Other editions of book The Jew of Malta

This edition is of the best-known play by one of Shakespeare's chief predecessors and early contemporaries, Christopher Marlowe. The Jew of Malta was enormously influential on Shakespeare when he came to write The Merchant of Venice, and for good reason, since the play explores anti-Semitism and revenge. An introduction discusses the significance of this formative and brilliant play, with detailed commentary provided for meanings of difficult words, lines and references. Distilled from the insight and learning found in the fuller Revels edition but updated and streamlined, this is the most contemporary commentary now available.

This is a reproduction of the original artefact. Generally these books are created from careful scans of the original. This allows us to preserve the book accurately and present it in the way the author intended. Since the original versions are generally quite old, there may occasionally be certain imperfections within these reproductions. We're happy to make these classics available again for future generations to enjoy!

This play, composed by so worthy an author as Master Marlowe, and the part of the Jew presented by so unimitable an actor as Master Alleyn, being in this later age commended to the stage; as I ushered it unto the court, and presented it to the Cock-pit, with these Prologues and Epilogues here inserted, so now being newly brought to the press, I was loath it should be published without the ornament of an Epistle; making choice of you unto whom to devote it; than whom (of all those gentlemen and acquaintance within the compass of my long knowledge) there is none more able to tax ignorance, or attribute right to merit. Sir, you have been pleased to grace some of mine own works 1 with your courteous patronage: I hope this will not be the worse accepted, because commended by me; over whom none can claim more power or privilege than yourself.

THE JEW OF MALTA. Enter MACHIAVEL. MACHIAVEL. Albeit the world think Machiavel is dead, Yet was his soul but flown beyond the Alps; And, now the Guise [11] is dead, is come from France, To view this land, and frolic with his friends. To some perhaps my name is odious; But such as love me, guard me from their tongues, And let them know that I am Machiavel, And weigh not men, and therefore not men's words. Admir'd I am of those that hate me most: Though some speak openly against my books, Yet will they read me, and thereby attain To Peter's chair; and, when they cast me off, Are poison'd by my climbing followers. I count religion but a childish toy, And hold there is no sin but ignorance. Birds of the air will tell of murders past! I am asham'd to hear such fooleries. Many will talk of title to a crown: What right had Caesar to the empery? [12] Might first made kings, and laws were then most sure When, like the Draco's, [13] they were writ in blood. Hence comes it that a strong-built citadel Commands much more than letters can import: Which maxim had [14] Phalaris observ'd, H'ad never bellow'd, in a brazen bull, Of great ones' envy: o' the poor petty wights Let me be envied and not pitied.

Designed for school districts, educators, and students seeking to maximize performance on standardized tests, Webster's paperbacks take advantage of the fact that classics are frequently assigned readings in English courses. By using a running thesaurus at the bottom of each page, this edition of The Jew of Malta by Christopher Marlowe was edited for students who are actively building their vocabularies in anticipation of taking PSAT¿, SAT¿, AP¿ (Advanced Placement¿), GRE¿, LSAT¿, GMAT¿ or similar examinations.PSAT¿ is a registered trademark of the College Entrance Examination Board and the National Merit Scholarship Corporation neither of which sponsors or endorses this book; SAT¿ is a registered trademark of the College Board which neither sponsors nor endorses this book; GRE¿, AP¿ and Advanced Placement¿ are registered trademarks of the Educational Testing Service which neither sponsors nor endorses this book, GMAT¿ is a registered trademark of the Graduate Management Admissions Council which is neither affiliated with this book nor endorses this book, LSAT¿ is a registered trademark of the Law School Admissions Council which neither sponsors nor endorses this product. All rights reserved.

The Jew of Malta is described as a revenge tragedy but is equally a satire, with all parties coming under savage attack for human frailty. Christians, like Ferneze, are very un-Christian in their lack of forgiveness, mercy, and brotherly love. Ferneze tells the Jews they should be heavily taxed for, “through our sufferance of your hateful lives,/ Who stand accursed in the sight of heaven,/ These taxes and afflictions are befall’n” (I,ii, ll. 63-65). Barabas challenges him: “Is theft the ground of your religion?” (I, ii, l. 96). The Christian Knights justify their taking of his money because Barabas is cursed and sinful as a Jew in their opinion, and he replies; “What, bring you Scripture to confirm your wrongs?/ Preach me not out of my possessions./ Some Jews are wicked, as all Christians are” (I,ii, ll. 111-113). Each side justifies cruelty to others in the name of religion. Barabas says that Christians pretend to be honest, but “policy! That’s their profession,/ And not simplicity, as they suggest (I,ii, ll.161-162). He tells Ithamore, a Muslim, that they are justified in killing Christians because Christians are hypocrites. There are many jokes about the friars enjoying the nuns. When Abigail dies, Friar Bernadine, her confessor, grieves that she dies a virgin nun, indicating that this is rare and a waste. Barabas talks about being a Jew but does not practice solidarity with his own people. As he says in several places, the only people who are his friends are the ones who serve his ends. When Abigail, shocked at her father’s arranging for Don Mathias, her lover, and Don Lodowick, to kill each other in a duel, she withdraws to the nunnery to be a Christian. Her judgment is that “there is no love on earth,/ Pity in Jews, nor piety in Turks” (III,iii, ll. 47,48). Barabas has no feeling for his daughter once he perceives she betrays him to be a Christian. He curses her as Adam cursed Cain, and then he adopts his man, Ithamore, a Muslim Turk, and a vicious criminal, to be his heir.Appearance vs. RealityAlong with hypocrisy, the theme of appearance vs. reality shows that nothing is as it seems in Malta. Barabas uses this to his advantage, further hiding and disguising his own motives. Ferneze and the Knights of Malta seem like patriots, but they are ready to sell out to Calymath with tribute money in the beginning, rather than go to war. The Spanish Vice-Admiral, Del Bosco, who is actually looking out for Malta as eventual Spanish property.

We know not how our play may pass this stage, But by the best of poets in that age THE MALTA-JEW had being and was made; And he then by the best of actors play'd: In HERO AND LEANDER one did gain A lasting memory; in Tamburlaine, This Jew, with others many, th' other wan The attribute of peerless, being a man Whom we may rank with (doing no one wrong) Proteus for shapes, and Roscius for a tongue,- So could he speak, so vary; nor is't hate To merit in him who doth personate Our Jew this day; nor is it his ambition To exceed or equal, being of condition More modest: this is all that he intends, (And that too at the urgence of some friends,) To prove his best, and, if none here gainsay it, The part he hath studied, and intends to play it.