44 L. A. Sherman 



terms with Antonio, Bassanio's bondsman, is the first or sub- 

 jective hindrance to our desire, but is happily removed from the 

 plot at the end of the First Act. The major obstacle in Shake- 

 speare's dramas, and others generally that are based on the for- 

 tunes of a pair of lovers, is some rival of either one. Here it is 

 of course the rivals of Bassanio. These are finished with — there 

 are no divisions of the play into scenes in the Folios nor into acts 

 or scenes in the Quartos — in the Second Act. 



To construct a character capable of subscribing to Shylock's 

 terms calls for qualities unusual in degree. The qualities with 

 which the author has endowed Antonio strike us at first as im- 

 possible in kind. Some of ourselves would perhaps go round the 

 block to avoid meeting the man who has lightly borrowed, or is 

 thought of as likely to ask again. But this Antonio begs the 

 chance, the case standing ' within the eye of honor,' to save his 

 friend from ruin. This, says the world, is not unselfishness, but 

 imbecility. 



Antonio is of a class, increasingly numerous in our age, who 

 persist in commercial ventures, not from the love of money, but 

 from the fascination O'f the quest. Each of us has probably 

 known men of afl^airs who would indulge a friend, especially 

 liked, beyond the bounds of business reason. Many Antonios 

 can be prodigally extravagant towards their families. This An- 

 tonio can be prodigally, and chooses to be prodigally extravagant 

 towards a friend. There were like generous spirits, even under 

 Shakespeare's eye, in England, and there were doubtless more 

 such spirits in Italy. Tradition has it that Shakespeare had re- 

 ceived from Southampton, before the date of this play, not the 

 loan but the gift of a thousand pounds. The author had only to 

 make Antonio a Southampton to this Bassanio, but seems to have 

 conceived him as something more. In spite of his behavior 

 towards Shylock, wh6se greed is loathsome to him, he is one of 



ply obstructions, they fail of the visualizing climax in the middle of the 

 play. Ibsen's earlier work, including The Doll's House, conforms mate- 

 rially. Victor Hugo imitates consciously, but ramblingly. Schiller keeps 

 to the pattern better. In sum, Shakespeare has rediscovered, amplified, 

 and perfected the Greek model. All dramas since more or less gropingly 

 and variously suggest the type. 



146 



