The Ramification of Choices

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Choices define people. What they choose to do and how they choose to act around people shows who they truly are. Every choice has its consequence. And every choice has a ripple effect that can either positively or negatively affect someone. While the choice is made, consequences are not usually thought through. A bad choice can cause a person to live in regret evermore. In the play The Merchant of Venice, William Shakespeare illustrates a great tale of choices. The choices that are made affect everyone and leaves no one unscathed. Choices leave a trail and can impact many people. One choice can determine the fate of many others. Lives are precious and fragile. Caution and thought must be put into action before caving into impulses. Bassanio, Portia, and Shylock are all prime examples of how choices can affect people’s surroundings significantly.
Bassanio makes many choices that sets a path ahead of him. Bassanio is low on money since he is not very good at keeping it. Nevertheless, Bassanio continues to acquire money and owing several people. Bassanio is in love and is taking a chance to go win the love of a fair lady. He asks his good friend, Antonio, for money for his travels. “I owe the most in money and in love, /and from your love I have a warranty/to unburden all my plots and purposes/How to get clear of all the debts I owe.” (1, 1, 131-134) Antonio agrees to lend the money to Bassanio out of love. Antonio wishes Bassanio to be happy and with the woman of his choice. Bassanio reaches Belmont in high hopes of winning over fair Portia. He chooses to risk the consequences of the lottery just for a small chance to be with his love. “Confess and love/ Had been the very sum of my confession. / O happy torment, when my torturer/ ...

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...here is a time where all the fighting needs to stop and someone needs to step back and become the better person. Shylock should have done this but he got too greedy and in return loses nearly everything he loves. People constantly make choices every day and although they put little thought in them, they mean a great deal. There are various choices and the ones we pick to pursue could stay with a person forever. People need to think about what they are doing and why they are doing it before coming to a decision. A sense of control is very key in this. Without control people could all be doing very hurtful things and ruining society as it is. As a whole, people need to be aware of the ramification of choices. For it is the choices people make that reveals them as they truly are, not their abilities.

Works Cited

"The Merchant of Venice" by William Shakespeare

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