WorkWilliam Shakespeare
The Merchant of Venice, Act IV, scene i (c. 1596–97; First Folio, 1623)
William Shakespeare (1564–1616) · c. 1596–97; First Folio, 1623
InferredFuller quotes and paraphrases Portia's famous "quality of mercy" speech from The Merchant of Venice (Act IV, scene i, lines 184–186): "The quality of mercy is not strained. In her writings, Margaret Fuller directly evokes William Shakespeare's *The Merchant of Venice* through the memorable phrase “bigotry is now afraid to exact the pound of ‘flesh as well as the ducats.’” This quotation clearly alludes to the central conflict of Shylock's bond and highlights Fuller's perception of contemporary intolerance. The specific pairing of "pound of flesh" with "ducats" serves as a strong indicator for identifying this particular Shakespearean work.
QuotedRead
Documented 1843
Additional passages preserved in the Memoirs (1852)
Letters
Selected engagements, in chronological order.
Reprints, Memoirs passages, and repeat notes within a single manuscript are shown but never counted twice. Evidence for this work is selective, not exhaustive. Methodology →
Passages where the evidence goes beyond allusion to indicate that Fuller had this work in hand — an explicit statement of reading, sustained excerpting or translation, or a specific reading episode recorded by those who knew her.
“The quality of Mercy is not strained not winnowed and double sifted like Charity for "discovering objects." But droppeth like the gentle dew from heaven, alike on the careful and the careless”
Letters of Margaret Fuller ed. Hudspeth · letter dated Niagara 30th May [18]43
Substantial multi-line quotation of the Merchant of Venice mercy speech.
“The quality of Mercy is not strained not winnowed and double sifted like Charity for 'discovering objects.' But droppeth like the gentle dew from heaven”
Fuller, Margaret. The Letters of Margaret Fuller. Edited by Robert N. Hudspeth. Vol. III. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1986.
“because bigotry is now afraid to exact the pound of 'flesh as well as the ducats”
Emerson, Ralph Waldo, William Henry Channing, and James Freeman Clarke, eds. Memoirs of Margaret Fuller Ossoli. 2 vols. Boston: Phillips, Sampson and Company, 1852.
Inferred In her writings, Margaret Fuller directly evokes William Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice through the memorable phrase “bigotry is now afraid to exact the pound of ‘flesh as well as the ducats.’” This quotation clearly alludes to the central conflict of Shylock's bond and highlights Fuller's perception of contemporary intolerance. The specific pairing of "pound of flesh" with "ducats" serves as a strong indicator for identifying this particular Shakespearean work.