Antonio the Tragic

Shakespeare presents a very perplexing character in that of Antonio who seems to be a shrewd business man that is dissatisfied with the success in the material world that he is found. From Shakespeare's discriptions of his moods and actions it almost seems that he is in love with someone that does not realize it or has turned him down. Shakespeare tries to make us hate Antonio, in my view, as he constantly has him moping about and being upset for no reason. He also constantly antagonizes Shylock and victimizes him just because he is Jewish. I am not sure how Shakespeare intended the anti Semiticism to be viewed at the time however. Either way he makes it overwhelmingly clear that Antonio is not really that much fun to be around. However, when digging deeper on Antonio as the story goes on it becomes apparent that he is depressed and a tragic genius. He is extremely arrogant in the ways of business as he has had so much success with his gambles at sea to the point that he is ready to bet his life on them, which he does to Shylock. But to put one's life on the line for a friend as he does in the name of a loan is not a normal thing to do, which leads me to say that he is indeed depressed. Though he claims not to be distraught over anything, I believe he is head over heels for Bassanio, which is why he would grant such an extravegant loan. He also wants Bassanio to go after Porscha, which shows that he really does love him based on his desire for his friend to be happy. I have read this play many times and it is only now coming to me that this is the case. The first time I read it I thought Shakespeare wanted to drive home the fact that Antonio is just an annoying bigot, but in reality he is a tortured soul who doesn;t care about material things in life. Only messing with Shylock provides him any joy.