Merchant of Venice Essay: Antonios Love for Bassanio -- Merchant Veni

Antonios Love for Bassanio in The merchandiser of Venice Antonio feels closer to Bassanio than any other(a) character in The Merchant of Venice. Our firstborn 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. have it away ye well / We leave you now with better company (i. i. 57-59). Once Antonio is merely with Bassanio, the conversation becomes more intimate, and Antonio offers an indebted Bassanio My purse, my person, my extremest means (137). We find out subsequently 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 Bassanio Neither have I money, nor goodTo raise a present sum therefore, go forth purify what my credit can in Venice doThat shall be racket, nevertheless to the uttermost,To impart thee to Belmont, to fair Portia. (124-128) Anton io does not make these offers to any other character in The Merchant of Venice. In fact, there is only one scene in which Antonio is present and Bassanio not in act 3 scene 3, and even then Antonio ends the scene with a plea for Bassanio Pray God, Bassanio come / To absorb me pay his debt, -- and then I care not (iii, iii, 35-36). Antonio expresses love for Bassanio to him several(prenominal) times throughout the play (You know me well, and herein spend only if time / To wind about my love with circumstance i, i, 154 Commend me to your just wife / Tell her the process of Antonios end / Say how I love you iv, i, 273-275). But whether the love Antonio holds for Bassanio is either sexual or platonic is never overtly answered, which leaves speculation ... ...of Venice. Shakespeare Quarterly 37 1 20-37. Granville-Barker, Harley. The Merchant of Venice. Shakespeare innovational Essays in Criticism, Leonard Dean, ed. New York Oxford University Press, 1967. Kahn, Coppelia. The Cuckoo s Note Male Friendship and Cuckoldry in The Merchant of Venice. Shakespeares Rough Magic, Peter Erickson & Coppelia Kahn, eds. Newark University of Delaware Press, 1985. Patterson, Steve. The Bankruptcy of Homoerotic Amity in Shakespeares Merchant of Venice. Shakespeare Quarterly 49, 1 9-32 Shakespeare, William. The Merchant of Venice. The Complete Works of William Shakespeare. Oxford Shakespeare notch Press, 1998. Sinfield, Alan. How to Read The Merchant of Venice Without Being Heterosexist. Alternative Shakespeare Volume 2, Terrance Hawkes, ed. New York Routledge, 1996