The Merchant of Venice A View of Antonio The character of Antonio is very complex, and his attitudes to the people around him are greatly different. He varies from kind and forgiving to a mean and evil man. To his friends he is generous and loving but to his enemies he is vengeful and spiteful. The first spoken line in the play is "In sooth I know not why I am so sad." This sets …showed first 75 words of 1633 total…

…showed last 75 words of 1633 total…one of deep and passionate love and one of spite and cruelness. Without money Antonio would be nothing, and without Bassanio he would be a broken man. These are the two most important things to him and with the loss of one would come the end for him. He is a man who can love deeply and a man who would destroy his enemies without a second thought. That is Antonio, The Merchant of Venice.