Let’s remind ourselves of Freytag’s Pyramid, which Freytag developed to
analyse the structure of a five-act play. The first part of the play is what Freytag
calls the exposition, in which we learn about the setting, characters and their relationships.
In Act 1, Scene 1, the audience learns that:  Antonio is a successful Christian merchant,
whose wealth is invested in trade. His ships are currently all at sea.
 His friend, Bassanio, is in love with a rich lady called Portia. Bassanio wants to
marry Portia, but first wishes to borrow money to make his lifestyle appropriately
lavish in order to impress her.  Antonio wants to lend Bassanio
the money but has no ready cash because it is all invested in his trading- ships.
He tells Bassanio that he can borrow money and use Antonio as a guarantor for the debt.
a. Language From the moment that the characters enter,
the audience will know that they are of a high social status. This is because they speak in
blank verse. Blank verse is iambic pentameter that does not rhyme. Iambic pentameter has lines of
ten syllables, with alternating unstressed and stressed syllables. In your copy of the play,
blank verse looks like poetry on the page. Blank verse is typically used by upper-class
characters and the nobility. For example, Antonio’s first two lines in the play are:
In sooth, I know not why I am so sad: It wearies me; you say it wearies you;
Shakespeare often put important words at the end of a line, so here,
we have the emphasis on the word ‘sad’, which sets the tone of the beginning of the play.
The rhythm (meter) of these two lines is a perfect example of five sets of an unstressed
and stressed syllable. In fact, the rhythm is so predictable that it is almost monotonous:
Shakespeare deliberately does this to mirror Antonio’s mood. He’s trapped in a depressed mood,
and the rhythm of these two lines is tightly controlled, implying that he is finding it
a challenge to break free of his sadness. If Shakespeare were to use perfect iambic
pentameter for every line, however, it would become too much, so he sometimes added syllables,
took away syllables and changed the rhythm (meter) to focus the attention of the audience
on particular words. For example, when he talks about where all his sadness comes from, he says:
I am to learn As you can see,
this is a very short line indeed, and it emphasises Antonio’s apparent bewilderment
about why he is sad. The lack of beats also mirrors empty spaces and gaps in his knowledge.
Sometimes, lines are shared. This is when a character starts a thought and
the second character finishes it. A shared line reveals information about the closeness of the
relationship between the speakers—for example, they might be in love, plotting or sharing a
secret. For example: ANTONIO
I hold the world but as the world, Gratiano; A stage where every man must play a part,
Let me play the fool: The line ‘And mine a
sad one’ contains five syllables while Gratiano’s response ‘Let me play the fool’ also contains five
syllables. 5 + 5 = 10, so we have a shared line of iambic pentameter. Shakespeare doesn’t use perfect
iambic pentameter here. The pace quickens when Gratiano uses two unstressed syllables followed
by as stressed one (an anapaest) when he says ‘let me play’. The change of pace reveals his
passion and determination to cheer up Antonio. At the end of the scene, we see a rhyming
couplet (literally, a couple of lines that rhyme) when Antonio says:
Where money is, and I no question make To have it of my trust or for my sake.
Remember that in the Elizabethan times, there was no curtain to drop at the end of an act or scene.
For this reason, Shakespeare used a rhyming couplet at the end of every scene to signal
to the audience that the scene was ending. The above rhyming couplet loosely translates
as Wherever the money is, I will, without question /Guarantee the loan for you. We
can see that it also sums up the scene and reminds the audience what will happen next.
b. Antonio’s Wealth: Foreshadowing Foreshadowing—giving a hint or sign of
something that will happen in the future—is a structural technique that Shakespeare
uses in this scene. Here, the playwright establishes important information about
Antonio’s wealth and the dangers of losing it. Shakespeare introduces this information through
the minor characters of Salarino and Salanio, who are also wealthy Christian merchants. Commenting
on Antonio’s depressed state of mind, Salarino says ‘Your mind is tossing on the ocean...where
your argosies...overpeer the petty traffickers’. (Your thoughts are focused on the ocean…where your
ships…look down on the little boats.) Salarino is trying to encourage his friend Antonio that
his huge merchant ships are far superior to other sea vessels. Salanio, however,
reinforces the vulnerability of trade ships at sea by saying that if he were in Antonio’s place,
he would fear ‘Misfortune’. Through Salarino and Salanio, Shakespeare reveals a vital plot point:
Antonio is currently risking his entire wealth on his trading ships. If he loses
his ships, he will lose all of his wealth. Shakespeare continues to reinforce this point by
reminding the audience how dangerous it can be to have all your wealth in ships. Salarino mentions
‘dangerous rocks’ that can wreck ships—of course, later in the play, it is believed that Antonio’s
ships are lost at sea. In this opening scene, Shakespeare therefore uses the minor characters
of Salarino and Salanio to establish Antonio’s situation and foreshadow the believed loss of the
ships—and this will lead to Antonio’s trial. c. Bassanio and Portia
In this scene, we meet Bassanio, and we learn about his character and motivations.
Antonio asks him for an update on the ‘lady’ and Bassanio’s intended ‘pilgrimage’ to her. The word
‘pilgrimage’ is a religious word, referring to a journey to a sacred destination. This
language suggests that Bassanio is truly in love. However, Bassanio’s reply focuses solely on money:
So, what do we learn about Bassanio?
1. He’s in debt and can’t afford to pay the interest on his loans.
2. He wants to get out of debt. 3. He admits that his extravagant lifestyle
has led to his current situation. 4. He feels trapped in debt.
5. He owes Antonio the most. 6. He has a plan for how to get out of debt.
Instead of answering Antonio’s question about Portia (the ‘lady’)
Bassanio focuses solely on money. Indeed, when Antonio asks him to describe Portia,
the structure of his reply is equally startling:
Bassanio focuses first on her wealth (’a lady richly left’); secondly, he describes her ‘fair’
appearance; and finally, he vaguely describes her character (‘wondrous virtues’). This does
not paint a positive picture of Bassanio, who seems only to be interested in money
and sex with a beautiful woman. We learn very little of Portia’s personality in this speech.
Even the references to her looks are intertextual references to wealth. He compares her ‘sunny
locks’ of hair to a ‘golden fleece’. This simile is a reference to the Greek myth of Jason and
the Argonauts. In this tale, Jason wanted to take his place as king. In order to do so,
he had to find a magical ram and take its golden fleece. The reference portrays Portia
as the golden fleece, and Bassanio on a journey to claim her. At the time,
married women were the legal property of their husbands; everything they owned also became their
husbands’ property. When he is married to Portia, Bassanio will be, like Jason, king of his domain.
This ‘golden fleece’ simile clearly portrays the idea that Portia is an object to be possessed.
d. Antonio and Bassanio We never discover why Antonio is so sad:
even he claims not to know (‘I know not why I am so sad’). It could be that he is melancholy
by nature. Alternatively, considering his conversation with Salarino and Salanio,
perhaps he is sad because he is worried about all his ships being at sea. He denies this (‘my
merchandise makes me not sad’), but how much can we believe him? Salarino and Salanio are
fellow merchants, and Antonio might not want to admit his worries to them despite their efforts
to cheer him up. Antonio argues rational business reasons: his business interests are not tied to
one ship (‘not in one bottom trusted’); nor to one country (‘Nor to one place’); and his entire
wealth is not dependent on doing well financially this year (‘nor is my whole estate / Upon the
fortune of this present year’. However, as we will later learn when none of his ships arrive before
the repayment of Shylock’s loan is due, there is cause to be suspicious of his apparent confidence.
Salarino might be more accurate about the cause of Antonio’s sadness when he suggests
that Antonio is ‘in love’. Antonio strenuously denies this, but it is worth exploring further.
There is a theory to suggest that Antonio is in love with Bassanio;
of course, he is unable to admit this. A contemporary English audience would
know that male homosexuality was punishable by death. Over in Venice,
male homosexuality was punished by the Catholic Church, as same-sex relations
were regarded as a sin. In 15th-century Venice, the punishment was to be burnt at the stake.
So, if Antonio is sad because he loves Bassanio, he’s not going to admit it, is he?
Let’s examine some possible evidence for Antonio being in love with Bassanio. Firstly,
melancholy was traditionally regarded as a symptom of lovesickness in Shakespeare’s
time. In Shakespeare’s day, physician Timothy Bright’s ‘Treatise of Melancholie’ (1586) stated
that ‘sadde and fearful’ humour, was a common illness in Elizabethan England—so common, in fact,
that it verged on being fashionable. Although melancholy linked to sadness, Bright claimed
that it was also associated with refinement and male intellect. Shakespeare for example,
parodies (makes fun of) the languishing lover of Romeo at the beginning of ‘Romeo and Juliet’.
So, at the beginning of ‘The Merchant of Venice’, we have a fashionably melancholic Antonio but,
if he is in love, no woman is mentioned. We see, however,
a close relationship with Bassanio in Act 1, Scene 1 when Antonio says:
My purse, my person, my extremest means, Lie all unlock'd to your occasions.
This is an ambiguous offer. Literally, he is saying my money, myself and all that I have
Are at your disposal. This could be interpreted as sexual innuendo
because it could also mean that his body (‘my person’) is available for Bassanio’s pleasure.
Does Bassanio feel the same? He tells Antonio:
To you, Antonio, I owe the most, in money and in love,
And from your love I have a warranty To unburden all my plots
It might therefore appear that Antonio’s love is reciprocated. Also, a little later in the scene,
Bassanio exclaims ‘O my Antonio’—the possessive ‘my’ might reveal more than friendship.
However, in Elizabethan times, there were often shows of affection such as confessions
of love between friends of the same sex. At the time, this was not necessarily an
indication of a homoerotic relationship. So, Antonio and Bassanio, as two upper-class men,
might simply be friends expressing their love in a socially acceptable context of the time.
Perhaps it’s worth exploring their relationship more by asking the question,
Why? Why is Antonio prepared to risk his life to help Bassanio? A reminder
that Antonio is a good man of business: he has more than one ship in more than one country,
so he is spreading his risks. He has already leant money to Bassanio, who has not paid him
back. Why would he do this again and put himself in debt in the process by agreeing to guarantee
the loan? Remember that there is no financial profit in lending money to Bassanio: only Jews
were allowed to charge interest on loans. If Antonio is in love with Bassanio, this would
explain his willingness to help. Not only does Antonio put himself into debt, but he also later
risks his life when he agrees to the pound of flesh, to help Bassanio. This is an act of love.
Let’s revisit Bassanio’s behaviour. We have already looked at his protestations
of love for Antonio. Bassanio, when introducing the idea of marriage,
also makes it very clear that the reason he wants to marry ‘richly left’ Portia is
to pay off his debts: it’s a business transaction, nothing to do with love.
Remember that Bassanio, upon his own admission, is heavily in debt and has squandered his own fortune
to fund his extravagant lifestyle. Moreover, Bassanio hasn’t repaid Antonio’s first loan,
or the loans of his other creditors. In short, Bassanio is a bad business
investment. It therefore seems likely that Antonio’s love for Bassanio is the only
credible reason for putting himself into debt and risking his own life in order to lend money.
Finally, let’s revisit the source material for the play, Fiorentino’s novella ‘Il Pecorone’. In the
novella, the lady’s maid marries Ansaldo at the end of the play. Shakespeare could have married
Nerissa to Antonio instead of Gratiano—marrying Antonio would fit the conventions of the
genre. So why did Shakespeare change the end of Fiorentino’s novella? Why is Antonio still single?
Perhaps this is Shakespeare’s way of developing consistency with Antonio’s character by showing
the audience that the merchant of Venice is not sexually attracted to women.