Shylock the villain

I believe that Shylock is the villain in the play. He is one of the main causes of upset through his greed, selfishness, and just bullying of the main characters. If Shylock had not created the deal for a pound of Antonio's flesh, then the characters would have had many less problems. I do not, however, consider Shylock the equivalent of a devil. He is merily a man who was unfairly treated all his life(also by Antonio no less) and chose to harden himself as a defense mechanism. I believe that Shylock is a average man that, while unusually greedy, is the stereotypical picture of a victim of abuse.