In which Shakespeare play does Launcelot Gobbo appear?

The Merchant of Venice is a 16th-century play by William Shakespeare in which a merchant in Venice must default on a large loan provided by an abused Jewish moneylender. It is believed to have been written between 1596 and 1599. Launcelot is the servant to Shylock, a wealthy Jewish merchant and money lender of Venice, with whom he lives and of whom he stands in awe.

Launcelot does not appear until the second scene of the second act of the comedy, when we find him stealthily leaving his master's house. We learn that he feels anger at some apparent wrong at the hands of his employer, and is debating whether to remain in his service, or to run away. He would be just, but being both plaintiff and defendant, as well as advocate and judge of the question at issue, he can't be credited with impartiality.

Launcelot does not run; he arrives at the decision to stay by the unexpected advent of his father, an old Italian peasant, whose voice is heard calling in the distance, and halts the would-be runaway.