I believe he was an anti-Semite. The characterization of Shylock was over the top davka because he had baseless hatred for Jews and was feeding into the prevailing bigotry. I don’t see any zechus in his works (though admittedly I LOVE his plays), and I think it is naive to paint him as a “tzaddik” who was only trying to show racists up for what they were. English non-Jews were not that noble when it came to Jews.
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