Analyze "the quality of mercy" speech given by Portia.

The quality of mercy speech appears in Shakespeare's play, The Merchant of Venice. It is given by Portia, who has disguised herself as a man so that she can defend Antonio in a court of law. A moneylender named Shylock had given Antonio a loan. Antonio cannot repay him. According to the contract between the two men, Shylock can now demand a pound of flesh from any part of Antonio's body as payment. Shylock wants to cut it from Antonio's heart, which, of course, will kill him.
Many critics have noted that Shakespeare's play has anti-Semitic themes. Portia pleads with her audience to prefer mercy, an important virtue of Christianity, to the "letter of the law" justice that "the Jew" requires. Portia argues that mercy is better than justice. She says it is not "strained." If something is strained, it is overused and under pressure: water resources, for example, might become strained during a drought. Mercy, she says, is underused.
Mercy is abundant and freely poured on the earth by God, just like the rain. Portia says it is blessed twice because it blesses both the receiver and the giver of mercy. She says that the more power a person has the more mercy is a credit to his or her character. If you have the power to be cruel but are merciful, people will praise you all the more for choosing the humane path. She calls mercy God's attribute.
We can see that Portia understands mercy as a glorious, underappreciated virtue. She pleads with Shylock, saying that we are all condemned and cannot be saved if we are held to the strict standard of justice. She implies that if Shylock were held to the same standard as Antonio, he too would deserve a very harsh fate. She asks Shylock to choose which path he would prefer to take: justice or mercy.