Antonio is the merchant from the title. He is very kind-hearted to his good friend Bassanio but loathes Shylock, just as the other Christians in Venice at the time did.
The majority of Christians in Venice hated Shylock, because of his Jewish religion and the Jewish practice of profit from trade. Throughout the play Shylock is referred to racially, for example, Act 4 Scene 1 sees Gratiano call him “Harsh Jew” and again in Act 4 Scene 1 Gratiano refers to him as “A second Daniel, a Daniel, a Jew”. These are two examples of racial prejudice towards Shylock in the play, but at the time, this was nothing compared to what Jewish people would have to face further on in history.
The Holocaust was genocide controlled by the Nazi’s before and during the Second World War whilst Hitler was dictating Germany. This was the greatest suffering of the Jews and many Germans were led to believe that Jews were to blame for Germany’s problems. During this point in history, six million Jews lost their lives and the constant victimisation which Shylock and the Jews had to endure in this play was just one example of this appalling suffering they experienced throughout history.
A modern audience watching the play today would be able to draw on their knowledge of the Holocaust and this would lead them to seeing Shylock as a victim, empathizing with him and showing sorrow, whereas the audience watching the play in the 1500’s would see Shylock as the villain in the drama. They would hate him for trying to make Antonio, the Christian, complete the bond. This leaves Antonio to be seen as the victim as the audience did not care for Shylock and his suffering, they were not able to understand his point of view. This shows just how much of their behaviour and attitudes was dictated by social, contempory prejudice.
Shakespeare was very deliberate in his creation of Antonio, as he had to be completely different to Shylock. He is portrayed as a gentleman who is well settles within his friendship group, especially Bassanio, and also as a merchant but may worry; “You have too much respect upon the world” (Act 1, Scene 1) which suggests Antonio is concerned with how people see him and presents him as desiring ‘respect’ from his peers. In his social group he has a very high standard and is also wealthy, although his money was all at sea, forcing him to borrow money from Shylock and take out the bond, he still remains the hero figure. In borrowing the money from Shylock, Antonio goes against his principles; “Yet to supply the ripe wants of my friend, I’ll break a custom” (Act 1, Scene 3). The phrase ‘I’ll break a custom’ shows the audience how much of a challenge going into business with his enemy is and goes some way to explain how important principles are to both Shylock and Antonio.
Antonio is always presented as a good person to the audience to try and influence them. He is not seen as being racist directly to Shylock other than when he suggests in court that he has no feeling; “You may as well do anything most hard, as seek to soften that – than which what’s harder? – His Jewish heart” (Act 4, Scene 1). Here he is being directly racist towards Shylock, saying Jews have hard hearts meaning they do not feel anything, that nothing can soften their hearts, implying they are harsh and have no compassion. This would have been considered fact by the audience in the period so they would not react with any shock at this statement. As well as victimising Shylock, which would also make Antonio feel better, this quote also makes the audience feel sorry for Antonio. He was trying to gain sympathy. Everybody hated the Jews so by saying there was no chance of softening his heart, he is saying he has given up, causing the audience to feel for him rather than see the terrible limits Shylock has been pushed to. Shakespeare did offer some insight into Shylock’s mind and character by making him a lead, however, the audience only ever sees a character based on racial ignorance and as Shakespeare does not craft Shylock to be admired, he remains the villain.
In the end, Shylock and Antonio’s behaviour and actions were almost totally dictated by social contempory prejudice because both Shylock and Antonio were influenced by others in their social groups and neither was strong enough to break tradition and accept the other as an equal, a human.
Antonio embodies Christianity in Venice. He is a noble merchant with a high status. He and his fellow Christians strongly oppose Jews and show racism throughout the play. Behaviour like this towards the Jews was a norm for Christians at the time, so Antonio along with them acted upon these prejudices.
Shylock also did this when Antonio came to him to borrow money; Shylock saw his chance to get even and took it. When it came to the court scene he was offered money instead of the bond but decided not to take it, just to get even at Antonio and the Christians. Unfortunately for Shylock he was persecuted for his actions while Antonio, who escaped because he was made out to be righteous and the audience supported his due to his religion.
Perhaps the most disturbing aspect of the drama filled court scene would be the added racism of Antonio’s punishments for Shylock. Shakespeare cannot allow Shylock to be successful, so he strips him of his money and his religion. The drama on the stage here would have pleased his audience but in the modern day, would go completely against his human rights and would not have been justified.
Both characters showed the prejudices in the main plots of the play, dictating the storyline. The main social prejudices were that to do with religion, so Antonio and Shylock belonging to different religions made the social contempory prejudice stand out strongly and control the play.
