Antonio as the Hero of the Merchant of Venice

The Merchant of Venice is a tragi-Comedy play written by William Shakespeare. The story of
this play revolves around Antonio a wealthy merchant in the city of Venice, Shylock a Jewish
merchant and a usurer and Bassanio who is the friend of Antonio. Antonio who is the pivot
point of the play, enjoys an excellent reputation in Venice and the Duke has a high opinion
about him. Shakespeare sometimes portrayed him as a hero and also has made his character
having some flaws. So, he has positive traits as well as negative ones.

Positive Traits in Antonio’s Personality

He is a leading citizen, commanding great respect. He is morally superior in some cases which
makes him a hero as he has thought of nobility and dignity. Many other traits which makes him
to be titled as hero are discussed following:

 Antonio as a Central Figure

If Antonio is eliminated from the play then the whole play would collapse. Neither
the Bond story nor the Caskets story can come into existence without Antonio.
Actually, he is the pivot round which the action of the play revolves. Round him are
all the other characters grouped. Bassanio is his friend, Shylock is him enemy, and
Portia proves to be his savior. He does very little in the play, but a good deal is done
to him.
 His Large-Heartedness or Generosity
Antonio is a kind hearted man who lends money to needy people and he lend
money gratis. Shylock is a professional money lender, who charges unreasonably
high rates of interest on the loan which he gives to the needy people. On the other
hand, Antonio is not a professional money lender. While Shylock is a greedy man,
Antonio is not at all greedy. In fact, Antonio is almost indifferent to wealth.
 His Capacity for Love Strongly
A major trait of Antonio’s character is his capacity of love which becomes clear to us
for his friendship and his profound affection for Bassanio. He gets ready to lend
money to Bassanio for the second time and is prepared to borrow money from
Shylock to whom Antonio hates. Shylock is a Jew and professional money lender.
Antonio also willingly signs the bond of repaying the loan within a period of three
months or else Shylock would be entitled to cut off a pound of Antonio’s flesh from
nearest to his heart. This act of Antonio’s part shows how much he loves Bassanio.
He is willing to risk his life for the sake of his friend. It will not be wrong to call
Antonio a friend for life.
 Antonio surely the “Merchant” of Venice
 There is no doubt that the word “merchant” in the title of this play refers to
Antonio as he has been described as a merchant in the play. In the trail scene, the
Duke explicitly refers to Antonio as “that royal merchant” and when Portia enter
the court and begins to function as the judge, she asks in so many words: “which is
the merchant here and which the Jew?” Thus Antonio Is the merchant in this play;
and the play has been named after him.

Negative Traits in Antonio’s Personality

Although Antonio is a man who wins our respect and admiration because of his fine qualities
yet he also suffers from some serious defects. As we go through the play though his failings and
his deficiencies certainly do not escape our notice.

 Temperamental Melancholy
He is by nature a melancholy man. At any rate, the play opens with his melancholy.
Although his melancholy here seems to have been of a recent origin, yet
subsequently we find that it is a permanent trait of his character. In the trial scene
we find that it is deeply embedded in his nature. In the trial scene he specifically
says to Bassanio that he is a tainted sheep of the flock “meetest for death”. The
ripest fruit drops earliest to the ground he says, and so must he. Now, this is a
defeatist attitude towards life; and this is certainly a fault for which some readers
may describe him as a poor-spirited creature without energy.
 His Religious Intolerance
As a Christian, he shows an intolerance towards the Jews. He hates Shylock because
he is a usurer but even more because he is a Jew. In fact, Antonio goes out of his
way to insult and degrade Shylock. On many occasions he has abused Shylock and
even spat on his clothes. He tells Shylock that he wants a loan from him not as a
friend but as an enemy. He also says that in future also he would abuse him and spit
on him. This religious or racial intolerance on his part somewhat lowers him in our
estimation.
 His Extreme Passivity
Never throughout the play does Antonio take any initiative in saving himself from
the Jew’s clutches. He can foresee the expiry of the period of the bond but he
makes no effort to obtain from any source the money to repay the loan which he
had taken from the Jew. He remains absolutely inactive till he actually forfeits the
bond. We cannot believe that a merchant of his outstanding reputation and
prestige could not have raised an amount of three thousand ducats to repay the
Jew after he has become a bankrupt.
 His Lack of Sense of Humor
Antonio does not have much of a sense of humor. He is unable to laugh much due
to his melancholy attitude. He cannot enjoy a joke; and he is certainly incapable of
making a joke. He does not approve of Gratiano’s flippant and light-hearted talk.
Being a serious-minded man, he is also unable to enjoy such merry-making as
torchlight, masked processions in which Lorenzo and others take great pleasure.
And it also seems that he is incapable of falling in love. When at the outset it is
suggested that he may be feeling melancholy because he is in love, he promptly
rejects the suggestion, saying, “Fie, fie!”

Conclusion
From whichever angle we consider, we observe many different traits of Antonio of
him being a hero and not. Little may be done by him, but much is done against him
as well as for him. He is also a human like us who has some flaws like other human
beings do. But he is of essential importance to the mechanism of the play. So, the
honor of the hero of the Merchant of Venice must go to Antonio.