What was Shakespeare trying to get across by making Antonio and Bassanio such good friends?
Sexuality in the play Antonio, Bassanio Antonio’s unexplained depression—”In sooth I know not why I am so sad”—and utter devotion to Bassanio has led some critics to theorize that he is suffering from unrequited love for Bassanio and is depressed because Bassanio is coming to an age where he will marry a woman. In his plays and poetry Shakespeare often depicted strong male bonds of varying homosociality, which has led some critics to infer that Bassanio returns Antonio’s affections despite his obligation to marry:[citation needed] ANTONIO: Commend me to your honourable wife: Tell her the process of Antonio’s end, Say how I lov’d you, speak me fair in death; And, when the tale is told, bid her be judge Whether Bassanio had not once a love. BASSANIO: But life itself, my wife, and all the world Are not with me esteemed above thy life; I would lose all, ay, sacrifice them all Here to this devil, to deliver you. (IV,i) In his essay “Brothers and Others”, published in The Dyer’s Hand, W. H.
