Explain

ACT I

SCENE I. Venice. A street.

 

Enter ANTONIO, SALARINO, and SALANIO

ANTONIO 

In sooth, I know not why I am so sad:
It wearies me; you say it wearies you;
But how I caught it, found it, or came by it,
What stuff 'tis made of, whereof it is born,
I am to learn;
And such a want-wit sadness makes of me,
That I have much ado to know myself.

SALARINO

Your mind is tossing on the ocean;
There, where your argosies with portly sail,
Like signiors and rich burghers on the flood,
Or, as it were, the pageants of the sea,
Do overpeer the petty traffickers,
That curtsy to them, do them reverence,
As they fly by them with their woven wings.

Antonio is a merchant from Venice who is complaining to his friends Salarino and Solanio that he does not know why he is overcome by sadness and dullness in his life. Salarino suggests that Antonio must be sad because he has dispatched several trade ships to various ports and is afraid that they might drown in the ocean. Salarino says that it is normal for Antonio to feel worried about his ships sinking in the ocean.

his sadness must be due to his commercial investments, for Antonio has dispatched several trade ships to various ports. Salarino says it is impossible for Antonio not to feel sad at the thought of the perilous ocean sinking his entire investment, but Antonio assures his friends that his business ventures do not depend on the safe passage of any one ship. Solanio then declares that Antonio must be in love, but Antonio dismisses the suggestion.