Eigeninteresse und Gemeinwohl in Shakespeares ‚Merchant of Venice‘

• Autores: Michael Horvath
• Localización: Germanisch-Romanische Monatsschrift, ISSN 0016-8904, Vol. 65, Nº. 4, 2015, págs. 439-464
• Idioma: alemán
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• Resumen

  • Shakespeare’s ‘Merchant of Venice’ brings the institutional change of the early modern era to the stage and raises the f undamental question of the collective effects of individual behaviour. The problems of interest, usury, and exchange have amply been discussed by generations of critics, not least from an economic point of view. And yet, the broader institutional contexts of the main elements of the plot, i. e. the pound of flesh, the three caskets, and the rings, have hitherto been remarkably neglected. Therefore, this essay puts the focus on such institutional matters by u tilising concepts of modern institutional economics and t racing back their origins to the emerging triad of economics, ethics, and law in e arly modern Europe. In so doing, the question of self-interest and the common good – located at the very heart of Western thinking since its beginning – can be identified as the gen uine eco nomic core of Shakespeare’s play.