Antonio is the merchant of Venice of the play's title. His role in the play is far from the biggest but is a very significant one. The play begins with his role `In sooth I know not why I am so sad', then he says, `I have much ado to know myself'. Antonio's character is ambiguous from the start but it develops in the later part of the play.

I feel that Antonio is a wealthy and honourable merchant. He has many argosies with portly sail, `like signiors and rich burghers on the flood, or as it were the pageants of the sea'. However, he is arrogant as he looks down upon small trading boats as seen in the play, `Do overpeer the petty traffickers, That curtsy to them, As they fly by them with their woven wings'. Although Antonio is wealthy and arrogant, he is extremely generous...