Antonio is the title character in Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice. An influential, powerful, and wealthy nobleman of Venice, he is a middle-aged man and a merchant by trade who has his financial interests tied up in overseas shipments when the play begins. He is kind, generous, honest, and confident, and is loved and revered by all the Christians who know him, but not by the Jew Shylock. His willingness to die for his friend Bassanio is a manifestation of his character. Antonio manifests antisemitism by cursing and spitting at Shylock.
