| Antonio | |
| Series: | The Merchant of Venice |
| Creator: | William Shakespeare |
Antonio is one of the central characters in William Shakespeare's play The Merchant of Venice. He is portrayed as a wealthy and respected merchant residing in Venice, known for his generosity and melancholic disposition. Antonio is a close friend of Bassanio, another important character in the play, and their bond serves as a crucial element of the story.
Despite his affluence, Antonio is depicted as being somber and melancholic, often musing about the reasons behind his sadness. He exhibits a deep sense of loyalty and friendship toward Bassanio, agreeing to borrow money on his behalf so that Bassanio can pursue the hand of Portia, a wealthy heiress.
One of the key plotlines in the play revolves around Antonio's borrowing of money from the Jewish moneylender Shylock, using a pound of his own flesh as collateral. This arrangement sets the stage for conflicts, prejudices, and moral dilemmas that drive the story's tension.
Antonio's character is emblematic of the themes present in the play, including the complexities of friendship, the consequences of prejudice, and the interplay between love and sacrifice. His interactions with other characters, particularly Shylock and Portia, contribute to the multifaceted layers of the narrative, making Antonio a significant and thought-provoking figure in The Merchant of Venice.
Bassanio then proceeds to tell Antonio of his depleted financial state due to his own excesses, making sure to note that he is aware he already owes him money. He laments his ill-fortune but cheers at the thought of solving his problems by marrying Portia, a woman who has come into a sizeable inheritance from her father and whom he thinks is predisposed to choose him. He compares himself with Jason and his quest for the Golden Fleece. He beseeches Antonio to back this venture knowing he is not likely to be refused by his generous benefactor. Indeed, Antonio, despite the fact that his capital is already at risk elsewhere, gives him a letter of credit and wishes him well.
Later Antonio enters the Rialto to assure Shylock that he will be bound for the 3,000 ducats Bassanio wishes to borrow. Antonio has belittled and harassed Shylock in public, and he loathes him because when Christian friends of his owed money to the Jews he paid off the debts, thus depriving them of their interest. Far from lamenting his ill-treatment of the Jew who accuses him of spitting on him and calling him a dog, Antonio replies persistently "I am as likely to call thee so again, /To spit on thee again, to spurn thee too." He agrees to pay with a pound of flesh if he forfeits the bond in lieu of the usual interest.
Antonio makes a brief appearance in this act in scene 6 when he runs into Gratiano and tells him he has twenty people out looking for him. He goes on to say there will be no masque and that Bassanio is at that moment preparing to leave for Belmont to win Portia.
We hear no more from Antonio until after Bassanio wins the hand of the wealthy Portia by correctly guessing which of three caskets holds her portrait. Gratiano proposes to Nerissa, Portia's maid in waiting and friend. In the midst of his merrymaking, he receives a letter detailing Antonio's misfortune. None of the ships have returned to port and as such he has no funds to pay the bond with. His flesh is forfeit to the Jew who is intent on having it. He insists he does not regret helping Bassanio and even does not wish him to feel guilty. He only asks him to come and attend his death so that he can see him one last time. Bassanio, along with Gratiano, rushes off with three times the amount owed and his wife's blessing. The gentlemen leave in such a rush that they cannot consummate their marriages.
This act begins with Antonio's trial. The Duke pleads with Shylock to give "a gentle answer", a double entendre on the word Gentile, which meant anyone except a Jew. Shylock refuses to deny his bond. Bassanio and Gratiano are in attendance and advocate strongly that the Jew be thwarted by any means necessary. Bassanio attempts to bribe him three times the amount of the bond. Shylock says he will have nothing but his pound of flesh. All is lost until Portia and Nerissa arrive disguised as young men pretending to be a learned doctor Balthasar and his clerk. Portia pleads for mercy and gets no further than the previous applicants she seems at first to confirm the strength of the bond and tells Antonio to prepare to pay it. When all seems hopeless Bassanio declares his despair: Antonio accompanies Bassanio home to Belmont to celebrate his good fortune and meet Portia. After some teasing, all discover the lady's deception in regard to the rings and the trial. Antonio plays the benefactor again, this time to Jessica when he gives her legal documentation to show that she is to inherit Shylock's property at his death. The play ends with Portia bearing good news that Antonio's much-anticipated ships have arrived safely in port. He is overjoyed at his good fortune so that while he remains the consummate bachelor he is not a poor one. Antonio's deep friendship and dependence on Bassanio, his willingness to risk his life on Bassanio's behalf, and his draining of his own finances to support Bassanio has been read as supporting the theory that Antonio is homosexual.[1] Various interpreters began to read Antonio as homosexual in the 1950s, but there have been many objections.[2] Some modern productions use the theory that Antonio is suffering from his love for Bassanio to explain his melancholic behavior.[3] Alan Bray's book Homosexuality in Renaissance England argues that in the time period of The Merchant of Venices composition, "homosexuality" did not refer to an individual's sexual identity but only to specific sexual acts any individual might engage in. As Bray writes: "To talk of an individual of this period as being or not being 'a homosexual' is an anachronism and ruinously misleading. The temptation to debauchery, from which homosexuality was not clearly distinguished, was accepted as part of the common lot. Homosexuality [as understood in 16th-century England] was a sin 'to which men's natural corruption and viciousness [were] prone'" (16–17, Rainolds quoted in). According to the Verity edition of The Merchant of Venice, it is stated that Antonio and Bassanio are best friends; Bassanio is bound to Antonio for being his friend.Act 5
Antonio's relationship with Bassanio
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