor of laws," pleads for mercy in one of the most famous speeches in all of
Shakespeare:

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. . .it is twice
blest.

It blesseth him that gives and him that
takes.

'Tis mightiest in the mightiest. . .
.

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.

Shylock, being a Jew
and not a Christian, cares not for mercy and still claims his justice.  When mercy does
not succeed, Portia switches gears and still wins the court case by turning Shylock's
exacting justice against him.  She says:

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This bond doth give thee here no jot of
blood.

The words expressly are 'a pound of
flesh:'

Take then thy bond, take thou thy pound of
flesh;

But, in the cutting of it, if thou dost
shed

One drop of Christian blood, thy lands and
goods

Are, by the laws of Venice,
confiscate

Unto the state of Venice. .
.

For as thou urgest justice, be
assured

Thou shalt have justice. .
.

Portia then goes on to cite
a law of Venice that states that an "alien" (which Shylock is, since being a Jew he
cannot be a citizen), who attempts to take the life of a Venetian citizen, must render
up half of his "goods" to this same citizen, the other half going to the state. 
Shylock's life, under this rule, "lies in the mercy/Of the duke."  So, being merciful,
the Duke pardons Shylock's life, but awards half of his goods to Antonio and half to the
state, leaving Shylock, who values his wealth above all else, a
pauper.

And so, both justice and mercy prevail at this
court hearing, but both prevail at the expense of Shylock, who leaves with far less than
he entered into the court proceedings.