Antonio (The Merchant of Venice) to an individual's sexual identity but only to specific sexual acts any individual might engage in. As Bray writes: "To talk of an individual of this period as being or not being 'a homosexual' is an anachronism and ruinously misleading. The temptation to debauchery, from which homosexuality was not clearly distinguished, was accepted as part of the common lot ... homosexuality [as understood in 15th-century England] was a sin 'to which men's natural corruption and viciousness [were] prone' " (16–17, Rainolds qtd. in Bray, 17). Antonio (The Merchant of Venice) Antonio is the title character in Shakespeare's "The Merchant of
Reputation of William Shakespeare of justice and fairness in life, with the character of Portia being especially popular as she seen as standing for as one critic wrote for "the humanist spirit of the Renaissance" with its striving for "individuality, human rights and freedom". The theme of a religious conflict between a Jewish merchant vs. a Christian merchant in "The Merchant of Venice" is generally ignored in Chinese productions of "The Merchant of Venice" as most Chinese find do not find the theme of Jewish-Christian conflict relevant., Unlike in Western productions, the character of Shylock is very much an unnuanced villain in Chinese productions