The Merchants of Venice Beach

Throughout our growth and development many scripts and plays have graced our eyes in attempt to explain the human condition. The exchange of currency and goods has always been and always will be a sensitive issue like small business loans. When we take a loan or participate in business factoring, we make a promise that we will pay the loaner back within a certain amount of time.

In the Merchant of Venice, Antonio begs Shylock to loan him money so he is able to pay of his debt. Shylock agrees, but if Antonio does not pay him back, Antonio would be forced to Shylock a pound of his flesh. Though morbid the bond, the deal was made and Antonio took the money. Later in the play, Antonio decided not to pay back Shylock which in turn infuriated Shylock.

Antonio would not willingly give Shylock a pound of flesh so Shylock took him to court. It was there that a speaker found a loop hole in the bond. If Shylock were to remove any blood from Antonio, the deal would be broken. Because it would be impossible to take a pound of flesh without any blood, Shylock had to renege the deal and was forced to give up his wealth and possessions to Antonio in a tragic turn of events.

In silence, we can rejoice to the fact that this sort of morbid exchange is outdated and no longer in practice. Business factoring is much like the Merchant of Venice. In the story, you are Shylock who has provided a service and expect payment in return. However, the person decides not to pay you and you are now furious and want what was agreed upon entering the transaction.

In the time setting of the play it was a lot easier to track people down and prosecute them if necessary. But since we are so spread out and we want our businesses to flourish, we advertise to people all over the country making it much harder to track down those we wish to find. What you can do and what Shylock could have done is sold off their transaction to a third party for a lesser amount of the original transaction. This process of business factoring allows you to receive not all of the money, but at least a portion of it so you can keep up with the bills and such.

The amount of time it takes to pursue someone who has wronged your business will cost you more than what the original transaction was worth. If Shylock would have cut his loses and got some of his money back instead of the pound of flesh, he would have been able to shrug off the loss and continue with his business. If you can get something out of this play, know that people are instinctually clever. If you do decide to pursue someone, make sure that you look at all the angles so you don’t end up paying more to the people who took from you.