Portia: “The quality of mercy is not strain’d”

What is happening, what every line means, how to perform it, and how to use it in an audition, with the full text.

The Offbook team

Oct 8, 2026

What is happening

This is the trial scene, Act 4, Scene 1 of The Merchant of Venice. Antonio, a Venetian merchant, borrowed 3,000 ducats from the moneylender Shylock so that his friend Bassanio could court Portia. The bond said that if the money was not repaid on time, Shylock could cut a pound of flesh from Antonio’s body. Antonio’s ships have been lost, the date has passed, and Shylock, whom Antonio has insulted for years, wants his pound of flesh.

Portia, a rich heiress, has just married Bassanio. Without telling him, she has come to court in Venice disguised as a young lawyer, Balthasar, carrying a letter of recommendation from the famous Doctor Bellario. The letter even asks the Duke not to hold the lawyer’s youth against him. Nobody in the room knows who she is, including her husband.

She has read the bond and agreed that under Venetian law it stands. “Then must the Jew be merciful,” she says. Shylock snaps back: “On what compulsion must I? tell me that.” This speech is her answer. He refuses (“I crave the law”), and later in the scene Portia saves Antonio another way, by ruling that the bond gives Shylock flesh but not one drop of blood.

Lines: 22
Words: 172
At 150 wpm: 1.1 min
Form: Verse

The speech, beat by beat

The full text in 5 beats. Under each beat: what it means in plain English, and a note for playing it.

Lines 1–4 · Mercy can’t be forced

1The 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:

In plain English Mercy is not something you squeeze out of anyone. It falls as naturally as gentle rain from the sky onto the ground below. And it is a double blessing: it blesses the person who gives it and the person who receives it.

Acting note She is answering his question directly. He asked what forces him; her first word that matters, “strain’d,” says nothing can and nothing should. The turn to “it is twice blest” comes in the middle of line 3, not at a line end.

Lines 5–9 · Better than a crown

5’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;

In plain English Mercy is strongest in the most powerful people. It suits a king better than his crown does. His sceptre is the sign of earthly power, the thing that makes people fear and respect kings.

Acting note Right now Shylock holds a man’s life in his hands, like a king. She is offering him the grandest version of himself. Build the picture of royal power fully, so the “But” in line 10 can knock it over.

Lines 10–14 · Mercy belongs to God

10But 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. Therefore, Jew,

In plain English But mercy is higher than the power of the sceptre. It sits on a throne in the hearts of kings; it is a quality of God himself. Earthly power looks most like God’s when mercy softens justice. Then, at the end of line 14, she turns to Shylock himself: “Therefore, Jew.”

Acting note “Seasons” is a cooking word: mercy does not replace justice, it flavors it. This is the top of the general argument. The sudden “Therefore, Jew” brings it down from heaven to the one man in front of her.

Lines 15–19 · None of us would be saved

15Though justice be thy plea, consider this,
That, in the course of justice, none of us
Should see salvation: we do pray for mercy;
And that same prayer doth teach us all to render
The deeds of mercy. I have spoke thus much

In plain English You are asking for justice, but think about this: if we all got strict justice, none of us would be saved. We pray for mercy, and that same prayer teaches us all to show mercy to others. In the middle of line 19 she begins to sum up.

Acting note Salvation and prayer are Christian ideas, aimed at a Jewish man in a Christian court where he has just been called a dog. Decide whether Portia hears how that lands. Shylock certainly does.

Lines 20–22 · The warning

20To mitigate the justice of thy plea;
Which if thou follow, this strict court of Venice
Must needs give sentence ’gainst the merchant there.

In plain English I have said all this to soften your demand for justice. But if you insist on it, this strict Venetian court has no choice: it must rule against the merchant standing there.

Acting note The ending is a cool statement of law, not a plea. She hands the decision back to him and lets the threat to Antonio hang in the air.

Hard words

Word	Line	Meaning
strain’d	1	forced, squeezed out under pressure
droppeth	2	falls
twice blest	3	blessed two times over (the giver and the receiver)
becomes	5	suits, looks good on
temporal power	7	earthly, worldly power, as opposed to God’s
attribute to awe and majesty	8	the symbol of the awe and majesty owed to a king
sceptred sway	10	the rule of the sceptre; royal power
seasons	14	tempers, softens (as seasoning flavors food)
render	18	give, perform
mitigate	20	soften, lessen
Must needs	22	must; has no choice but to

How to perform it

Play the objective, not the poetry. Portia wants Shylock to choose mercy, freely, now, in front of the whole court. It is a real offer: if he takes it, nobody gets hurt. Keep every line aimed at him, because he has just asked a question and this is the answer.
Decide what she knows. Later in the scene she finds the flaw in the bond (flesh, but no blood). Whether she already has that card in her hand when she speaks, or still hopes persuasion will be enough, changes the temperature of the speech. Either way, plead as if it could work.
Remember the disguise. She is a young woman playing a young male lawyer in a room full of powerful men, and the court has been warned about her lack of years. Authority comes from clarity and stillness, not volume.
Handle the verse. It is regular blank verse, but the big turns fall in the middle of lines: “it is twice blest” (line 3), “it becomes” (line 5), “Therefore, Jew” (line 14), and “I have spoke thus much” (line 19). Carry each thought through the line ends to those turns, and take your breaths there. Lines 5 to 14 are one climbing argument; use as few breaths as you can.
Give each “mercy” its own reason. The word comes back again and again. If they all sound the same, the speech flattens into a hymn; if each one is a new step in the case, it stays alive.
Common mistakes: reciting it as a famous poem, soft and slow; turning it into a sermon to the audience; and either spitting “Jew” as an insult or swallowing it. Choose what she means by it and say it clearly.

Using it in an audition

This is one of the best-known speeches in Shakespeare, and casting directors put it at the top of their lists of overdone audition pieces: it is a go-to choice for women, so panels hear it constantly. If you can choose freely, pick something less familiar. If you use it, make it a live argument with one person rather than a recital. At 22 lines it runs a little over a minute at a conversational pace, so time yourself before a strict one-minute slot and trim a line or two if you run over; it is too short for two minutes on its own. It suits a wide age range, since Portia is a young woman passing herself off as a young lawyer. For contrast, pair it with a quick comic piece, such as Rosalind’s “And why, I pray you?” from As You Like It. As a study piece for verse speaking and building an argument, it is excellent.

Portia, The Merchant of Venice, Act 4, Scene 1. William Shakespeare. Public domain text.

How long it runs

Pace	Words a minute	Run time
Deliberate	130	1.3 minutes
Conversational	150	1.1 minutes
Brisk	170	1.0 minutes

These are speech times before pauses. To time your own run, paste the text into the monologue timer.

Practice it: first-letter version

Each word is cut to its first letter. Say the whole line from the letters, then check the text. Make cues from any script with the first-letter memorizer.

T q o m i n s,

I d a t g r f h

U t p b: i i t b;

I b h t g a h t t:

’T m i t m: i b

T t m b t h c;

H s s t f o t p,

T a t a a m,

W d s t d a f o k;

B m i a t s s;

I i e i t h o k,

I i a a t G h;

A e p d t s l G

W m s j. T, J,

T j b t p, c t,

T, i t c o j, n o u

S s s: w d p f m;

A t s p d t u a t r

T d o m. I h s t m

T m t j o t p;

W i t f, t s c o V

M n g s ’g t m t.

More from The Merchant of Venice

More lists: Shakespeare monologues, Monologues for women, Comedic monologues.

Sources

Questions actors ask

How long is Portia’s The quality of mercy is not strain’d speech?

22 lines and 172 words. At 150 words a minute it runs about 1.1 minutes; a slower, more deliberate delivery at 130 takes about 1.3 minutes. Pauses add time, so time a full run out loud.

Is it a good audition monologue?

What is the fastest way to memorize it?

Learn it in sense units, not line by line: say each thought out loud until you can do it without looking, then add the next. The first-letter version below keeps the shape of every line in view while you test yourself.