antonio's melancholy sets the play to motion.discuss(in 200 word)
Answers
Throughout the play A Merchant in Venice, the wealthy trader Antony is depicted as a melancholy character. There is more than one reason for this.
One reason for Antonio’s melancholic nature is that he is upset about Bassanio planning to get married. Although Bassanio is much younger than Antonio, they are very good friends. Antonio fears that with Bassanio seeking marriage, they will have much lesser time together than before.
Another possibility for Antonio’s pessimistic character is that he is not able to help his close friend Bassanio when he needed his help the most. Bassanio was in need of cash to go to Belmont to seek Portia’s hand. However, as all of Antonio’s ships were at sea, he did not have any money to spare. The fact that he could not do anything for his friend upset him very much.
A final cause could be that quite contrary to his expectation, Antonio gets the news that all his ships are lost at sea. So, much to his dismay, he will have to give up his life to Shylock to repay the bond taken to help Bassanio to go to Belmont. He had hoped that his ships would return safe a month before the bond repayment was due.