Love Versus Friendship in The Merchant of Venice

a student paper

One of the most important motifs, as I see it, in The Merchant of Venice is the constant struggle between love and friendship. In each love relationship, Shakespeare introduces a friendship to intrigue the viewer into observing how the two relationships are dealt with by the characters involved. The main effect of this motif was to show how love and friendship do not have to compete with each other and that each is needed in order to fulfill a person.

The couple that I would like to discuss in order to observe this motif is Bassanio and Portia. In their relationship, Shakespeare exaggerates and emphasizes how love and friendship are pitted against each other. In fact, Bassanio and Portia had just discovered their mutual love for each other and had become engaged when a friendship of Bassanio's threatened to come between them. At this point, Bassanio was sent a message that the bond which Antonio had negotiated on Bassanio's behalf had come due at approximately the same time when Antonio's ships failed to come in. Therefore, Antonio could not pay Shylock his money. When Bassanio heard of this, he felt pulled by his friendship to help Antonio. Portia and Bassanio's marriage had not even been consummated when Bassanio rushed off to help Antonio, his friend. Here we can see how Shakespeare exaggerates the normal struggle between love and friendship to draw attention to how the situation is handled. Shakespeare also emphasizes the point that only true love and friendship can complement each other and coexist. Only because Portia understood Bassanio and his need to help Antonio could she so easily allow him to leave her so soon after their marriage. She did not feel threatened by his friendship with Antonio and furthermore understood it. She displayed this by taking the risk of impersonating a lawyer to help Antonio even though she had never met him.

On the other hand, a close look at Antonio's actions reveals how friendship gives way to and even helps bring about the love between Bassanio and Portia. Antonio valued Bassanio's friendship and happiness so much that he took out a loan with Shylock, his greatest enemy, so that Bassanio could be better prepared to court Portia. Antonio had never even seen Portia much less know her, yet he was willing to aid his friend in finding love with her. Again, Antonio felt true friendship towards Bassanio and knew Bassanio could not be totally fulfilled with just friendship. As it turned out, Antonio ended up risking his very life for Bassanio and this love.

On the whole, the way Antonio and Portia each understood and helped Bassanio helps the viewer to recognize that love and friendship can coexist. However, the love and friendship must be true and understanding, and one must not feel threatened by the other. Portia displayed true love and understanding of Bassanio's friendship with Antonio and therefore helped this friendship become deeper. Antonio displayed true friendship in understanding Bassanio's love for Portia and likewise helped this love to grow and blossom. By portraying these two relationships in one character, Shakespeare emphasized their mutual need for each other in order to fulfill a person. Without Antonio's friendship, Bassanio's love for Portia would never have been fulfilled. Also without Portia's love, Bassanio's friendship with Antonio would have ended tragically. Bassanio needed both his friendship and love to be whole and satisfied. Shakespeare very successfully shows how true love and friendship not only do not oppose each other but even work together to help the other to mature and develop.