Antonio (The Merchant of Venice) person … lie[s] all unlocked to your occasions" ("MoV" 1.1.146), seem to allude to a sexual dimension in Antonio's love for Bassanio. However, there is also evidence that the two shared a strictly fraternal, familial bond, as indicated by the line "Bassanio, your most noble kinsman …" ("MoV" 1.1.60) Other scholars maintain that all attempts to read Shakespeare's characters as gay or straight in terms of the modern understanding of the word are culturally and historically flawed. Alan Bray's book "Homosexuality in Renaissance England" argues that in the time period of "The Merchant of Venice's" composition, "homosexuality" did not refer
Given name Sidney for a pivotal character in his epic prose work, "The Countess of Pembroke's Arcadia"; Jessica, created by William Shakespeare in his play "The Merchant of Venice"; Vanessa, created by Jonathan Swift; Fiona, a character from James Macpherson's spurious cycle of Ossian poems; Wendy, an obscure name popularised by J. M. Barrie in his play "Peter Pan, or The Boy Who Wouldn't Grow Up"; and Madison, a character from the movie "Splash". Lara and Larissa were rare in America before the appearance of "Doctor Zhivago," and have become fairly common since. Songs can influence the naming of children. Jude jumped