Hi Natalie and Rachel,

I also think that Antonio is a particularly interesting character. As we spoke about in class, his function in the play is not immediately apparent. I really like the reading of class in making Antonio’s declarations of love less threatening. I also think that its worth noting that Antonio is one of the most straightforward characters and thus does not engage in the  multiple layered language of the upper class characters. His declarations can be taken at face value, and do not attempt to create Greenblatt’s “friction.” In this way, I wonder if was easier to take Antonio’s declarations as homosocial bonding as opposed to homosexual because his dialogue (at least as I see it) never functions as the foreplay that others’ dialogue sometimes does.