Though not a major character in Twelfth Night, Antonio is an intriguing minor role, if only because Shakespeare does not provide him any closure at the end of the play. Though not as “dark” or uncomfortable as Measure for Measure or The Taming of the Shrew, there is a decidedly melancholy strain in Twelfth Night. The weddings of Orsino, Viola, Olivia and Sebastian are all arranged by the end, but at least two characters are left in less happy situations.
Malvolio leaves vowing “I’ll be reveng’d on the whole pack of you”, certainly not reconciled to the play’s resolution. Meanwhile Sebastian is still in the custody of the Count’s officers, having been called a “pirate” for his past exploits, which included killing Orsino’s soldiers and possibly maiming his nephew. His last line is an exclamation at the appearance of the two twins: “Which is Sebastian?”
On the page, Shakespeare leaves Antonio in suspension. In production, the director must decide what happens to him; even if this involves doing nothing, leaving him under the guard of the soldiers gives a definite impression as to his fate after the play ends. Trevor Nunn’s film version of Twelfth Night has Orsino release Antonio from his handcuffs and shake him by the hand. Later Antonio is seen walking briskly away from the manorhouse where the marriage celebrations are beginning, turning his collar up against the rain. Unlike Malvolio, who perhaps brought his misfortunes on himself, Antonio’s only crime seems to have been his attachment to Sebastian and his bravery in battle.
The director’s decision on how to resolve Antonio’s situation reaches further than this individual character. It can symbolise an outright rejection of the kind of passionate friendship which Antonio’s love represents, and which takes precedence over romantic love at the end of Shakespeare’s earlier comedy The Two Gentlemen of Verona.
It can symbolise Sebastian’s maturing as he passes from comradeship to marriage, or, if it appears Antonio has been treated unfairly, it can shadow Sebastian’s new marriage with a touch of melancholy. If the director and actors have chosen to emphasize the possible homoerotic subtext between Antonio and Sebastian, it can even undermine the resolution, given the genre-bending entanglements which lead to the marriages.
Antonio’s namesake in The Merchant of Venice is left similarly unresolved (though to a less drastic extent) at the end of his play, leading several actors to engineer silent “stage business” for him to express his feelings about the marriage of Portia and Nerissa. In the silence which surrounds Antonio at the end of the play, a similar decision is forced upon anyone producing the play. This relatively minor character can punch well above his weight in the resolution in Twelfth Night.
