The Literature Review
of
The Mystery of Antonio’s Sadness in The Merchant of Venice
（正文用罗马小四,1.5倍行距）
Written sometime between 1596 and 1598, The Merchant of Venice is classified as both an early Shakespearean comedy (more specifically, as a "Christian comedy") and as one of the Bard's problem plays; it is a work in which good triumphs over evil, but serious themes are examined and some issues remain unresolved.
In The Merchant of Venice , Shakespeare wove together two ancient folk tales, one involving a vengeful, greedy creditor trying to exact a pound of flesh, the other involving a marriage suitor's choice among three chests and thereby winning his (or her) mate. Shakespeare's treatment of the first standard plot scheme centers around the villain of Merchant, the Jewish moneylender Shylock, who seeks a literal pound of flesh from his Christian opposite, the generous, faithful Antonio. Shakespeare's version of the chest-choosing device revolves around the play's Christian heroine Portia, who steers her lover Bassanio toward the correct humble casket and then successfully defends his bosom friend Antonio from Shylock's horrid legal suit. Antonio, as the title character, is sad from the beginning to the end of the play but never names the cause of his melancholy even when his friends ask him. Antonio plays the role as an outcast in the play. Shakespeare uses Antonio’s sadness simply as the device to set the tragic tone in the comedy or make Antonio be one of his melancholic characters in his works? Or Antonio is the representative of the complicated human nature? Antonio's unexplained melancholy is a significant element in understanding the play.