soliloquies in the merchant of venice :: Free Merchant of Venice Essays

The Merchant of Venice is a play that relies on soliloquiesto advance the plot, create mood and atmosphere, and to develop characteramong all the actors.I am here to prove how this happens in two different soliloquies andshow you why Shakespeare put them into the play.My first soliloquy is from Lancelot Gobbo and it is taken from Act 2 slam 2.I know that Lancelot is a secondary character, but this speech isreally important in the outcome of this burst. He is talking about if he should authorize outside from his master, who just happens to be Shylock. This soliloquyhas all the makings of what a soliloquy should do. It creates the mood that Lancelot (Shylocks jester) is having alot oftroubles trying to decide whether to run away or not. It must fill alot to dowith how Shylock treats him since he calls Shylock a kind of devil and excessivelysays that he cant handle being ruled by the fiend. He must have really beenmistreated under Shylocks care to go as so far as to run away from hi m. Itcreates the mood of sadness and hatred in Lancelot, and a dark evil kind offeeling towards Shylock for what he has done.It develops the character that Lancelot is a gravid working man who isjust trying to make a decent living but cannot because of the way he is beingtreated by Shylock. It in like manner shows us that Shylock may be the character that,in the play, is the character to fear. We dont know the details of whatShylock did to Lancelot so we have to drop him a little slack. But whatever hedid to Lancelot has made him very angry and disgruntled.And it develops the plot by starting off the main reason for this scenewhich is for Bassiano to get into the picture and for Gratiano to ask him if hecan go to Belmont with him. It gets to this stage by Old Gobbo askingBassiano if he will employ Lancelot, which he agrees to. It also tells of whatto expect from Shylock in the later scenes which is unheartedness andruthlessness.My second soliloquy is taken from act 3 scene 2. In this scene Portiaasks Bassiano to wait a some days to before he makes his choice on whichcasket to open in order to see if he will be able to conjoin Portia, but Bassianorefuses and wants to make his choice immediately. He makes his choice and