If you prick us, do we not bleed?

Hath not a Jew eyes? hath not a Jew hands, organs,

dimensions, senses, affections, passions? fed with

the same food, hurt with the same weapons, subject

to the same diseases, healed by the same means,

warmed and cooled by the same winter and summer, as

a Christian is? If you prick us, do we not bleed?

if you tickle us, do we not laugh? if you poison

us, do we not die? and if you wrong us, shall we not

revenge? If we are like you in the rest, we will

resemble you in that. If a Jew wrong a Christian,

what is his humility? Revenge. If a Christian

wrong a Jew, what should his sufferance be by

Christian example? Why, revenge. The villany you

teach me, I will execute, and it shall go hard but I

will better the instruction.

Shylock in Merchant of Venice, Act III, Scene I

I can’t honestly say I’m a fan of the character Shylock. He’s a shrewd lender who takes advantage of others any chance he gets. I do, however, think he has a valid point in his argument here. Next to “What light through yonder window breaks…” or “a rose by any other name…” from Romeo and Juliet, these lines of Shakespeare’s spoken by the Jew are probably among his most famous and quoted. Who among us hasn’t felt some of Shylock’s sting?

In addition to these lines of Shakespeare, I’ve also been reading some of C.S. Lewis’s “Why I am Not a Pacifist.” Lewis addresses, among other things, the topic of “turning the other cheek” and what it means and doesn’t mean. According to Lewis:

“Does anyone suppose that Our Lord’s hearers understood Him to mean that if a homicidal maniac, attempting to murder a third party, tried to knock me out of the way, I must stand aside and let him get his victim? I think the meaning of the words is perfectly clear – ‘Insofar as you are simply an angry man who has been hurt, mortify your anger and do not hit back’ – even, one would have assumed that insofar as you are a magistrate struck by a private person, a parent struck by a child, a teacher by a scholar, a sane man by a lunatic, or a soldier by the public enemy, your duties may be different, different, because [there] may be then other motives than egoistic retaliation for hitting back.”

Wrong happens. We, like Shylock, are sometimes wronged simply because we are who we are. We are wronged because we hold to a certain theology, or political party, or set of philosophical beliefs, or cultural background. How do we respond to being wronged? Does Shylock have a point in seeking revenge? Revenge is a strong word we’ve been encouraged to steer clear of in our lives. I wouldn’t throw out Shylock’s whole speech here though. What if we took to heart his opening words? What if we remembered that each of us bleeds when pricked, laughs if tickled, dies if poisoned? What if before blindly or selfishly seeking to wound another, we honestly took the time to see the human who in so many ways resembles us? Perhaps that’s the true wisdom Shakespeare is trying to impart. If you’ve read the play, you know Shylock’s revenge meets with a comedic ending anyway.

If revenge isn’t the answer, is lying down and taking the wrong what we should do? I think this is where Lewis’s words come in. I love the perspective he gives in referencing the “homicidal maniac” and then the relationships he explores where turning the other cheek would just plain be stupid. Retaliation for the sake of retaliation accomplishes nothing; however, recompense often needs to be rightfully sought. In many cases in which we are wronged, we have a duty not to turn the other cheek, or expose our underbelly, but to seek correction for the wrong.

I’m sure there is a balance somewhere here between the words of Shylock/Shakespeare and the words of Lewis: a balance between seeking revenge and the traditional understanding of turning the other cheek. In Shylock’s case, his revenge comes to a rather messy end, literally. On the other hand, we’ve all known people who’ve been walked all over in their cheek turning. The only true answer is wisdom to make the right choice when wronged.