The Merchant of Venice
William Shakespeare
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Character Analysis: Antonio
Antonio is one of the most interesting characters in this play, as he undergoes the most significant series of events yet comes out the least impacted both in circumstance and in personality.
Antonio opens the play as the central character, with one of the most memorable lines of Shakespearean writing: “in sooth I know not why I am so sad.” This is a strikingly universal sentiment for audiences past and
present, and Antonio’s malaise persists throughout the play. It becomes clear that Antonio has a limited grasp of control over his life. He is also unmarried, with no viable romantic interests (though arguably his devotion to Bassanio extends beyond the platonic) and no intention to truly change anything significant about his life, yet he is the central, eponymous character! So why does Shakespeare name the play after him? Well, Antonio is willing to place his own life as bond to enter into debt with Shylock, all so his buddy can go to Belmont and hopefully marry a wealthy woman. Without his generosity, none of the events in the play would unfold, and he is a rather likeable character, if a tad morose. It would have a reasonably significant impact on the views of the people in Shakespearean times to see an individual so willing to see others succeed that he would put his own life at risk to ensure that they have the best chance to do so.
Interestingly, Antonio’s gesture to Bassanio mirrors the words on Portia’s lead casket: “Who chooseth me must give and hazard all he hath.” Antonio does indeed give and hazard everything for the sake of Bassanio, though in “choos[ing]” Bassanio, Antonio is effectively securing his friend’s efforts to pursue marriage to a woman. This arguably makes Antonio a tragic figure, but as he laments, “every man must play a part,” and although the homosexual undertones remain subtext, Antonio’s part is undoubtedly “a sad one.”
However, in Shakespeare’s time, platonic love between two men was an incredibly revered bond, thought of more highly than the ‘fickle’ conventional romantic love between a man and a woman. As such, it is entirely possible that Shakespeare only intended this to be seen as an extreme devotion and affection between two men with no romantic interest in one another, though you can acknowledge in your essay that the text supports multiple alternate interpretations.
He risks the entirety of his friend’s success in life and love (that he has just nearly died for) and ends up once again in the same position that he was in at the start of the play – willing to take dumb risks. He is nonetheless going to end up “th’unhappy subject of these quarrels.”
There are multiple ways you can view what Shakespeare was trying to communicate through the character of Antonio, the most significant of which is likely that you must follow some degree of societal norm to find true fulfilment. It’s no coincidence that the only character that completely disobeys any social more and the only character that is sad at the start and end of the play largely having achieved nothing are one and the same. Though, like Shylock, he escapes with his life, unlike Shylock, he ends the play with all his worldly material possessions with his ships being rescued at the last minute. On the other hand, he is the only character not bound to any requirement or restriction. He may be sad, but at the same time he doesn’t have to worry about fulfilling and providing for another individual and himself. All his married friends have an obligation to their wives, and now a greater obligation to society in the form of having children and fulfilling domestic expectations – Antonio is simply a merchant, growing the wealth that he has acquired and enjoying the company of his friends.
Aside from Shylock, Antonio has a relatively good relationships with every other character. This is something that makes his sadness even more puzzling. In both the time that the text was written, and in the modern era, we typically associate material and emotional success with complete happiness – every other character fulfils that expectation entirely, but Antonio stands as a lone exception. Despite his astounding material wealth and deep friendships, we are never truly able to decipher what he thinks or feels beyond his malaise and fatalism.
Antonio’s character growth is minimal, as he willingly promises his soul to defend Bassanio in his argument with Portia in the fifth act. He clearly hasn’t learned from making a similar agreement in the first act, which is shocking considering what has already transpired. He nearly lost his life, his friends are suffering in their marriages for him, and yet he remains eager to sacrifice himself. There’s a sense of tragedy to this, as it indicates to us that Antonio has not learned his lesson, and perhaps, in line with the play’s message of there being more to life than money, Shakespeare invites us to cast judgement on Antonio as a man who, in spite of all his wealth, believes he does not have anything to lose.
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The Merchant of Venice
Sample Essay
The play The Merchant of Venice is, believe it or not, mostly set in Venice and focuses on a merchant, Antonio. This merchant is asked by his close friend Bassanio to take out a loan of 3000 ducats for him from Shylock, a Jewish moneylender.
Shylock is hesitant about the loan but eventually they all agree on a set of terms: if the loan is not paid within the designated time, Shylock will be able to take one pound of Antonio’s flesh in lieu of the money he is owed. Bassanio uses the money to win the hand of Portia, a rich young lady living in the nearby town of Belmont. Portia’s marriage is to be decided by a test her father designed before he passes away. The text involves making suitors choose one of three caskets – one gold, one silver, and one lead – each with a cryptic inscription, and whoever chooses the correct casket will earn the right to wed Portia. Bassanio is successful in this endeavour, choosing the lead casket and “hazard[ing] all he hath,” and so they get married.
Simultaneously, Shylock’s daughter Jessica runs away with Lorenzo, who is one of Bassanio and Antonio’s associates. She also steals an immense amount of valuables from her father, leaving Shylock enraged and wishing she were dead so he could reclaim the money she stole. Just as this happens, we find out that all of Antonio’s business deals have fallen through; he is running out of money and has been arrested as he was unable to repay Shylock’s loan in time. Since Shylock assumes Antonio must have known about his friend Lorenzo’s plan to steal these valuables, Shylock decides to seek revenge by carrying out the terms of the loan and demanding to “have the heart of him” as his pound of flesh.
Portia and her maid Nerissa send Bassanio off with the money so he can help Antonio, but the two of them also procure lawyer’s clothes and go to Venice, unbeknownst to him. There, Portia takes part in the hearing between Shylock and Antonio as a legal assistant. She finds a loophole that saves his life and has Shylock indicted for attempting to kill a Venetian instead. She and Nerissa take their own wedding rings from their husbands as payment for their work and pretend to be infuriated at them for giving away the wedding rings when they all return home. Once they unveil the truth, the play closes with all three newlywed couples celebrating.
Is The Merchant of Venice an anti-Semitic play?
This question will no doubt be something you discuss in class, and it is an issue that has vexed Shakespearean scholars for hundreds of years. Before we go any further, we’ll present you with the approach this Text Guide will take, although you are highly encouraged to form your own interpretations and challenge what we’ve presented here based on your own reading of the text.
The Merchant of Venice has irrefutably anti-Semitic elements. The depiction of Shylock as “the villain Jew” and overtly emphasising racist stereotypes may be startling to modern readers, but this was the product of Shakespeare playing upon the prejudices that were commonplace in Elizabethan society at the time. This of course does not excuse this portrayal, and you may side with some critics such as Howard Bloom in concluding that the whole play is “profoundly anti-Semitic” because of this.
However, this Text Guide will argue that the play presents these elements in a way that invites audiences to critically examine them. Shylock is not a superficial villain, nor are the other characters portrayed as moral heroes for mistreating him. That said, the play is far from sensitive or tactful in dealing with matters of religion and social prejudice, and there are quite a few lines that wouldn’t fly with contemporary audiences, hence why Merchant is not as popular or performed as often as Shakespeare’s other plays.
Ultimately, the play is a product of its time, so rather than dismissing it as irredeemably racist, this Text Guide will critique the values Shakespeare portrays and endorses. Below are some links for further reading on this topic. There are a variety of views expressed here, and as always, you should read widely to form your own.
- Ambrosino, B. “Four Hundred Years Later, Scholars Still Debate Whether Shakespeare’s Merchant of Venice Is Anti-Semitic”. Smithsonian Magazine, 21 Apr. 2016. Available from: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/why-scholars-still-debate-whether-or-not-shakespeares- merchant-venice-anti-semitic-180958867/
- Croucher, R. “Shylock and anti-semitism – reflections on the 70th anniversary of the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights”. Australian Human Rights Commission, 5 Jul. 2018. Available from: https://humanrights.gov.au/about/news/speeches/shylock-and-anti-semitism-reflections-70th- anniversary-universal-declaration - O’Rourke, J. “Racism and Homophobia in The Merchant of Venice”. ELH, vol. 70, no. 2, 2003. pp.375-397. Available from: https://www.jstor.org/stable/30029881Sebag-Montefiore, C. “If a Shakespeare play is racist or antisemitic, is it OK to change the ending?” The Guardian, 3 Nov. 2017. Available from:
https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2017/nov/03/if-a-shakespeare-play-is-racist-or-antisemitic-is-it- ok-to-change-the-ending - Wilson, R.J. “Censorship, Anti-Semitism, and The Merchant of Venice”. The English Journal, vol. 86,
no. 2, 1997. pp. 43-45. Available from: https://www.jstor.org/stable/819672
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