I think that Shakespeare wants us to think of Antonio as miserable tragic, who acts naively. Even though Antonio is referred to in the title of the play “the Merchant of Venice”, he comes across as a very disappointing character. It seems that Shakespeare want us to think of him as a hopeless depressive in the beginning of the play. The first lines of the play are him saying “In sooth, I know not why I am so sad.” All he does is mope and he doesn’t even know why. Shakespeare also wants us to think that he is unreasonable in his speculative business endeavors. When talking to Bassanio he states “Thou know’st that all my fortunes are at sea; neither have I money nor commodity.” He puts all of his worth in transaction that is taking place overseas, which proves to be his downfall. He also has too high of hopes in this risky business. It leads him take out a loan from Shylock, the price of which is a pound of his own flesh. One would think that with this as a price, and the unreliable nature of his funds, Antonia would not take out the loan. Yet, this hopeless character does it, all in the name of his intimately close friend Bassanio.