At the end of a long soliloquy in Act 1, Scene 1, Barabas compares himself and Abigail to King Agamemnon of Mycenae and his daughter, Iphigeneia (abbreviated as Iphigen by Marlowe in this passage):
I have no charge, nor many children,
But one sole daughter, whom I hold as dear
As Agamemnon did his Iphigen:
And all I have is hers.
Agamemnon and Iphigeneia are prominent tragic figures in Greek mythology: the king is best known for sacrificing his daughter to the goddess Artemis in exchange for the safe passage of his naval fleet to Troy, with the intent to besiege the city. In the above passage, Marlowe combines simile and allusion for the purpose of foreshadowing Abigail's fate. Though Barabas compliments his daughter in this passage, seemingly pleased at the prospect of her inheriting his wealth, he later murders her as punishment for joining a nunnery and leaving Judaism. She is a casualty on his quest for revenge; much like Iphigeneia, her death is imagined by her father as a necessary sacrifice for the greater good of the mission.
Marlowe is not alone in his allusion: many Greek plays reference Iphigeneia as a tragic figure, including the Electra of Sophocles. This passage therefore also serves the larger purpose of placing The Jew of Malta solidly in the tragedy genre, establishing its place within a lineage of similar works.
