Friar Bernardine Character Analysis

Friar Bernardine is a member of one of the Christian monasteries in Malta, and like Friar Jacomo, he serves to represent religious hypocrisy. Barabas and Ithamore constantly make comments that Bernardine has sexual relationships with the abbess and the other nuns, and when Abigail dies, Bernardine laments the fact that she dies a virgin. Despite Bernardine’s priestly vows, he still seems to engage in desires of the flesh, which casts his piety and righteousness into doubt. Bernardine’s morality is also called into question in the form of his greed, and when Barabas falsely claims he wants to convert to Christianity and gift his entire fortune to the church that gives him sanctuary, Bernardine and Jacomo physically fight over Barabas and the right to exploit his fortune. What’s worse, Bernardine breaks the sacred confessional seal and reveals Abigail’s final confession to both Jacomo and Barabas for his personal benefit. Barabas and Ithamore murder Bernardine after he tries to exploit Barabas’s wealth, and then they frame Jacomo for his murder. Through the characters of Bernardine and Jacomo, Marlowe suggests that hypocrisy is rampant in religious figures, and he argues that Machiavellianism is not limited to politicians and criminals.