After Shylock regains control of himself and skillfully leads Antonio toward the sealing of the bond, he says that he "would like to be friends" with Antonio. This gives him the excuse to make light of the bond, but a bond sealed "in merry sport" — a bond where a pound of flesh can "be cut off and taken / In what part of your body pleaseth me." Here, Shakespeare has the difficult problem of making us believe that Antonio is actually innocent enough to accept such a condition; after all, Antonio is probably fifty years old and a wealthy merchant; he is no schoolboy, and this "merry sport" of a bond is absurd. Clearly, to us, Shylock's interest is not only in money in this case, but Antonio does not realize this, nor does he realize or fully understand the depth of Shylock's hatred of him. He is therefore unable to be persuaded that this bond is dangerous. To him, the bond is merely a "merry bond." And thus Shylock is able to rhetorically ask Bassanio: "Pray you tell me this: / If he should break his day, what should I gain / By the exaction of the forfeiture?"
Shakespeare has set up a situation in which a man has put his life in the hands of a moral enemy and the outcome depends on fortune — that is, whether or not Antonio's merchant ships survive pirates and the high seas. Antonio and Shylock are diametrical opposites. Shylock is cunning, cautious, and crafty; he belongs to a race which has been persecuted since its beginnings. As a Christian, Antonio is easy-going, trusting, slightly melancholy, romantic, and naive. Shylock trusts only in the tangible — that is, in the bond. Antonio trusts in the intangible — that is, in luck. Here, Shylock seems almost paranoid and vengeful, but on the other hand, Antonio seems ignorantly over-confident — rather stupid because he is so lacking in common sense.
