The Humor And Laughter in 'Merchant Of Venice' by William Shakespeare

The Pound of Flesh

Dealing with business and life situation having wisdom is important for survival in today's life. Merchant of Venice is a book that uses humor to teach people to act with caution. The protagonist and Villain in the book possessed elements of wisdom. The book had a significant role in decisions and it teaches one how to escape the problems. The humor and laughter give it a soft touch and enables while emphasizing on its lessons. Merchant of Venice is one influencing book.

The book involves a Venetian, Bassanio who needs a loan to marry the love of his life, Portia. Bassanio is broke and cannot afford the required amount of money to marry the love of her life. He approaches a Shylock who is willing to lend him the money but with certain conditions. The conditions given by the Shylock will involve extracting a pound of flesh from Bassanio's friend in case of late repayment. Signing business deals quickly seem to be ruling the business world and are a leading cause of loss (Grosz and Wendler). Just like Shylock, I believed that I would get quick gratification resulting to higher profits or the fall of my major competitors. Some deals offered appear too good to pass but without due diligence one has the potential of losing everything they have worked hard to gain. The book applies directly in my life and has taught me good lessons of an entrepreneurship. There is always a negative consequence for rushed business deals. The book’s lessons are priceless to me as a business person.

The book has many moral lessons, which are important life. One should not act spiteful without looking at all possible outcomes of the choice they make. Shylock didn’t make smart decision making it easy to lose his fortunes. Poor choices in life have terrible results. At first, I did not think the book would have any significant lesson in life. I believed it a work of literature and humor until the unexpected happened. I had the expectations of making quick money after my high school graduation. The thoughts of living a broke life appeared to be terrifying. The knowledge in my possession of people like Bill Gates who made billions of dollars without going to university/college influenced the decisions I made. Education became an unimportant. I amassed savings from the hourly waged jobs I did serving tables at the local restaurants and bars. Through savings and family grants, I established my first portfolio in the stock market. The business flourished quickly, and soon my social status had changed. My social life began to matter to me more and more. The desire of having more money continued to grow. Bank loans and other financial solutions suddenly became attractive. The desire to grow and diversify became the driving force for the business.

Coincidentally, I felt I had met my luck. A locally and internationally renowned businessperson agreed to form a partnership. He would provide a bulk of the capital to expand the business and grow the portfolio. The money flow picked up , and we managed to make six figures in just six months. Many people considered our arrangement as strategic. I had hidden intentions for the business. The goal I had was that I would one day pay off my partner his capital plus a lucrative interest that would become difficult to deny. Thoughts of buying out a partner whose financial leverage and networks had pushed the company to greater heights obsessed me.I received advice from close friends and relatives to further my educations, but their thoughts did not matter. I had managed to retain fifty-one shares of the business. The idea of having controlling shares made me believe that I could kick out my partner at any given time. I thought to have him removed from the business. With my power and authority, I served him with a notice letter. The firm was to compensate him very well and give additional interest based on the amount of capital he brought. He left without any complaint. The situation called for a celebration, I took my girlfriend Daniela to River Park in Manhattan. In a short period, I received complaints for breach of contract. I had not followed the rules for the termination of our contract or agreement.

The begining started on a perfect note, and I was winning. I continued to brag how smart I had become over the few years since the beginning of the investments. To extend my kindness, I offered to pay my former partner with shares. The support and respect I received from my peers increased because they perceived me as a wise young man .The Day of Judgment came, and I could not hide my big ego and spirit I had went away. I realized I had signed binding agreements and a reason for termination was spelt out. I had no ground for ending the contract. All the hard work and investment I had put in the process was going down the drain. The case favored him, and I had to give him more for losses. He proceeded to file for a hostile takeover of the business and succeeded. The sneaky thoughts I had made me lose everything I worked to achieve.I lost to a person who did not even share in the vision I had planned for. I was back where I started. The advice I had ignored begun to make sense.

The former partner became the primary beneficiary of all the effort I had put into the whole thing. All I could do was remember the lessons thought in the Merchant of Venice. The Shylock deserved repayment but did not receive any payment because of his terrible debt recovery method. My failure just like Shylock’s was by our luck of understanding language repercussions I did not understand or see the problems of the wordind and language that was in our contract. It is important that we evaluate our thoughts before doing something. Both Shylock and I went through the popular belief that pride comes before a fall. The lessons I ignored would be useful in making very important decisions. The people who benefit off any situation are the people guided by knowledge and patience. The way literature applies in my life when making decisions that include other people. The old partner and Antonio received their pound of flesh. yes, language/literacy can have a meaningful impact on a persons life with the importance on proper decision-making.

Works Cited:

1. Grosz, Tanya, and Linda Wendler. The Merchant of Venice. Saddleback Educational Pub, 2006.