graculus: ok so buckle up Homestucks I’ve just...

ok so buckle up Homestucks

I’ve just learnt the music used in the latest flash is called “Eternity’s Shylock” and its going some way to confirming a theory I’ve had for a while about parallels between Homestuck and Shakespeares ‘The Merchant of Venice’.

For anyone who hasnt seen/read it, Shylock is the Jewish merchant who gives a loan out to the Christian merchant Antonio, which Antonio takes to give to his friend Bassanio (who uses it to visit the wealthy heiress Portia on her island).

The catch being that if Antonio doesn’t pay the loan back in time, Shylock can take a pound of his flesh. He almost does, but is out-witted by Portia and Nerissa in the final court scene.

So the music identifies Caliborn as Shylock, as well as the quote above altered from the original ‘I will have my pound of flesh’, which is spoken by Shylock to Antonio in the court scene

And who is Caliborn saying this to? Dirk.

If Dirk takes the place as Antonio, it makes a lot of sense. Shakespeare academics often argue that Antonio is homosexual and in love with his friend Bassanio, which is why he goes to such great lengths to please him.

If Dirk takes the place of Antonio, then who will take the place of hopeless love interest Bassanio? Jake.

That leaves us with a few surplus characters.

In The Merchant of Venice, Bassanio is in love with Portia, a wealthy heiress who feels trapped by her father. This draws parallels with Jane. It isn’t going too far to suggest that Portia’s best friend Nerissa might take the place of Roxy.

That’s not all though, as Shylock (Caliborn) has a daughter named Jessica who falls in love with a Christian and longs to be in Christian society, eventually eloping and converting, running away from the controlling Shylock. Calliope.

I don’t think Hussie will follow the plot of The Merchant of Venice exactly, but if we use what we can gain from the connections between Caliborn and Shylock, we can guess that Dirk is going to make a sacrifice to Caliborn in the name of Jake. Caliborn will threaten Dirk’s life by asking for some variation of ‘a pound of flesh’, only to be saved by Roxy and Jane. Calliope has fallen in love with Roxy.