The song 'Look For A Star' and the gorilla scene

Curiously the song reminds me only of the scene near the end,
where Rossiter/Schuler battled and stabbed the gorilla with what looked
like a long-thin-bladed knife.

Why of all the animals in the circus, Rossiter had it really in for the poor gorilla
and picked on it every time he passed the cage ?

Perhaps Rossiter who was such a worshiper of perfect physical beauty,
was offended by the gorilla's "ugly" face he knew couldn't,
even with his genius for the craft, ever be "improved" by plastic surgery !
And the gorilla knew it too as it growled furiously at every passage of
Rossiter, who callously responded with his stick.

I think that this extra facet of Rossiter/Schuler' evil mind had been overlooked.