Responsibilities in William Shakespeares Merchant of Venice Essay

Responsibilities in William Shakespe bes merchant of VeniceThe small and seemingly unnoticeable details in a boloney often hold in concert an entire theme of the engage. This phenomenon is recognizable in the plays of William Shakespeare, as a savoir-faire or incident with a minor character can microscope stage the audience to a much larger truth several(prenominal)what the work as a whole. The Merchant of Venice contains such a minor character, Lancelot, whose story gives a clue to the reader about the roles of the other characters in the play. Lancelot abandons his servitude to Shylock, and thereby weakens his own value as a member of society fulfilling a role. Lancelots decision is noteworthy because it re turn overs a conflict of responsibilities that can be found in some of the main characters. These other characters (with the exception of Portia) stand similarly to Lancelot, and Lancelots story helps to illuminate their shortcomings. Lancelots speech about running from Shylock captures the greater conflict between inconsistent responsibilities that is present throughout The Merchant of Venice. Every servant has a responsibility to his get the best before he is responsible to himself. Lancelot violates this basic principle of servitude, and thus brings humiliate upon himself. Not only is Lancelot under a contractual obligation to Shylock, he has both social and religious obligations to remain in Shylocks service. It is no surprise that the one who counsels Lancelot to leave Shylock is the fiend himself. To be ruled by my conscience I should stay with the Jew my master who, paragon bless the mark, is a kind of devil reasons Lancelot (2.2.17-19), thinking that it is probably a better idea to stay with Shylock. He also knows that to run by fro... ... ones. Because The Merchant of Venice is a comedy, no real harm comes to Lancelot or Bassanio because of their paltry choices, but they are all made out to be preposterous in com parison to Portia. These characters are luckyin comparison with some of Shakespeares other characters that are faced with inconsistent responsibilities (such as hamlet or Juliet, who both die), the non-role-fulfillers of The Merchant of Venice have extraordinarily happy endings. It is fire to note that most of Shakespeares plays that include conflicting roles or responsibilities are tragedies, while the happy resolution of The Merchant of Venice makes it a comedy. The mistakes in The Merchant of Venice are all fixable, so even though the characters neglect their roles on occasion, the quick thinking of Portia allows them to retire with their spouses safely as a rising day is breaking.