The above statement makes two main assumptions about Shylock. One is that Shylock is a two-dimensional villain, a man who is a stereotypical, one-sided man with no true motive for his actions. This assumption also implies that Shylock is extremely superficial, an supposition that we strongly disagree. The second assumption is that Shylock does not deserve our sympathy as although he is not superficial, what he has done has outweighed all senses of morality. In this, we agree to a certain extent only.

Pertaining to the first assumption, Shylock is not a one-sided, superficial villain but has actually two sides: one of a comic villain that invokes our dislike, and the other as the helpless victim of the Christians. Most of the time, Shakespeare portrays Shylock as cruel and mean, the most striking example being Shylock's reaction after his discovery of Jessica's eloping with an enemy and the...