The Merchant of Venice was a play by William Shakespeare.
While a captive of Saladin in 1190, Barbara Wright briefly became his storyteller. The works of Shakespeare were first on her list of tales which she felt might divert and entertain Saladin. Considering Hamlet "too difficult to put across" and Romeo and Juliet "an excellent blend of drama and romance", she thought that she could also "slightly change" The Merchant of Venice by making Shylock a Syrian or an Arab to bring the story "closer to Saladin's understanding and provide him with a character with whom he could sympathize". (PROSE: Doctor Who and the Crusaders) Gulliver's Travels and Hans Christian Andersen's fairy tales, were other candidates in her mind. (TV: The Crusade)
The Merchant of Venice was one of many Shakespeare's plays which the bookshop Books Unltd stocked in the 21st century. When an outraged Robert Greene used the Shadeys' powers to wreak destruction to the shop upon finding out that Shakespeare had been remembered by history instead of him, a copy of The Merchant of Venice was severely damaged. The Ninth Doctor and Rose Tyler witnessed the scene upon arriving to investigate. (COMIC: A Groatsworth of Wit)