"Shylock is a Villain, through and through" Discuss.

In 'The Merchant of Venice', Shylock is positioned by Shakespeare as villainous through most of the play; other characters refer to him as "Jew-dog" or simply as "the Jew", relying on anti-semitic tropes. This portrays Shylock as a two-dimensional character, defined only in relation to his religion. Further, Shylock is conveyed as greedy, cruel, and bloodthirsty, making it hard for audiences to sympathise with him as a character. Shylock's villainy is clear in particular when his own daughter chooses to leave him. However, Shakespeare shifts our sympathy as Shylock makes his "hath not a Jew eyes?" monologue. Shakespeare's use of repeated rhetorical questions combined with the outlining of Christian hypocrisy demands that a contemporary audience question their own understandings of what it means to be Jewish - particularly in the sixteenth century. Moreover, the shift in Shylock's meter from free verse to iambic pentameter in this scene is a clear indication of Shakespeare's intent to portray Shylock here as intelligent, sympathetic, and multifaceted; he is not simply a villain.