This research examines the concept of legal corruption in William Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice, arguing that the play constructs a dramatic representation of law as a mechanism of bias, social domination, and institutionalized prejudice rather than a neutral arbiter of justice. While traditional criticism has often framed the courtroom episode as a triumph of Christian mercy over rigid legalism, this study contends that the legal system depicted in the play is structurally corrupted—operating through selective enforcement, religious favoritism, theatrical manipulation, and coercive authority.

Central to this corruption is the bond (which includes illegal thing that allows ending a person’s life instead of saving the life of people) between Shylock and Antonio, which initially appears, as a lawful commercial agreement yet becomes a weaponized legal instrument shaped by personal animosity and communal hostility. A pond assigns a pound of Antonio’s flesh if he doesn’t repay the debt within three months. A law leads to killing and destruction, it isn’t a law.

The trial scene further reveals the performative nature of justice, as Portia’s disguised intervention subverts legal procedure, introduces technical loopholes, and transforms the court into a stage where rhetoric overrides due process. The Duke’s predisposition, the public humiliation of Shylock, and the forced conversion imposed as part of the sentence expose a judicial culture aligned with Christian hegemony and the marginalization of the Jewish Other.

Through historical contextualization, legal theory, and close textual reading, this study demonstrates that Shakespeare presents a world in which law is inseparable from power and identity, revealing the extent to which legal systems can enforce moral narratives while masking inequity. The research ultimately proposes that The Merchant of Venice serves not only as a dramatization of justice corrupted but also as a commentary on the fragility of legal ethics within societies governed by religious and cultural hierarchy.