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Steve Patterson (essay date spring 1999)

SOURCE: Patterson, Steve. “The Bankruptcy of Homoerotic Amity in Shakespeare's Merchant of Venice.” Shakespeare Quarterly 50, no. 1 (spring 1999): 9-32.

[In the following essay, Patterson maintains that The Merchant of Venice analyzes the early modern tradition of male homoerotic friendship through Antonio's frustrated passion for Bassanio.]

Rather famously, The Merchant of Venice opens with a pitiful Antonio bemoaning his outcast state but unable to articulate just what has caused his disenchantment. His very identity seems to be at stake as he complains, “I have much ado to know myself” (1.1.7).¹ Indeed, his worries over how much and in what terms he matters in Venice may be much ado about nothing—about the possibility of his being nothing. Antonio speaks as a man at odds with the changing values of his culture, someone whose role as virtuous...

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1. Introduction
2. Criticism: Overviews And General Studies
   1. Walter Cohen (essay date winter 1982)
3. Criticism: Character Studies
   1. Richard Abrams (essay date 1996)
   2. Bruce Boehrer (essay date summer 1999)
   3. Gary Rosenshield (essay date 2002)
4. Criticism: Production Reviews
   1. Peter Marks (review date 13 January 1999)
   2. Hal Jensen (review date 2 July 1999)
   3. Matt Wolf (review date 2 August 1999)
   4. Robert Smallwood (review date 1999)
   5. John Simon (review date 14 February 2000)
   6. Alvin Klein (review date 5 November 2000)
   7. Robert Smallwood (review date 2000)
   8. Caryn James (review date 8 October 2001)
   9. Toby Young (review date 10 November 2001)
5. Criticism: Themes
   1. Thomas Luxon (essay date January 1999)
   2. Steve Patterson (essay date spring 1999)
   3. Martin Japtok and Winfried Schleiner (essay date 1999)
6. Further Reading
7. Copyright