Merchant of Venice Essay Antonios Love for Bassanio

Antonios Love for Bassanio in The Merchant of Venice Antonio feels closer to Bassanio than any other character in The Merchant of Venice. Our first clue to this is in the first scene when, in conversation with Antonio, Solanio says, Here comes Bassanio, your most noble kinsman, / Gratiano, and Lorenzo. Fare ye well: / We leave you now with better company (i. i. 57-59). Once Antonio is alone with Bassanio, the conversation becomes more intimate, and Antonio offers an indebted Bassanio My purse, my person, my extremest means (137). We find out later that Bassanio needs money to woo Portia, a noble heiress who Bassanio intends to marry. And though Antonio is not in a position to loan money at the time, he does not disappoint†¦show more content†¦But the common belief is that Antonio feels quite strongly for Bassanio (Sinfield 124). The question is, are those strong feelings amorous? The first lines of The Merchant of Venice come from Antonio, who is lamenting over his present state of melancholy: In sooth, I know not why I am so sad (i, i, 1). As the play opens, [Antonio] is marked as a man of complex feeling, not only sad but worried over What stuff [his sadness is] made of and how it affects his ability to know himself (Patterson 20). His acquaintances Salarino and Solanio attempt to guess at the root or his sadness, first asking if it stems from business. After Antonio gives a short diatribe to dispel that idea, Salarino believes Antonio is in love. Fie, fie! (45) Antonio responds. But once Bassanio enters and is alone with Antonio, Antonio is free to proceed to what is evidently uppermost in his mind (Engle 23). And Engle, as well as other scholars, believe Bassanios interest in Portia is the pressing issue within Antonio, and the reason for Antonios sadness (Sinfield 124). 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