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
Barabas enters with a hammer and greets a group of carpenters busily building a pulley system. Barabas gives the carpenters a pile of gold to split, and they exit having completed their work. The messenger enters and informs Barabas that Selim-Calymath and his men will attend the feast just as Barabas has asked. Ferneze enters next and gives Barabas 100,000 pounds that was gathered from the people of Malta. Barabas is disappointed with the sum, but he accepts it and begins to explain his plan to Ferneze.
In the 16th century, a single pound or two was the equivalent of a working-class person’s yearly income, yet 100,000 pounds is not enough to satisfy Barabas’s unchecked greed. Still, Barabas is eager to tell Ferneze all about his scheme, and he quickly lets the paltry sum go, further suggesting that Barabas’s need for revenge is completely out of control.
Themes
Barabas tells Ferneze that Calymath’s men will be taken to a monastery to feast, under which Barabas has placed several bombs filled with gunpowder. No one will escape the explosion, he says. For Calymath, Barabas has constructed a false floor, and when the cable is cut, Calymath will fall to his death. Barabas gives Ferneze a knife and tells him to cut the cable when he hears the warning shot come from the tower. Ferneze immediately agrees and hurries off.
Again, the successful execution of Barabas’s plan hinges on him being able to trust Ferneze, but Marlowe implies this trust is foolish and misguided. At the rate people betray one another in The Jew of Malta, the reader can assume that Ferneze will not follow Barabas’s plan as expected.
Themes
Calymath enters, and Barabas welcomes him warmly, but Ferneze jumps out unexpectedly. Ferneze tells Calymath to stop and says that he will show him “greater courtesy / Than Barabas.” The warning shot is heard from the tower, and Ferneze cuts the cable, sending Barabas deep into the pit and boiling cauldron below. Bosco enters with several knights, and Barabas screams for help from the pit, as Ferneze informs Calymath that the floor was rigged to kill him. Barabas begs for his life, but Ferneze refuses to pity a “base Jew.” Barabas bitterly confesses to all his crimes and dies.
Ferneze’s claim that he will show Calymath more courtesy than Barabas implies that Ferneze doesn’t plan to kill Calymath as Barabas does. Ferneze’s refusal to help Barabas because he is a “base Jew” again reflects the anti-Semitism of the time. To be “base” is to occupy the absolute lowest social station, which is exactly how Ferneze and broader 16th-century society values Barabas and the Jewish people. Still, it is difficult to feel sorry for Barabas in his death. He is a deplorable and immoral man (which has nothing to do with his religion), and since Barabas embodies only the most harmful Jewish tropes, Marlowe’s representation of Barabas reinforces the same hateful stereotypes.
Themes
Ferneze explains to Calymath that Barabas intended to end Calymath’s life, so Ferneze decided to save him. He invites Calymath to eat with him, but Calymath says he must get back to his men. Ferneze asks if Calymath heard the cannon fire, and when he confirms that he did, Ferneze tells him that was the sound of his men dying. There was an explosion in the monastery, and there are no survivors.
Here, Ferneze confirms that Calymath’s men are dead. Like Barabas’s plan, Ferneze’s own scheme also hinges on the death of the men, since taking Calymath prisoner and reclaiming Malta would be impossible with the Turkish fleet intact. Again, this mass killing reflects the level of Machiavellian scheming often employed in matters of state and politics.
Themes
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Calymath curses Barabas’s deceitfulness, and Ferneze agrees that treason is “a Jew’s courtesy,” but that same treason delivered Calymath to Ferneze and Malta. Now, Calymath is their prisoner, and he will never return to Turkey. Calymath begs for Ferneze to release him, but Ferneze refuses. Calymath shall remain a prisoner and Malta will never be conquered. “So march away,” Ferneze says as they exit, “and let due praise be given / Neither to fate nor fortune, but to heaven.”
Ferneze’s claim that Barabas’s deceitfulness is a “Jew’s courtesy” implies that all Jews are deceitful, and it is further evidence of the anti-Semitism that pervades most of the play. Ferneze, however, is thankful for this deception because it delivers him Calymath and Malta. Ferneze implies that everything is God’s will—from Barabas’s Machiavellian ways to Calymath’s fall and Malta’s survival. Machiavellianism has been condemned as immoral since its creation, but Marlowe never openly discourages such scheming. Instead, Marlowe implies that Machiavellianism is ultimately useless, as no amount of scheming can ever sway God’s will.
Themes
