Responsibilities in William Shakespeares Merchant of Venice Essay

Responsibilities in William Shakespeares merchant of VeniceThe small and seemingly insignificant details in a fabrication often hold together an entire theme of the work. This phenomenon is recognizable in the plays of William Shakespeare, as a speech or incident with a mild character can point the audience to a much larger truth somewhat 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 represents a betrothal of responsibilities that can be found in some of the principal(prenominal) characters. These other characters (with the exception of Portia) be energize similarly to Lancelot, and Lancelots story helps to solve their shortcomings. Lancelots speech about running from Shylock cap tures the greater conflict between inconsistent responsibilities that is present throughout The Merchant of Venice. Every handmaid has a responsibility to his master before he is responsible to himself. Lancelot violates this radical principle of servitude, and thus brings shame upon himself. Not only is Lancelot under a contractual obligation to Shylock, he has both social and religious obligations to repose in Shylocks service. It is no surprise that the one who counsels Lancelot to give Shylock is the fiend himself. To be ruled by my conscience I should stay with the Jew my master who, God bless the mark, is a kind of daystar reasons Lancelot (2.2.17-19), thinking that it is probably a better idea to stay with Shylock. He also knows that to run away fro... ... ones. Because The Merchant of Venice is a comedy, no solid harm comes to Lancelot or Bassanio because of their poor choices, but they are all make out to be foolish in comparison to Portia. These char acters are palmyin comparison with some of Shakespeares other characters that are face up 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 interesting to note that most of Shakespeares plays that allow 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 compensate though the characters neglect their roles on occasion, the quick thinking of Portia allows them to retire with their spouses safely as a new day is breaking.