Friendship Shown in the Merchant of Venice

Friendship

It is not only romantic love that is discussed as a form of wealth in The Merchant of Venice. Friendship, too, is an important aspect of ‘love’s wealth’. Today, you sometimes hear the idea expressed that a husband and wife ought to be each other’s best friends; a happy marriage takes precedence over outside friendships. Shakespeare’s audience would no doubt have found this notion rather bizarre – suitable, perhaps for starry-eyed and headstrong young lovers, but hardly the basis for life-long happiness. In the play, Portia demonstrates her depth of character by understanding that her husband’s happiness depends on his ability to discharge his obligations as a friend. Thus, his loyalties have become her loyalties. Much more than today, the Elizabethans expected friendship to be the glue that held together business relationships between social equals. You will notice that Shylock’s refusal to dine with Bassanio is treated in the play as an act of hostility. This was a common view in Elizabethan times; religious and dietary laws which kept Jews from socializing with Christians on a friendly basis were seen as sinister, an expression of untrustworthy intentions.

In the Merchant of Venice there are two friendships that play important roles in the drama:

Antonio and Bassanio

This friendship seems rather one-sided as Antonio makes far more sacrifices and gestures of friendship than Bassanio. In Act I, Bassanio admits,

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 and purposes

How to get clear of all the debts I owe. (1.1.4)

Antonio’s overture to donate a pound of his own flesh seems especially significant of itself as its altruism is superlative, but it is considered by some critics rather grotesque as it suggests the rites of marriage, in which "two become one flesh.”

Nerissa and Portia

Nerissa is devoted to Portia;sympathetic to Portia's frustration over the terms...