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The relationship of Antonio and Bassanio in ‘Merchant of Venice’

The relationship between Antonio and Bassanio in the play is something that cannot
be summed up by giving just one name to it. On the surface, it might seem to be a simple
relation of two friends, but on delving deeper, we see the elements of a father-and-son like
relation and also a homoerotic relation between the two, the last one having an air of
dubiosity around it.

First of all, the two appear to be friends and very good ones indeed. From the
following lines, it seems that the word of their friendship is quite known:

“Here comes Bassanio, your most noble kinsman” – Salanio (i.1.57),

“I would have stay'd till I had made you merry, if worthier friends (Bassanio) had not
prevented me.” – Salarino (i.1.60-61)

“I think he (Antonio) only loves the world for him (Bassanio).” - Salanio (ii.8.50)

Bassanio owes Antonio large sums of money, yet latter doesn’t hold any attitude of
condescension towards the former. In fact, he allows Bassanio to use his money as if it were
Bassanio’s own, which shows that he does not distinguish between his friend and himself.
When Bassanio asks him for more money to be able to pay court to Portia, Antonio does not
refuse. Though he has his money invested in his ventures to various places around the world,
due to which he is not in a position to lend to Bassanio, he asks Bassanio to borrow from
anyone one in Venice and use Antonio as guarantor. Here, it is to be noted that that their
friendship is not just based on concern, affection and support, but also on money, something
that is seen throughout the play in every relationship, be it Jessica’s eloping from her father
Shylock with all his money, her taking all that money to her lover Lorenzo or Bassanio’s
winning Portia’s wealth along with Portia in the casket game. So, money and love are
intricately connected in the play underlining the mercantile world of Venice and Antonio and
Bassanio’s relation is not devoid of this connection between money and love.

It is worth noting that Antonio, a successful merchant who takes extremely calculated
risks of distributing his fortunes among different ventures, takes the uncalculated risk of
accepting Shylock’s dangerous offer. In spite of knowing fully well about the malicious
feeling that Shylock harbours for him and in spite of Bassanio’s saying that he would go
without money than put his friend’s (Antonio) life at stake, he accepts the bond. Through the
words of Salarino, readers come to know that even while seeing Bassanio off to Belmont,
Antonio asks him not to let the matter of the bond enter his mind and to devote all of his
attention and time to courtship, which reveals how selfless an affection he has for his dear
friend.

Some people believe that the friendship between the two is more one way than the
other, that Antonio loves Bassanio more than Bassanio reciprocates him, but on careful
reflection it does not seem to be the case, as during the scene when Antonio is signing the
bond with Shylock, Bassanio tries to convince Antonio not to sign it and even remarks that he
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would better remain without money than to risk his friend’s life. Even while leaving for
Belmont (ii.8), he tells Antonio that he would try to return as soon as he can. After choosing
the correct casket, when he receives the letter from his friend, the letter appears like
Antonio’s body to him. He in no manner acts less selflessly than Antonio, who only wishes to
see him one last time, as he is ready to postpone his marriage for the sake of his beloved
friend. Here, Bassanio has just found his fortune and love in the form of Portia, while fate has
taken an ugly turn for Antonio, but the former’s love and respect for his friend does not
reduce even a bit. This shows that Bassanio does not stay back in fulfilling the untold
promises of friendship.

Next, we have the father-son aspect of their relationship. Antonio cares for Bassanio
throughout the play the way a father would care for his son and Bassanio too treats Antonio
just like his father. Antonio’s giving money to Bassanio without any second thought, that has
been mentioned previously also, reminds us of how a father too does not mind spending
money on his son. He is ready to help him get his ladylove, just the way any father would do.
Bassanio, too has the assurance that no matter what, Antonio will always have his back. He is
not afraid of unburdening his heart in front of Antonio. He does not hesitate in sharing his
plans to relieve his poor financial conditions to Antonio. While signing the bond with
Shylock, Antonio assures him that he need not worry about him, that he will easily return the
borrowed amount to Shylock. This makes the readers think about how a father too protects
his son by keeping all the worries away from him.

Now, we come to the aspect of their relationship that perhaps needs the most
deliberation. Critics and other readers have argued since long that there is an undertone of
homosexuality in their relation and somehow it makes sense because the two men seem to be
strangely close for people who are not blood-related. In Antonio’s statement:

“My purse, my person, my extremest means, lie all unlock'd to your occasions.” (1.1.138),

The word ‘extremest’ does appear to be rather a clumsy intensifier. Also, if we consider that
there might be a pun on the word ‘purse’, possibly referring to male genitalia along with the
pouch to keep money, then it seems logical to assume that there is a hint of homoeroticism in
their relationship. Then, there is also the argument that Antonio’s morose state in the opening
of the play could be the result of his infatuation with Bassanio, because he knows now that
since Bassanio is going to marry a girl, so now there would be coming a third person between
the two of them and he would not be able to spend as much time with Bassanio as he used to.
Even after the casket scene, though it is not intentional, when there is nothing that can stop
Portia and Bassanio from uniting, it is the figure of Antonio that gets in between them and
delays their marriage. It is possible that Shakespeare deliberately wrote it to be this way, so
that it becomes suggestive. So, Antonio’s sadness, the sexual connotation of word ‘purse’,
Antonio’s crying while seeing Bassanio off to Belmont, all these perfectly fit together in this
light.

On the other hand, it could also be that the melancholy state of Antonio is only
indicating that Portia is going to play an important role in his life, as she is the one who saves
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him, when taken along with the fact that Portia is also presented in a similar mood at the
beginning of her part:

“By my troth, Nerissa, my little body is aweary of this great world.” – Portia (i.2.1-2).

The word ‘purse’ might not have been written by Shakespeare with any pun in mind, but only
so that it creates alliteration with the next word ‘person’. In addition, even if Antonio gets in
the way of Bassanio and Portia’s consummating their marriage, it cannot be ignored that their
marriage could not have happened in the first place without the aid of Antonio.

Thus, nothing could be said definitely as it is quite possible that their friendship is a
platonic affair and rather than homosexual or homoerotic, it is more of a homosocial relation
that they have in between them, something that was common in Elizabethan England.
Sexuality aside and sometimes not aside, such relationships are on the rise among young men
today also and are referred to as ‘Bromances’.

Whatever it is, the fact remains that Antonio and Bassanio are intimately connected
individuals. Without their love for each other, even Bassanio and Portia’s love could not have
been fulfilled. A critic (Pequigney) points out that Portia herself acknowledges the triangular
nature of her, Bassanio and Antonio’s love. The love that Portia and Antonio have for
Bassanio, bonds them. Their too close a relationship shows facets of various relationships,
and it is unjust to try to explain it using just one perspective. Sometimes, we see in Antonio a
concern a father has for his son, sometimes it seems to suggest romantic undertones and
sometimes it appears to be quite a chaste affair.

While all this indicates a strong homosocial bond, it cannot be dismissed that
Shakespeare at least wanted to hint at the romanticism between them. The play was written at
a time when homosexuality was considered a horrendous affair, a sin as well as a crime.
Therefore, the audience might regard their relation by default as something totally devoid of
eroticism. As a critic (Weeks) has suggested, “Shakespeare leaves much to the imagination of
the audience in terms of definite meaning.”

- Poshita
19/BAP/163
BA Program, 3rd Semester
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Bibliography:

Noppenberger, Angela. “Exploratory Shakespeare.” Journeys at Dartmouth, 2015.

journeys.dartmouth.edu/exploratoryshakespeare/2015/07/14/bassanios-sexuality/.
3 October, 2020.

Pequigney, Joseph. “The Two Antonios and Same-Sex Love in Twelfth Night and The
Merchant of Venice.” English Literary Renaissance 22, 2, 1992, pp. 201-21.
www.jstor.org/stable/43447392. 4 October 2020.

Weeks, Elliott. “Relationships Between Men in Twelfth Night and The Merchant of Venice.”
Academia.edu.www.academia.edu/7219966/Relationships_Between_Men_in_Twelfth
_Night_and_The_Merchant_of_Venice?auto=download. 6 October, 2020.