- For the primary universe counterpart, see The Merchant of Venice.
In the mirror universe, The Merchant of Venice was a play written by William Shakespeare during the late 16th century.
In a permutation of the mirror universe in which the Terran Empire survived into the 24th century, the mirror Shakespeare's plays were noticeably darker than those of his primary universe counterpart. Captain Jean-Luc Picard of the primary universe, reading his counterpart's copy of the works of Shakespeare aboard the ISS Enterprise-D, felt that they were "a Shakespeare horribly changed in all but the parts that were already horrible." He was particularly shocked that his favorite passage in The Merchant of Venice - Portia's speech extolling the virtues of mercy - had been replaced by a passage which began "The quality of mercy must be earned" and in which Portia argued that Antonio does indeed owe Shylock a pound of flesh - a sentence which is actually carried out. (TNG novel: Dark Mirror)