Question

give a very brief character sketch of Antonio to his meal in the opening scene ​

Answer 1

Explanation:

Antonio is the title character in Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice. An influential, powerful and wealthy nobleman of Venice, he is a middle-aged man and a merchant by trade who has his financial interests tied up in overseas shipments when the play begins. He is kind, generous, honest and confident, and is loved and revered by all the Christians who know him. His willingness to die for Bassanio is a manifestation of his character. Antonio manifests anti-semitism by cursing and spitting at Shylock(anti-semitism was common in Europe in Shakespeare's days). He is a structural centre of the play.

Answer 2

hey mate : )

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I would say that the major character trait for Antonio is that he's never happy.  It seems like he sort of mopes around throughout the whole play.  His only motivations seem to be dislike of Shylock and love of Bassanio.

Critics have many explanations for his unhappiness.  I'll give two of the more interesting ones:

One  says that Antonio's character is mainly a moral lesson to audiences.  He's sad in part because he's conflicted about being in a profession where he lends money and makes money -- things that are not exactly easy to reconcile with Christian values of the day.  Partly, he's also supposed to be a Christ-like figure willing to sacrifice himself for a friend.

A second argument is that he's sad because he's truly in love with Bassanio.  This argument says that he goes to such lengths to help Bassanio because he loves him and he is sad because Bassanio will never love him back.

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hope it helps ^_^