The Jew of Malta (Cyclopedia of Literary Characters)
At a glance:
- Author: Christopher Marlowe
- First Published: 1633
- Type of Work: Play
- Type of Plot: Tragedy
- Time of Work: Fifteenth century
- Setting: Malta
- Genres: Drama, Tragedy
- Subjects: Slavery or slaves, Europe or Europeans, Betrayal, Jews or Jewish life, War, Fifteenth century, Middle Ages, Jews and Gentiles
- Locales: Malta
Characters Discussed
Barabas (bah-RAB-uhs), the wealthy, miserly Jew of Malta who guides his actions by Machiavellian policy that transcends all human ties of affection and loyalty. With considerable reason, he resents the Christian rulers of Malta, who arbitrarily deprive him of his fortune, and he chooses a particularly cruel form of revenge, setting the young man his daughter loves against the governor’s son in a duel fatal to both combatants. Rejected by the two people for whom he has any feeling, his daughter and his servant Ithamore, he contrives the murder of each and...
[The entire page is 841 words long]
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