Comedies are known for always ending well even when the buildup may seem hopeless. The Merchant of Venice does just that. The relationships end well and against all odds, Antonio's boats return unscathed, restoring Antonio's fortune. Shylock, however, does not receive the happiest of endings, and depending on how you analyze the script, he may not appear to be the villain he gets labeled from the start. In the courtroom scene, Antonio proposes and the court accepts to:
So please my lord the duke and all the court,
To quit the fine for one half of his goods
I am content, so he will let me have
The other half in use to render it
Upon his death unto the gentleman
That lately stole his daughter.
Two things provided more: that for this favor
He presently become a Christian;
The other, that he do record a gift
Here in the court, of all he dies possessed,
Unto his son Lorenzo and his daughter.
A man simply seeking acceptance loses his daughter, all he owns, and even his own religion, of which he was so proud, and forced to convert to those he hated most. With not an ounce of dignity, Shylock is in shambles, having no "happy ending" whatsoever.