Launcelot: But, I pray you, ergo, old man, ergo

Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow:

Launcelot: But, I pray you, ergo, old man, ergo,
I beseech you, talk you of young Master Launcelot?

Gobbo: Of Launcelot, an’t please your mastership.

Launcelot: Ergo, Master Launcelot. Talk not of
Master Launcelot, father; for the young gentleman,
according to Fates and Destines, and such odd
sayings, the Sisters Three and such branches of leaning,
is indeed, deceased; or, as you would say
in plain terms, gone to heaven.

(i) What information does Gobbo seek from Launcelot at the beginning of this scene? What does Launcelot say has happened to Gobbo’s son?

(ii) Who are the ‘Sisters Three’? What role were they thought to play in the lives of humans?

(iii) Who was Launcelot’s master? What gift had Gobbo brought him? What does Launcelot want him to do with it?

(iv) What reasons does Launcelot give for wanting to leave his present master’s service? Whom does he wish to serve instead?

(v) Why does Gobbo have trouble recognising Launcelot? What purpose does this scene serve in the context of the play?

Answer

(i)

  • The way to Shylock’s OR master Jew’s house OR does Launcelot live with him.
  • had died (deceased) / gone to heaven

(ii)

  • Greek mythology three sisters = three Fates / Destinies/ Clotho, Atropos, Lachesis
  • Controlled the destiny of humans / had power of life and death over humans/ Clotho spun the thread of life/ Lachesis measured [gave] the thread of life/ Atropos cut the thread.

(iii)

  • Shylock or the Jew
  • dish of doves
  • give it to Bassanio instead

(iv)

  • He is starving / famished / "you may tell every finger I have with my ribs."
  • Launcelot fears that he will become a Jew if he served Shylock (a Jew) for much longer. / He is ill-treated / Shylock is the Devil incarnate / He is the very Jew, or typical Jew
  • Bassanio

(v)

  • Launcelot is dressed well / like a gentleman.
  • Launcelot speaks with the air of a gentleman.
  • Gobbo cannot see very well or sand blind or half blind.
  • Launcelot has grown a dense, bushy beard.
  • Serves to provide comic relief / reveals Shylock’s nature as cruel master / conflict between good and evil / Bassanio is a kind person / good master/Bassanio is leaving for Belmont/ Launcelot’s attitude towards his master
  • Exam Year: 2020