 The theme of friendship is one of the major themes that is explored by Shakespeare in The Merchant of Venice. Indeed, it is the friendship between Antonio and Bassanio that basically sets off the sequence of events that happen. So Antonio, he's very successful, is very wealthy, he has a very good name in terms of how he's seen by people who lend money, okay? So by money lenders, he has a very good credit, whilst his very dear friend Bassanio has a terrible credit, okay? So he's squandered his money, he owes lots of people lots of things. However, we can see that Antonio fills this deep sense of love for Bassanio as a friend. Of course, also there have been lots of theories that perhaps Antonio's feelings of friendship towards Bassanio maybe stretch beyond just a brotherly affection, a friendship affection into perhaps even just a homosexual interest in his friend. However, if we just stick mainly to the theme of friendship in this case, I think it's really important to highlight how Shakespeare uses these two central characters within the play to illustrate the importance of friendship, okay? We can see that Antonio on the one hand is willing to even give up his life for his friend Bassanio. Of course, he's also willing to give up, you know, his name and put his name against the money that Bassanio needs in order to woo Porsche, okay? And the virtue of friendship, especially as it's presented to Antonio, is contrasted with other uglier emotions and other uglier themes such as prejudice, which is what Sherlock experiences, but also greed, okay? Because of course, we can see that whilst Bassanio, he is a friend to Antonio. He still has some selfish desires that he wishes to be met through Antonio using his name in order that he can borrow money, okay? So friendship is primarily, especially if you're writing about this theme either for your course or for exams, you want to explore how friendship, especially is shown in the relationship between Antonio and Bassanio, and how perhaps you can contrast that with slightly more uglier emotions such as prejudice and how that's explored. And do bear in mind that will be a lesson where I will go over the theme of prejudice because that is another important theme, okay? So as I've mentioned, the theme of friendship is really important and you want to be able to be really familiar with this theme, okay? So as you can see behind me, I have selected the most relevant quotations you can consider if you're writing about the theme of friendship, which we're gonna go over now, as well as the word level analysis you can do if you're discussing this theme as it's illustrated in the Merchant of Venice, okay? So the first one is to do with what Antonio says to Bassanio, but he seems really hurt that Bassanio even doubts a little whether he can turn to Antonio as a friend for financial help and he states, out of doubt, you do me now more wrong in making question of my uttermost than if you had made waste of all I have. So basically what Antonio is saying is, oh, I'm really hurt Bassanio as a friend that you would even contemplate not asking me for any type of help because you're kind of scared that you might lose it and I might be angry at you. I'd rather you feel really close to me as a friend, you can ask for anything, you can even lose everything that I own, but as long as you see me as a real genuine friend, that's more important to me, okay? So here, of course, we can see that in many ways you can make the argument that Antonio really represents this pure virtue of friendship through his self-sacrificial approach to Bassanio. He is willing for Bassanio to lose everything and he's still going to be really loyal to Bassanio. He wants to do everything for Bassanio. And again, of course, this has led a lot of critics to say, hmm, this goes a little bit beyond the call of duty for friendship. However, again, if we just strictly interpret it in terms of this theme, this does show the pure virtues that go with genuine friendship and genuine commitment. And this is especially illustrated by Antonio. Now the word allowances you want to do here is you want to first focus on the assonance of oh, in out of doubt, you do me, now more wrong, okay? And also the hyperbole, all I have, okay? So Antonio is basically saying, look, because I'm so loyal to you as a friend, you can literally, you can lose everything that I have and I will still care for you, okay? And I'll be even happy that you were willing to approach me as a real friend, okay? Because you saw me as a genuine person. The second quotation that ties into the theme of friendship is when Bassanio, so this is when he's approaching Antonio and he understands and he illustrates that Antonio has been a very, very loyal friend to him. And he has borrowed money from Antonio in the past, never paid it back, and of course he's borrowed from all these other creditors, so he has such terrible credit. And he admits that Antonio has been a really good friend, okay, and we can see here that there's this very close friendship bond that exists between the two. And Bassanio states to Antonio, to you Antonio, I owe the most in money and love, okay? So of course here, from Bassanio's perspective, it's brotherly love, friendship, affection, okay? So he's basically saying, look, Antonio, you of all people have given me the most in terms of money, you've shown literally on a bottomless kind of feeling of kindness towards me, okay? So I owe the most to you in money and love, okay? However, I do need to borrow just a little bit more, okay? So of course again here, you want to focus here on the theme of friendship, as you can see. Antonio shows a strong level of loyalty towards Bassanio. But we can also say that whilst Bassanio here shows his close friendship with Antonio, it is tainted with a level of selfishness because he's telling him, he acknowledges that Antonio has sacrificed so much, so far for him, but yet he says this as a way to pre-fix that he's gonna ask for more, okay? The one level answers you want to focus on, and of course this is still showing how loyal Antonio is as a friend towards Bassanio, it's firstly the spellative adjective most, okay? So Bassanio is recognizing, look, I've taken so much from you and I'm so grateful. And also you want to focus on the alliteration of M in most and money. The next quotation, and this is what Solerino says when he is recounting the fact that Antonio, his ships, he loses his ships, he loses his merchandise, and because he has promised Shylock a pound of his flesh, Shylock is now asking for this, which will basically amount to his death, okay? So Antonio is willing to die for his friend. And Solerino basically recounts that Antonio is still not angry with Bassanio, which really shows that he's a true friend because he states, oh, you know, I heard Antonio telling Bassanio, slubber not business for my sake, Bassanio. So basically he's just telling Bassanio, Bassanio, don't cry for my sake, okay? It's fine, you know, yes, I'm gonna die, but I'm willing to die for you, okay? I can die a thousand deaths for you because I am so committed to you as a friend, okay? So here of course we can see the theme of friendship illustrated. Antonio shows his undying commitment and unwavering commitment and friendship towards Bassanio, even after he's lost everything, okay? And he's about to lose his life. Now the word love analysis you want to focus on is the literation of B in business and Bassanio, but also Antonio tells Bassanio, don't cry, slubber not, and this is an imperative sentence. It's basically telling him an instruction, okay? So an imperative sentence is any type of sentence that issues a command or instruction. So here he's telling Bassanio, don't cry for me, don't cry for me, okay? I still am gonna be your friend, you know, I really care about you, I feel like it was worth the risk. The next quotation which we can tie to the theme of friendship again here, we can see that Antonio is, he literally is completely committed to his friendship with Bassanio because he states, my purse, my person, my extremist, means lie all unlocked to your occasions. Basically saying, literally, anything you ask for Bassanio, I will give you, okay? I will give you my money, I will give you literally all my means, everything that I own, okay? And of course, Antonio was supposed to be a very successful merchant, so he had a lot, and he was basically saying, for our friendship, I'm willing to give you however much you want, okay? You have literally unlimited amount of money from me if you need it as a friend, Bassanio, okay? And here again, we can see that Antonio has a really deep sense of commitment and loyalty towards his friend, Bassanio. However, of course, again, if you wanted to, you know, link this theme of friendship also to kind of show how it overlaps perhaps with what critics have stated, whereby Antonio does take a home it's actual interest in Bassanio, you can use this quotation to make that case too, okay? However, we're going to narrowly interpret it in terms of it showing Antonio's commitment and devotion as a friend to Bassanio. The one level analysis you want to focus on is firstly, the repetition of the pronoun, my, okay? So here we can see that Antonio is really emphatic. Bassanio, I'll give you everything, okay? Everything I own as a friend, you are entitled to it. Also, you want to focus on the ascenditin, okay? So the commas here, the listing again here, Antonio is showing like he is so enthusiastic to give Bassanio whatever he needs. Whatever you need, I'm here for you, I'm a really good friend for you, okay? The next quotation which ties into the theme of friendship is now in Bassanio, so this is when Antonio tells him, look, okay, you can approach Shylock, then Shylock says, I'll give you the money, however, I demand a pound of your flesh, Antonio, okay? As collateral, in case I'm not paid back, I'll take a pound of your flesh. And Antonio says, yes, he's willing to sacrifice his life, however, Bassanio now actually shows he doesn't have complete 100% selfish interest in just using Antonio because he says, no, no, no, no, I don't like this bargain. You shall not seal such a bond for me, okay? So here he's speaking in what we call an exclamatory sentence. Remember an exclamatory sentence is a sentence that uses an exclamation mark at the end and it shows a very strong emotion. So here we can actually see that Bassanio is being a good friend to Antonio. He's willing to just give up his dreams of approaching Porsche, of trying to win her hand in marriage if it's at the expense of Antonio's life. So he's basically saying, no, no, no, I don't trust Shylock. You know, I don't want you to die at his hands, okay? So here, of course, we can see that Bassanio does actually care about Antonio to some degree, however, of course, the balance is definitely tipped in favor of him and it's Antonio that seems more invested in this friendship, okay? However, of course, in this case, we can see that Bassanio does care about his friend. And now what you want to focus on in terms of word level analysis is the sibilance in shall seal and such, okay? So here we can see that Bassanio is really concerned. He feels like this is a really bad bargain. Actually, we could just walk away from this, okay? I'll just give up my dreams. I wanted to marry Porsche, however, Antonio is such a good friend that he still says, no, you know, I'm willing to take the risk. And of course, also Antonio is very confident that some of his ships will come back and turn a profit and then he'll be able to pay off his debt to Shylock. The next quotation which ties into the theme of friendship is when Porsche recognizes that Bassanio, so this is once he has won her hand in marriage and he learns of the terrible news that his friend Antonio is not gonna be able to pay back Shylock because all of his ships have been lost at sea and he is really stressed out. He then decides to rush back for the trial, okay? And Porsche then realizes, oh, wow, they have a really close friendship or close bond, okay? And this close friendship is illustrated when Porsche makes the observation Antonio being the bosom lover of my lord, okay? And the one lover notices you want to focus on is the literation of be, okay? And being in bosom. And here we can see the really close connection and close bond that Antonio and Bassanio have as friends. Finally, the final quotation which you want to focus on is when we can see that Bassanio, basically he ultimately tells Antonio, look, you're still the most important person in my life. You are a really good friend to me and I'm willing to risk everything for you, okay? Nothing that I have is worth your life, okay? So here we can see, again, Bassanio now when he's really faced with the idea that his friend might die at his, you know, Antonio's gonna die at his expense. He now realizes, no, no, no, I don't want anything to be, I don't want this to end like this, okay? Nothing that you can do is worth your life and Bassanio really shows that anything that he owns, actually his friend is more valuable. He states, but life itself, my wife and all the world are not with me esteemed above their life, okay? So here what Bassanio is basically saying is that even my life is not worthy of your life, Antonio. My wife, Portia, is not worthy of your life and even the whole world, like there's no point of even living in this world if you're not around, okay? So here we can see that Bassanio really feels a strong loyalty also to his friend, Antonio, and especially he feels really guilty once he realizes that Antonio might lose his life because of being in service to Bassanio, because of trying to support Bassanio's dream of wooing Portia by getting the loan for him, okay? So the word level analysis you want to focus on here is firstly, the listing of life, wife, and world, okay? So here Bassanio is just showing like nothing is as important to me as you, Antonio, again, showing illustrious in the close friendship that they have. Also, the hyperbole of the world, right? The world is not worth anything if you're not in it, Antonio, and finally, the repetition of life, okay? Which emphasizes how Antonio might die, okay? So that's really it when it comes to talking about the theme of friendship. If you're writing about this theme, I would suggest focusing primarily on the relationship that exists between Antonio and Bassanio. Thanks so much for listening.