The Shakespeare Conference: SHK 17.0587 Thursday, 22 June 2006
[1] From: Joseph Egert <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>
Date: Wednesday, 21 Jun 2006 18:00:52 +0000
Subj: RE: SHK 17.0577 The Big Question
[2] From: Larry Weiss <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>
Date: Wednesday, 21 Jun 2006 15:07:05 -0400
Subj: Re: SHK 17.0580 The Big Question
[1]-----------------------------------------------------------------
From: Joseph Egert <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>
Date: Wednesday, 21 Jun 2006 18:00:52 +0000
Subject: 17.0577 The Big Question
Comment: RE: SHK 17.0577 The Big Question
Curiouser and curiouser.
Don Bloom asks:
>How would you define what
>Shylock attempts to do to Antonio? He certainly attempts to have him
>killed, though Antonio is no threat to his own life or the life of
>someone he is trying to protect (say, Jessica). On the contrary, he
>does so with malice (or something) aforethought, when Antonio is
>helpless. What term do we use for this act?
Clearly, Don, the act is one of attempted homicide. One can even argue
entrapment by Portia as mitigation. The phrase "judicial murder" may be
narrowly applied to those instances where functionaries of a given legal
system corrupt and evade the rules and procedures of said system,
leading to the death of one or more parties involved. Judging as we do
from our independent codes across oceans of time and space, we may find
the system in its very nature morally abhorrent. Yet as long as the
system functions smoothly and remains true to its own terms, there can
be no judicial murder within those terms. The subject within who
contemplates defiance will inevitably confront Socrates' choice in prison.
Let us assume, for the moment, the authentic Bellario is guiding the
trial rather than the imposter Portia. Were there no legal impediments
to the lethal forfeiture, Shylock could kill Antonio with impunity. With
the legal impediments in effect, the authorities could equally execute
Shylock for seeking Antonio's life. Neither instance would constitute
judicial murder within the internal rules of the system. Portia's
imposture, however, taints the very trial process itself. Had any death
resulted, she could have been held accountable for judicial murder.
Don goes on to retract his qualification:
>As to the personal matter. I used "slander" because JE did, and
>issued my qualification because I detest the name-calling that Hardy
>has so successfully suppressed, and wished to make it clear that I
>had no intention of getting into it, even inadvertently.
Are we to understand then that Don issued his qualification solely for
Forum comity? He didn't really mean it? once again implying that
unnamed others are seeking to "exonerate" the "murderer" Shylock rather
than providing context (See JD Markel's illuminating post.). Are we back
then to square one? Did Ed Taft truly suggest "everyone agrees with
[Don] (that Shylock is a murderer...)"?
Don seems to vacillate between describing Shylock's conduct as murder
versus attempted murder. He likewise confuses Jessica's "forebodings" of
desertion with desertion itself. No, Don. Shylock has not yet murdered
anyone, nor has Lorenzo yet deserted Jessica. Is Don contemplating a
sequel? He certainly has the imagination for it.
Regards,
Joe Egert
[2]-------------------------------------------------------------
From: Larry Weiss <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>
Date: Wednesday, 21 Jun 2006 15:07:05 -0400
Subject: 17.0580 The Big Question
Comment: Re: SHK 17.0580 The Big Question
Let's use an analogy: today, juries often face the agonizing decision
whether or not a defendant has committed "justifiable homicide." In an
all-too typical case, a wife has been terrorized by a husband - abused
mentally and physically, called names, reviled, and perhaps even spit
upon - not once but many times.
By no stretch is this a defense of "justifiable homicide." The law does
not allow someone to commit murder because she perceives, even
correctly, that she has been maltreated. There are ample legal remedies
available to an abused spouse, murder isn't one of them. At most, the
circumstances might mitigate the punishment, they don't excuse the crime.
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