[General] The weak have to go to the wall

[vil]

Dear teachers,

There are two brief excerpts, the former from Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet” and the latter – from a work of Hocking.

Would you be kind enough to explain to me the meaning of the expression in bold?

“That shows thee a weak slave; for the weakest goes to the wall.”

“For doing a neighbourly act I get a shattered constitution, a nasty heartache, and now. Forsooth, because I am down, this Hebrew tyrant robs me of one-fifth of my earnings. Ah well, it is the way of this beautifully managed word! The weak have to go to the wall, whatever their deserts may be; and so there is nothing for me but to grin and abide.”

I make the following guess: “the weak have to be put aside”, “the weak have to be shelved”, “the weak have to be hard pressed”, “the weak have to be put at bay”.

Thank you for your efforts.

Regards,

V.

[Anglika]

Basically, those who are weak will always be the ones to lose out in any situation.