In The Merchant of Venice, how would Shakespeare's audience have perceived Shylock?

In one of the paperback editions we find Professor
Barnet's note:  "Nothing is surely known about how Shylock was played in the earliest
productions.  The Folio calls the play a "Comicall Historie," but that does not prove
beyond all doubt that Shylock was portrayed comically, since a comedy was a play with a
happy ending."  When Shylock says, "My deeds upon my head! I crave the law"(4.1), some
may have recalled Egeus, Hermia's father, from MND:  "Enough, enough, my lord.  You have
enough!  I beg the law, the law, upon his head.  They would have stolen away, they
would, Demetrius,  Thereby to have defeated you and me"(MND4.1).   Capulet, Juliet's
father, in ROM is also a bit angry.  I also think that it is reasonable to suggest that
some may have found it interesting to see and hear the actors in Shakespeare's company
play various characters.