Do you think Shylock deserves the treatment given to him in the trial scene in The Merchant of Venice? Act 4, scene 1.

You could go either way in your answer to this question.  It does not matter if you think yes or no.  What matters is that you back up your position with reasons and evidence from the text.  

You could answer yes, and say that Shylock deserves the treatment in the court proceedings because Shylock is a jerk.  He's mean to his daughter, he hates people simply based on their religion, and he charges ridiculous...

You could go either way in your answer to this question.  It does not matter if you think yes or no.  What matters is that you back up your position with reasons and evidence from the text.  

You could answer yes, and say that Shylock deserves the treatment in the court proceedings because Shylock is a jerk.  He's mean to his daughter, he hates people simply based on their religion, and he charges ridiculous interest on his loans in order to make more money.  

You could say no, Shylock does not deserve the treatment he gets at the trial, because he is on the receiving end of an intentional manipulation of the laws.  He is strung along and made to believe one thing only to have the situation pull a complete 180 a minute later.   The court proceeding is a mockery of a judicial system, and even though Shylock is a jerk, he still deserves a fair day in court.