THE JEW OF MALTA

• It was written and first performed in the period between 1590-1593.

• The Jew of Malta is set in the Mediterranean world.

• Malta was a strategic position on the old trade routes and in the new struggle for markets. At the
time in Malta we could find a mixture of cultures (Christians, Jews, etc). So Malta is important from both the
economical and cultural perspective.

• Context: a year after Marlowe’s death, the Jewish physician, Roderigo Lopez, was executed for
plotting against the Queen (he was said to have tried to poison her). At the end of the thirteenth century,
Jewish were expelled from England.

• The sphere of the play is in-between the microcosm of Doctor Faustus and the macrocosm
(geographical expansion) of Tamburlaine.

• The play emphasizes conspiracy, most concretely policy (plotting), in different levels.

• The main plot is centered in self-interest and greed. At the same time, the main plot is divided
into:

‣ Overplot (framed by the siefe): power politics, interrelationship between the Christians, the Jews,
and the Turks.

‣ Underplot (Ithamore): blackmail.

• Characters:

‣ Barabas: protagonist of the story. This name is significant, since it was taken from the criminal
whom the Jews preferred to save instead of Jesus when Pilate offered to release a prisoner. Barabas is an
outcast who resorts to his cunning and hypocrisy to challenge the Christian community. He is
resourceful and tireless, and he’s led by greed, ambition and thirst for revenge. There is an association
between Barabas and poison; the cladron where he dies was the standard punishment for the poisoner.
He is an individualistic, an egoist who cannot live with others or without them. He is a very good
example of Marlowe’s overreacher, since Barabas wants more and more money and revenge. He is a
characters that speaks for himself, speaking more lines than any of Marlowe ’s other characters. He has a
lot of soliloquies and asides, apart from the part that there are a few scenes in which he desguises
himself. There is a development in Barabas in the course of the play:

- At first, he gets the sympathy of the audience because he is seen as a revenger.

- He ends up as a caricature, a grotesque victim of his own Machiavellian plans. So in the end, he is
seen as a villain.

Relationship with other characters:

- Ithamore (a Turkish slave): Ithamore is his accomplice. They are well aware, from their first
meeting, of what they have in common (they both hate the Christians). But even though they seem to
be close to each other, they both use each other in their own personal benefit.

- Abigail: she is the only disinterested character in the play. Actually, her first words are “Not for my
self…”. She has a genuine vocation; she becomes a nun and dies being a Christian. She embodies
 honesty, in the Elizabethan sense of chastity and sincerity.

‣ Machiavelli: he protects Barabas. Machiavelli makes a personal appearance to get the favour of the
audience for Barabas.

‣ Jews: Marlow uses the figure of the Jew to attack hypocrisy in Christian society. We find an
ironic ending in the play in which the fault for everything thathas happened is placed upon Heaven.

• Influence on Shakespeare’s plays:

‣ Romeo and Juliet.

‣ The Merchant of Venice: one difference with this play is that in The Merchant of Venice, the Jew’s
daughter is given a happy ending. Another one is that legalism humanizes Shylock, whereas Barabas lives
outside the law.