Abstract

This paper aims to highlight selected concepts of loyalty as displayed in two of William Shakespeare’s plays, Timon of Athens and Pericles, through the explication of Josiah Royce’s Philosophy of Loyalty. The study concentrates on two specific characters, the Steward in Timon of Athens and Helicanus in Pericles, and the extent of loyalty shown towards their respective masters. It is also observed that the master-servant relationships interpreted in the plays bear some resemblance to the subordinate-superior relations in the current political scene in Malaysia. As such, an extension is made to further understand the cross-cultural concepts of loyalty practised by both the East and the West. With the understanding of the seventeenth-century government in both Shakespeare’s England and the Malaccan sultanate, this study hopes to emphasize the immortality of Shakespeare’s works in contemporary settings.