Character study of antonio in the merchant of venice

A detailed Summary of Character study of antonio in the merchant of venice

The character of Antonio is very complex, and his attitudes to the people around him are greatly different. He varies from kind and forgiving to a mean and evil man. To his friends he is generous and loving but to his enemies he is vengeful and spiteful.

The first spoken line in the play is "In sooth I know not why I am so sad." This sets the scene for him and his attitude for the most part of the play. This is because a lot of the bad luck in the play falls upon him.

During the first part of the scene, Antonio is accompanied by two men called Solanio and Salarino. These pair are typical of most of his other "Friend." Antonio is a very wealthy and powerful man who is very free in spending his money on his and his friends' enjoyment. For this he has become widely known and has a number of social parasites, pretending to be his friends for his money. One man called Bassanio, is somebody whom Antonio loves like a brother and would do anything for. He is the reason that Antonio is so sad. The two who are with him though, do not know this and are doing all they can to cheer Antonio up. They have realised that if Antonio is sad he will not go out and spend his money on them as he will not

be in the mood to party and enjoy himself. This is shown when they say "We will make our leisure to attend yours," which is because when they are out with him, it is Antonio who is the one that picks up the bill.

In act one scene one Bassanio is getting ready to ask Antonio if he could borrow some money from him. Antonio readily agrees without a second thought even though he has no money himself at the minute as it is all out at sea. Bassanio hadn't even told him what it was for but he agreed anyway, plus Bassanio still owed him for all the other times that he had borrowed money. Antonio does this because he loves Bassanio but if he actually thought about it he is doing more harm than good. He is not teaching Bassanio the value of money. Every time he is in financial difficulty, Antonio just bails him out. So instead of saying "No, I have do not have enough money at the minute," he just says "Try what my credit can in Venice do." Here is where Antonio and Shylock are vitally different. Antonio is here not thinking whereas Shylock would have thought of every consequence.

With all of the begging for mercy and compassion that Antonio does, you would think he could show a little himself. This however is not the case. At the point where the bond has been nullified Antonio has a chance, to let Shylock off the hook with a slight warning. He does nevertheless what Shylock had predicted before "Would though have a Serpent sting thee twice." In this case the serpent being Antonio, and indeed stinging him twice, with more sting than ever before. In Act three Scene three he does however look sorry for all of his wrong doings but it is all just one big ploy.

Antonio has hatred for two things, one is Jews and the other is money lenders. Shylock is both of these and this is most probably the reason he hates him so much. He cannot stand people making money by lending it to others. This though is totally hypocritical, as what he does for a living eventually comes down to the same thing. When he buys goods and sells them for another he is charging interest. This is essentially what Shylock is doing, selling, in his case money for a higher price than what it's actually worth. His hatred for Jews is never actually found out, but one theory is he finds them completely boring. Christianity in this period was more of a social club than a religion. They still went to church but the nights

Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1612
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: Novels