by 
Abu
ANSWERS: 3
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The Merchant of Venice would suggest he was, but he could have been reflecting the opinion of his times. One of his characters' many barbs is to describe someone as 'an Ethiop' which would suggest he was also racist. He may have also been sexist, ageist and homophobic but I don't think we can get a clear picture of the man himself from his work alone, and we shouldn't be so keen to judge the past through the standards of the present.
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I agree with the previous reply and would like to also add that many scholars believe Shakespeare based some of his works on the work of Christopher Marlowe (indeed, some think he may even have been Marlowe!) - and The Merchant of Venice shows marked similarity to The Jew of Malta by Marlowe. He took a lot his material from The Chronicles of History too and just 'dramatized' the facts. As 'yawn' says, prevailing attitudes of the time would have meant that people viewed each other very differently than we do now and cannot tell us about Shakespeare himself. They were maybe not so much racist as simply ignorant? Though it's true that anti-Semitic attitudes did prevail for centuries and in many parts of the world, too. Since Jews were often associated with money lending and had the reputation of being astute in business and finance, people may have been jealous and resentful of their worldly success? But, Shaskespeare had a merchanting background so would probably have admired success in business?
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Rumor has it he supported Hammas
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