Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Jew of Malta, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
God and Machiavellianism
Religious Hypocrisy
Anti-Semitism
Money and Greed
Betrayal and Revenge
Summary
Analysis
Ferneze enters with Martin Del Bosco and several knights and officers. Ferneze tells the men to take up arms and fortify Malta. Selim-Calymath and the Turks have come, and they will take Malta or die trying. Suddenly, Bellamira and Pilia-Borza enter, asking to speak to the governor. Ferneze turns them away, calling Bellamira a lowly prostitute, but Bellamira says she knows who killed Lodowick. It was not Mathias, she says, but the Jew, Barabas. Pilia-Borza confirms Bellamira speaks the truth and says that Barabas also killed the nuns, Abigail, Friar Bernardine, and who knows how many others.
Obviously, Bellamira and Pilia-Borza have decided to turn both Ithamore and Barabas in to Ferneze to get more money and satisfy their greed. Bellamira plays on Barabas’s Jewish identity, clearly hoping that his religion will be enough for Ferneze to consider Barabas guilty. This subtle contempt again underscores Malta’s anti-Semitic society and their belief that all Jews are guilty and damned.
Themes
Ferneze says he must have proof of Barabas’s guilt, and Bellamira tells him that Barabas’s slave, Ithamore, will confess to every murder. Ferneze orders his men to fetch Barabas and Ithamore. “I always feared that Jew,” Ferneze says. The officers enter with Barabas and Ithamore and order Barabas to confess, but he pretends not to know what they are talking about. Ithamore immediately confesses to delivering the letter to Lodowick, giving the poisoned rice to the nunnery, and strangling Bernardine, but Barabas demands to sit before a judge. Ferneze agrees, and as the officers drag away Barabas, Ithamore, Bellamira, and Pilia-Borza, Barabas prays that his poison will soon take effect.
Ferneze fears Barabas because Barabas is Jewish, which again reflects Ferneze’s (and broader society’s) fear and contempt for the Jewish community. Barabas’s trip before a judge will likely be only a formality, after which he will surely be executed along with Ithamore. But Barabas’s machinations and revenge are not yet complete, since it is still expected that Ithamore, Bellamira, and Pilia-Borza will soon die from Barabas’s poisonous flowers.
Themes
Katherine enters and asks Ferneze if he has found their sons’ murder. Yes, Ferneze says, it was Barabas, the Jew. He explains to Katherine that Barabas’s slave, Ithamore, delivered a forged letter to Lodowick that turned the men against each other. She asks where Barabas is now, and Ferneze says he is in jail, awaiting trial. Suddenly, and officer bursts in and tells Ferneze that Ithamore, Bellamira, Pilia-Borza, and Barabas are dead. Ferneze is shocked, and Bosco notes how suspicious the timing is. It is not suspicious, Ferneze says, but “just,” and he orders Ithamore, Bellamira, and Pilia-Borza to be buried, but he tells his men to throw Barabas over the city walls for “vultures and wild beasts” to feed on.
Ferneze is so intent on Barabas’s death and exacting his own revenge that he is blind to the suspicious circumstances of Barabas’s supposed death, even when Bosco points it out to him. In Ferneze’s estimation, revenge and Barabas’s death is justice, regardless of how it happens. The fact that Ferneze buries the others but throws Barabas’s body to the scavengers reflects his hate for Barabas as his son’s killer and a Jew, and as such, Barabas does not rate a proper burial.
Themes
After Ferneze’s men throw Barabas over the city walls, Barabas wakes up, having taken a “sleepy drink” to fool them. He decides that he will help Selim-Calymath conquer Malta, kill all the citizens, and make Ferneze a slave. Calymath and the Turks approach, assuming Barabas is a spy. He tells Calymath that he is indeed a spy—for the Turks. He says he is the Jew named Barabas, and he will help the Turks enter the city through a secret passageway he knows about in the city walls. Calymath asks if Barabas is the Jew taxed by Ferneze to pay the tribute, and Barabas confirms that he is.
Barabas’s “sleepy drink” is more evidence of his cunning and Machiavellianism. He goes to great lengths to deceive Ferneze and the others, and then he plans an elaborate attack to kill the Maltese citizens and enslave Ferneze. Barabas’s desire to exact revenge on Ferneze for stealing his wealth has morphed into a plan to conquer the entire nation of Malta. Again, Marlowe seems to imply that revenge can easily spiral out of control.
Themes
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Barabas tells Selim-Calymath that Ferneze stole his money and accused him of heinous crimes, but Barabas was able to escape. Calymath asks if Barabas broke out of prison, but Barabas tells him he drank a potion made of “poppy and cold mandrake juice.” Barabas slept so deeply, they thought him dead and threw his body over the city walls. Calymath comments on Barabas’s cunning, and as the men exit, he tells Barabas that he will make him the new governor if he is able to help them conquer Malta.
Of course, what Barabas does not admit here is that he is guilty of the heinous crimes Ferneze accused him of. In this way, Barabas manipulates and deceives Calymath, too, which further underscores Barabas’s corruption and Machiavellian nature. Barabas’s Machiavellianism results in political power, which Marlowe suggests is also commonplace.
Themes
