The Merchant of Venice: The Relationship between Antonio and Bassanio Antonio, the protagonist of the story, is extremely good friends with Bassanio. I have come up on a hypothesis that Antonio is gay and Bassanio is a bisexual. Antonio seems to like Bassanio in a romantic way. Antonio is a male. Bassanio is a male. Bassanio likes Antonio in a romantic way and also loves Portia, a female. Also, there is another pair who I am suspicious about. They are Salanio and Salerio. The reason is that they are always together, just like siamese twins. When S