Love and Friendship in The Merchant of Venice Essay Example

There are many types of love and The Merchant of Venice is a great example of that. There is love between friends, like Bassanio and Antonio or between Jessica and Lancelot. Romantic love obviously plays a big part in this play as well, as there were three marriages that occurred by the end and also many lessons that were learned by the men in particular. To come full circle, the last way of loving is the loving of money and possessions. Money is the main concern in the play, and each character has their own contributions to that. The greatest love to be shown in this play, is the love of friends and their friendships.

Bassanio and Antonio are the two main male protagonists in The Merchant of Venice, and they are also the main pair of bestfriends. Bassanio and Antonio are always there for eachother. Antonio is the title himself, he is The Merchant of Venice. Antonio owns many ships and trades with countries all over the world. Antonio is also very giving. He always lends money to Bassanio whenever he needs it without wanting any interest back. Bassanio on the other hand, is quite a big spender. He never saves his money and believes if a man comes into wealth, it should be spent and shared with everyone almost immediately. You could argue that Bassanio often tricked Antonio for his money, but Antonio loves and cares for Bassanio so much that he would do anything for him. Bassanio does in fact love Antonio as well. During the court scene, Bassanio says he would give up Portia’s (his wife’s) life for Antonio’s, which says a lot considering how much he loves her. Jessica and Lancelot also have a very good friendship. Launcelot is considered Jessica and her father Shylock’s servant, but she indeed is kind to him and they often joke about. Launcelot helps her deliver a letter to Lorenzo, giving her a lot of respect towards him. Towards the end of the play, Launcelot light-heartedly teases Jessica about her marrying Lorenzo and all the pork sales going up because now that she’s a Christian that’s all she’s going to eat. Friendship is honestly such a huge factor in this play and none of the characters would’ve ended up where they did without it. A vast clue I find in this, is that Shylock didn’t have any known friends mentioned in the play, and he was the tragic part about it. Antonio was friendly enough to him to let him even live and if he didn’t, Shylock would have died. 

Romantic love in this play is a huge factor to the problems that were solved. Bassanio’s plan all along was to marry Portia so he could pay Antonio back, which he did successfully. Bassanio was wise enough to choose the right casket, risking almost everything for him, and Antonio. Portia was so in love with Bassanio, she was willing to give him thrice triple the amount Antonio owed Shylock, just because she knew Antonio was someone dear to him. Even though Bassanio technically owns everything that belongs to Portia, he respects that it’s all still hers, which is why she offered to pay it. Bassanio is quite a lover boy, but he is quite shy towards her. He feels very bad that he can’t pay Portia back and that he is in debt to Antonio. She doesn’t care though because she loves him. Meanwhile Portia and Bassanio were doing the casket test, Gratiano (Bassanio’s good friend) and Nerissa (Portia’s servant and bestfriend) were also falling in love and had become quite fond of eachother. They proclaimed that they would get married at the same time Portia and Bassanio get married. Both Portia and Nerissa decided to give each of the men rings and make them promise to never take them off. Once the court scene had finished, Bassanio wanted to pay the lawyer (who was Pportia in disguise). The only thing the lawyer would accept was the ring Portia had given him, to which he finally caved in and gave the ring away. The clerk (Nerissa) also decided he wanted a payment too, and demanded Gratiano’s ring. He caved in as well and gave it to her. Once everyone was back in Belmont, the women joked with them that they wouldn’t sleep with them and had slept with the lawyer and clerk to get the rings back. This obviously wasn’t true, but it taught the men to really respect their wives for all they do. Jessica and Lorenzo are like a fairytale true love story, and they make many references describing themselves as many popular relationships where they had to go against everything to be together. They really are a true example of doing anything for the one you love. Jessica stole from her father and became a Christian just to be with him. Love is an extremely important part of this play teaching many lessons and overcoming hardships which is extremely important if you really love someone.

Last but certainly not least is the love of money and one's possessions. Shylock is a prime example of this. Bassanio could be used too, but only minorly. Shylock is a fairly wealthy man. His daughter Jessica knows this and before she runs away with Lorenzo, she takes all his Jewels and even the ring her Mother gave him. When Shylock found out, he was much more upset about his Jewels and wealth being stolen than his daughter running away. Shylock almost didn’t seem to even care about Jessica running away. Of course wealth is important but that is his daughter. Shylock probably does care, but he is just so filled with anger between Jessica and Antonio, he doesn’t know what to do with himself. Bassanio loved his wealth, but he just wasn’t very smart about how he used it. He believes it should be shared and spent right away on parties and fancy things that would make a materialistic man happy. Money and possessions shouldn’t be ones main source of happiness, which is a major difference between Shylock and Bassanio. Bassanio is quite content without it, but he obviously still loves it anyways while Shylock cares more about his wealth than his own daughter.

Love between friends, being romantic and the love for money and possessions are all key parts of this play, and it wouldn’t be the same without any of them. The greatest love to be shown in this play is without a doubt friendship. Without the undying love between the friends in this play, nobody would have been where they ended up.