The second scene begins asoliloquybyLancelot, who is working for Shylock. Lancelot is a comic character. He is aclown(but not one of Shakespeare’s witty fools like Feste inTwelfthNightor King Lear’s fool). Lancelot is a silly but good-natured bumpkin who complains about the poor treatment that he receives from his master, Shylock. Shylock constantly urges Lancelot to run away if he does not like the way he is treatedbyhis master. However, lowly servants could not easily find new work elsewhere. Lancelot realizes that if he runs away, he would probably end up as a beggar. Yet Lancelot feels that Shylock is a fiend and devil and that running away may be better for him.
This monologue is important primarily because it increases the negative portrayal of Shylock. The audience subconsciously accepts Lancelot’s comments and will thus view Shylock as a devilish figure.
Before Lancelot runs away, he encounters his old, partly-blind father, Gobbo. Gobbo is looking for his son, but Lancelot – knowing that his father is unable to see him clearly – pretends to be a stranger. Lancelot wants to play a joke on his father, and he gives Gobbo some very complicated and confusing directions for finding Shylock’s house (lines 33-36). Lancelot also tells Gobbo that theFates(the “sisters three” at line 54) have taken Lancelot – in other words, Lancelot isdead.