Anotonio's Sexuality

In every movie, story, book or play there is at least one character that is exaggerated, or is very dramatic. If characters were the same as you and I, or if they did not poses some sort of obnoxious personality trait, we would all be bored to tears instead of entertained. Antonio’s love for Bassannio is indeed relevant to the outcome of the play, and if he had said, um nah, sorry Bass, but I can’t help you out, Shakespeare’s story would end there and no one would be studying The Merchant of Venice today. The fact of the

Why must we assume Antonio is sad about Bassanio; couldn’t it be he had other things on his mind, like whether or not his ships were going to come in, or maybe because he was alone and he wished he had a girl to fall in love with? Indeed it may.

matter is that since this play is old, and the times have changed we all must critique and re-evaluate The Merchant of Venice in order to suit our more liberal times. I wonder if in a few hundred years someone will look back at the Movie “Forrest Gump” and say he was secretly in love with Bubba the shrimp guy. The only reason The Merchant of Venice could evolve is that Antonio’s character was developed just as Shakespeare wanted and nothing more. He is shown to be a very good friend, an upstanding citizen and good Christian that is all.

The relationship between Antonio and Bassanio is an honest friendship love, maybe the reason we cannot understand that today is because unlike in Shakespeare’s time most of us are not willing to open ourselves up and feel so deeply about a friend. That is a sad truth.

Everyone who reads a work of Shakespeare’s or any work for that matter is entitled to his or her opinion and theories about the story. However, I do not believe Shakespeare intended for anyone to struggle with or question the storyline while considering if Antonio were in fact, in love with Bassanio. If we are going to question the relationships between Antonio and Bassanio; then why don’t we question other relationships in the story? The answer is because readers who are looking for more in the story than intended by the author make up those relationships. Maybe we should look at why Portia was so willing to help Antonio is she secretly in love with him? What about the fact that Nerissa is very eager to dress up like a man and risk getting in trouble just because Portia said so. Is she secretly in love with Portia? We will not look at these relationships because they are simply the characters acting out there roles in order to develop the play. Just as Antonio did, however he is a main character, which leaves him vulnerable to miss readings.

This may lead to the question of why Antonio is the only one in the play to end up alone or why the only time he speaks of romance is when he ma

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