Antonio's Love for Bassanio in The Merchant of Venice Antonio feels closer to Bassanio than any other character in The Merchant of Venice. Our first clue to this is in the first scene when, in conversation with Antonio, Solanio says: "Here comes Bassanio, your most noble relative, / Gratiano, and Lorenzo. Goodbye: / We leave you now with better company" (ii 57 -59). Once Antonio is alone with Bassanio, the conversation becomes more intimate, and Antonio offers Bassanio in debt "My purse, my person, my last means" (137). We later find out that Bassanio needs money to woo Portia, a noble heiress whom Bassanio intends to marry. And although Antonio is unable to lend money at that moment, he does not disappoint Bassanio: Nor have I money, nor merchandise to raise a present sum; therefore, go ahead; try what my credit can do in Venice: this will be a racket, to the max, to supply you to Belmont, to fair Portia. (124-128)Antonio does not make these offers to any other character in The Merchant of Venice. In fact there is only one scene in which Antonio is present and Bassanio is not; in act 3 scene 3, and even then Antonio ends the scene with a plea for Bassanio: "Pray God, Bassanio come / To see me pay his debt, - and then I don't care" (iii, iii, 35-36) .Antonio expresses his love for Bassanio several times throughout the opera ("You know me well, and here you only spend time / To wrap my love with circumstances" [i, i, 154]; "Recommend me to your honorable wife: / Tell her the process of Antonio's end; / Tell her how much I loved you" [iv, i, 273-275]). But whether the love that Antonio has for Bassanio is sexual or platonic does not come to light never answered openly, which leaves speculation... half the paper... of Venice." Shakespeare Quarterly 37 1:20-37.Granville -Barker, Harley. "The Merchant of Venice." Shakespeare: Modern Essays in Criticism, Leonard Dean, ed. New York: Oxford University Press, 1967. Kahn, Coppelia. "Shakespeare's "Rough Magic," Peter Erickson and Coppelia Kahn, eds. Newark: University of Delaware Press, 1985. Patterson, Steve. "The Bankruptcy of Homoerotic Amity in Shakespeare's Merchant of Venice." Shakespeare Quarterly 49, 1:9 -32 Shakespeare, William. "The Merchant of Venice." The Complete Works of William Shakespeare Merchant of Venice without being heterosexist." Alternative Shakespeare Volume 2, Terrance Hawkes, ed. New York: Routledge,1996