Antonio loves him dearer than a brother and would do anything in the world for him. This is shown when he puts his own life at risk to get a loan from Shylock for him. Bassanio is a spendthrift and everybody on Venice knows that Bassanio has not got a good credit as there is no way that he could pay them back. Antonio however is a very good person to loan to as he is well known for having a good business and would be able to pay them back. To Bassanio Antonio is like a bank who gives out loans and never makes you pay them back. This unthinking attitude that Antonio has is one of his major weaknesses. He readily agrees to anything without thinking the whole thing through. This ultimately is the reason that the bond causes so much trouble. Near the end when Antonio is a broken man ready to die all he wants is to see his friend one more time before he dies. He is not angry at him even though it is actually Bassanio"s fault he signed the bond, all he wants from him to repay all of his debts is to see him one more time.

             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.

             Antonio has hatred for two things, one is Jews and the other is money lenders.