Does anyone have any insights into Antonio's character in Merchant of Venice?
Operating under the assumption that he is gay, I have two ideas.
The first is that the reason he behaves the way he does towards Shylock is that he knows that if he came "out" he would be treated very badly, and this causes rage and all these other emotions to be pent up inside of him. He then lashes out at the first person whom it is socially acceptable to lash out at, the local Jew.
The second is that, in Shakepeare's time it was generally considered that you could not be gay and a Christian both, and Shakespeare would have known this. I feel that SHakespeare was not a racist, and that he made Shylock out to be the victim in MoV. (Or it would be racism if Judaism were a race, which it isn't exactly.) Shakespeare is also pointing out a flaw in the Christian system, the hypocrisy of some of Christianity's "followers". Antonio is the most hateful and hoppocritical, which leads me to say that perhaps Shakespeare made him as a bad Christian. So the only obviously homosexual character in the play is also the least Christian. (Christian in this case meaning kind, forgiving, tolerant, loving, basically everything the bible says that Christians are supposed to be.) Hmm...
Any thoughts? Am i stretching the connections too much?
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