Contract Law versus Consitutional Law

In Shakespeare’s play The Merchant of Venice, Shylock and Antonio make a contract in which Antonio will lose a pound of his flesh if he does not pay back money borrowed for Bassanio. The two men verbally solidify the bond and Shylock takes the contract to the notary. In Shakespeare’s time, economic contracts were more like social promises than written law, although still made formally and purposefully to seal an agreement. The contract drafted between Shylock and Antonio becomes problematic at the play’s end, when Shylock, Portia, and the Duke interpret the contract in multiple ways. Contract law overall lacked consistency, and religion was a strong argument while defending it in court. The issue here is that while citizens suffer from laws that are easily misunderstood and forever changing, enforcing contracts with Shylock’s stringency and vengeful motives is even more destructive.