how will you prove that antonio has a flourishing business in merchant of venice
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Shakespeare’s portrayal of Antonio in ‘The Merchant of Venice’ is decidedly open to interpretation, as his melancholic nature is revealed at the start of the play and foreshadows his later bad luck, but a specific reasoning behind it is never given. For an Elizabethan audience, Antonio provides the perfect Christian protagonist to Shylock’s evil Jewish antagonist, although our modern reception of him is much more diverse and as such provides the audience with a greater sense of suspense concerning his fate, and enigma surrounding his personality. Arguably this was Shakespeare’s intention as Antonio is perceived as being the eponymous…show more content…
Antonio’s agreement to the ‘bond’ with Shylock may be a final attempt to keep Bassanio in his life, in the real world, which to him involves business rather than the fairytale land of Belmont; no such place could be further from Antonio’s reach – he “loves the world only for” Venice. He seems intent on playing the wounded victim as his part in the world “is a sad one”, yet in spite of this morbid self-indulgence the audience feel compassion for him because outwardly he seems to embody all the virtues of a Christian; he is kind and noble towards his friends and clever as he has not “trusted” all his “ventures” in “one bottom”. He appears fair in his business dealings, ambitious and the perfect gentleman; the antithesis of Shylock and supposedly the admirable hero of the play.