Actually, in Act III, scene i, it is Shylock who is
questioning Tubal about both his daughter and Antonio. The conversation between them
switches back and forth almost line for line between distressing news of Jessica and how
much money of Shylock's she has spent and "good" news of Antonio's
failure.
Shakespeare has certainly devised that this
conversation would see-saw back and forth like this from one emotional extreme to
another. The best answer as to why is that this play is a comedy, and these abrupt
switches provide a comic opportunity.
Shylock is a comic
villain and is not meant to earn the audience's sympathy. In this scene, the audience
is set up to laugh at Shylock's greedy, shallow behaviour, as he frets over the money
and stuff (not his daughter) he has lost, and then gloats over the demise of Antonio,
which he believes will give him power over Antonio in the fulfilling of his
bond.
It is worth mentioning that the famous "Hath not a
Jew eyes?" speech comes just before this interaction in Act III, scene i. Shakespeare
is a master at turning audience expectation on its head, and so he sandwiches this
moving speech by Shylock between a scene where he is the butt of two Venetian
Christians' jokes and a scene in which his behaviour is simply greedy and
vindictive.
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