The Quality of Mercy Reading Guide & Discussion Questions

Book Club Discussion Questions

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For supplemental discussion material see our Beyond the Book article, Why Write Historical Fiction? and our BookBrowse Review of The Quality of Mercy.

Please be aware that this discussion guide will contain spoilers!

1. Barry Unsworth takes his title from Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice - the scene in which Portia tells the vengeful moneylender Shylock: "The quality of mercy is not strained / It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven / Upon the place beneath. / It is twice blessed: / It blesseth him that gives and him that takes." Why would Unsworth reference Shakespeare's play in his title? At what key moments in the novel does mercy prevail over vengeance? Why, for example, does Kemp decide not to apprehend Sullivan?



2. What is the effect of telling the story through multiple points-of-view—of getting inside the minds of all the main characters rather than having one perspective dominate?



3. The novel opens with Sullivan dragging a drunken man out of harm's way, then robbing him of most of his money. He begins to walk away, but decides that he should rob the man of all his money, his boots and his coat, so that the lucky fellow will not "go through life feelin' convicted of ingratitude" for Sullivan's good deed. In what ways does this very humorous scene set up some of the novel's major themes? What other characters contrive to mask their own self-interest as generosity?

Unless otherwise stated, this discussion guide is reprinted with the permission of Anchor Books. Any page references refer to a USA edition of the book, usually the trade paperback version, and may vary in other editions.