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The Homosexual Relationship Between Antonio and Bassanio in William Shakespeare’s the Merchant of Venice

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The Homosexual Relationship Between Antonio and Bassanio in William Shakespeare’s the Merchant of Venice
The Homosexual Relationship Between Antonio and Bassanio in William Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice

Tsun-Hsien Tsai
Sophomore Student, Department of English
National Changhua University of Education

There are many pairs of male adults with honorable masculine friendships appearing in William Shakespeare’s popular plays, such as Antonio and Bassanio in The Merchant of Venice, Antonio and Sebastian in Twelfth Night, the two kings Leonates and Polixenes in The Winter’s Tale, and so on. No matter what social status and age they are, it is natural for men to develop friendship. However, among them, the same-sex friendship between Antonio and Bassanio in Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice is most controversial. Reading from the beginning, Antonio’s seemingly-infinitive financial support to Bassanio, to the end of the play, Antonio’s life sacrifice, I cannot help wondering that whether their relationship is more than friendship. Therefore, I am going to discuss the homosexual relationship between Antonio and Bassanio in terms of their extremely close finance implications.

The Merchant of Venice indeed accumulates an amount of homoerotic feeling, and has dealt with Antonio’s extreme love for Bassanio. As Sinfiled claims, whether or not Antonio’s love is what we call sexual is a question hard to work out; nonetheless, it is certain that his feelings for Bassanio are intense (“How to read The Merchant of Venice”124). It is worthwhile to think about what Antonio, in the beginning of the play, says he does not know: why he is sad. Antonio expresses: In sooth I know not why I am so sad. It wearies me, you say it wearies you;
But how I caught it, found it, or came by it,
What stuff ‘tis made of, whereof it is born,
I am to learn…. (1.1.1-5) Salerio points out two explanations for the causes of Antonio’s sadness. One is that Antonio is worried about his ships sunk in a variety of ways, and the other is that Antonio is in love. It is frequently accepted that they


Bibliography: Coppelia Kahn. Newark: University of Delaware Press; London Associated University Presses, 1985. Hyman, Lawrence W. “The Rival Lovers in The Merchant of Venice.” Shakespeare Quarterly 21 (1970). Janik, Vicki k. The Merchant of Venice: a guide to the play. Westport: Greenwood publishing Group Inc, 2003. Shakespeare, William. The Merchant of Venice. Ed. Alan Durband. NY: Barron’s Educational Series, 1985.
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