The Jew of Malta

by

Christopher Marlowe

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Themes and Colors
God and Machiavellianism Theme Icon
Religious Hypocrisy Theme Icon
Anti-Semitism Theme Icon
Money and Greed Theme Icon
Betrayal and Revenge  Theme Icon
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.
Money and Greed Theme Icon

Most of the characters in Christopher Marlowe’s The Jew of Malta are motivated in some way by money and greed. The play’s protagonist, Barabas, is described as a man “who smiles to see how full his bags are crammed,” and Marlowe implies that Barabas obtained his money through Machiavellianism (a reference to the corrupt practices of Niccolò Machiavelli, an Italian diplomat from the 16th century) to satisfy his unchecked greed. Money is also central in the Maltese governor, Ferneze’s, trouble with the Turks and the excessive tribute payment Malta owes the Ottoman Empire. Ferneze exploits Malta’s Jewish population to pay the debt—but when his own Machiavellian scheming allows him to refuse the Turks the tribute, he doesn’t return the money to the Jews and instead keeps his ill-gotten gains. Money and greed also drive the actions of Barabas’s Turkish slave, Ithamore, as well as Bellamira, the prostitute whom Ithamore falls in love with, and Pilia-Borza, a thief in cahoots with Bellamira. Together with Pilia-Borza, Ithamore and Bellamira attempt to extort money from Barabas, and their covetousness ultimately leads to their demise. Through the widespread greed in The Jew of Malta, Marlowe implies that greed is an inherent human trait, but he ultimately argues that greed and covetousness is a selfish and misguided mindset that does not pay off and often leads to suffering.

Most of Marlowe’s characters are covetous, which underscores his implication that greed is an innate and widespread human quality. When Barabas is first introduced, he sits in his counting-house among his piles of gold and jewels. Barabas describes “heaps of pearl[s] like pebble-stones” and “bags of fiery opals, sapphires, amethysts, / Jacinths, hard topaz, grass-green emeralds, / Beauteous rubies, [and] sparkling diamonds.” Barabas’s laundry list of riches suggests he isn’t satisfied with just a little wealth—his stash reflects his excessive greed. At one point, Barabas lies to Jacomo and Bernardine, two Catholic friars, telling them that he plans to convert to Christianity and give all his wealth “to some religious house / So [he] may be baptized and live therein.” Upon hearing this false claim, Bernardine and Jacomo begin to bicker over taking Barabas into their respective parishes, a reflection of their own greed and desire for Barabas’s wealth, which overshadows their religious vows and duties. When Ithamore attempts to coerce money out of Barabas with the help of Pilia-Borza and Bellamira, Pilia-Borza initially tries to get 300 crowns out of Barabas, and then he demands 500 more. “Jew, I must ha’ more gold,” Pilia-Borza says, exposing Pilia-Borza’s greed, as well as Ithamore and Bellamira’s, and further suggesting that all people are selfish and easily overcome by greed.

Despite the widespread greed present in The Jew of Malta, Marlowe suggests that greed is a dangerous—and often deadly—human trait that only leads to increased pain and suffering. When Malta’s Jewish community first hears rumors that Ferneze plans to tax them to pay the Turkish tribute, they immediately seek Barabas’s guidance, a man whose “policy” and Machiavellian deceitfulness is widely known. Barabas promises to help his fellow Jews, but in an aside he claims: “Nay, let ‘em combat, conquer, and kill all, / So they spare me, my daughter, and my wealth.” Barabas doesn’t really care about the other Jews, and he will gladly sacrifice their lives to protect his own wealth. However, in Barabas’s pursuit to help himself, he loses his entire estate, which suggests that such selfishness and greed does more harm than good. After Friars Jacomo and Bernardine compete to convert Barabas and take him into their respective parishes, their greed and desire for Barabas’s wealth leads directly to their deaths. “What, will you have my life?” Bernardine says when he wakes to Barabas and Ithamore strangling him. “Pull, hard, I say,” Barabas replies, “you would have had my goods.” Barabas frames Jacomo for Bernardine’s murder, and Jacomo is later hanged for the crime, which again implies that selfishness and greed is a foolish mentality that does not pay off. Once the Turks invade Malta, imprison Ferneze, and make Barabas governor, Barabas still continues scheming to recover his lost wealth. Money is so dear to Barabas, it is even more important than his newfound political power or his loyalty to Malta. Barabas betrays Ferneze, the country of Malta, and his so-called allegiance with the Turks just to secure his wealth and satisfy his greed. But this unchecked greed ultimately leads to Barabas’s death, when Ferneze betrays him and drops Barabas into the trap meant to kill Selim-Calymath, the leader of the invading Turkish fleet. Again, Marlowe suggests that greed is a dangerous human trait that often leads to unnecessary pain, suffering, and even death.  

When the Turkish Bashaw arrives in Malta to collect the delinquent tribute money from Ferneze, he tells Ferneze that “the wind that bloweth all the world besides, / Desire of gold,” and this is certainly the case in The Jew of Malta. Nothing is sacred in Marlowe’s play when it comes to money—not love, politics, or religion—and it is this same unrestrained greed that ultimately leads to the demise of Marlowe’s most covetous characters. While Marlowe certainly condemns the greed that motivates his characters, he nevertheless implies that such selfishness is a common human trait, and that money is often valued above even the things people hold most dear.

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Money and Greed Quotes in The Jew of Malta

Below you will find the important quotes in The Jew of Malta related to the theme of Money and Greed.
Prologue Quotes

But whither am I bound, I come not, I,
To read a lecture here in Britaine,
But to present the tragedy of a Jew,
Who smiles to see how full his bags are crammed,
Which money was not got without my means.
I crave but this, grace him as he deserves,
And let him not be entertained the worse
Because he favours me.

Related Characters: Machevill (speaker), Barabas
Page Number: 10
Explanation and Analysis:
Act 1, Scene 1 Quotes

Thus trowls our fortune in by land and sea,
And thus are we on every side enriched:
These are the blessings promised to the Jews,
And herein was old Abram’s happiness:
What more may heaven do for earthly man
Than thus to pour out plenty in their laps,
Ripping the bowels of the earth for them,
Making the sea their servant, and the winds
To drive their substance with successful blasts?

Related Characters: Barabas (speaker)
Page Number: 15
Explanation and Analysis:

Rather had I a Jew be hated thus,
Than pitied in a Christian poverty:
For I can see no fruits in all their faith,
But malice, falsehood, and excessive pride,
Which methinks fits not their profession.
Happily some hapless man hath conscience,
And for his conscience lives in beggary.
They say we are a scattered nation:
I cannot tell, but we have scrambled up
More wealth by far than those that brag of faith.

Related Characters: Barabas (speaker)
Page Number: 16
Explanation and Analysis:
Act 1, Scene 2 Quotes

Out wretched Barabas,
Sham’st thou not thus to justify thyself,
As if we knew not thy profession?
If thou rely upon they righteousness,
Be patient and thy riches will increase.
Excess of wealth is cause of covetousness:
And covetousness, oh, ‘tis a monstrous sin.

Related Characters: Ferneze (speaker), Barabas
Page Number: 25
Explanation and Analysis:

Ay, policy? That’s their profession,
And not simplicity, as they suggest.
The plagues of Egypt, and the curse of heaven,
Earth’s barrenness, and all men’s hatred
Inflict upon them, thou great Primus Motor.
And here upon my knees, striking the earth,
I ban their souls to everlasting pains
And extreme tortures of the fiery deep,
That thus have dealt with me in my distress.

Related Characters: Barabas (speaker), Ferneze
Page Number: 27
Explanation and Analysis:

Barabas: Then Abigail, there must my girl
Entreat the abbess to be entertained.

Abigail: How, as a nun?

Barabas: Ay, daughter, for religion
Hides many mischiefs from suspicion.

Related Characters: Barabas (speaker), Abigail (speaker), Ferneze, Abbess
Related Symbols: Gold
Page Number: 32
Explanation and Analysis:

Abigail: Thus father shall I much dissemble.

Barabas: Tush,
As good dissemble that thou never mean’st
As first mean truth and then dissemble it;
A counterfeit profession is better
Than unseen hypocrisy.

Related Characters: Barabas (speaker), Abigail (speaker)
Related Symbols: Gold
Page Number: 32
Explanation and Analysis:
Act 2, Scene 1 Quotes

Oh my girl,
My gold, my fortune, my felicity;
Strength to my soul, death to mine enemy;
Welcome the first beginner of my bliss:
Oh Abigail, Abigail, that I had thee here too,
Then my desires were fully satisfied.
But I will practise thy enlargement thence:
Oh girl, oh gold, oh beauty, oh my bliss!

Related Characters: Barabas (speaker), Abigail
Related Symbols: Gold
Page Number: 40
Explanation and Analysis:
Act 2, Scene 3 Quotes

In spite of these swine-eating Christians,
Unchosen nation, never circumcised;
Such as, poor villains, were ne’er thought upon
Till Titus and Vespasian conquered us,
Am I become as wealthy as I was:
They hoped my daughter would ha’ been a nun:
But she’s at home, and I have bought a house
As great and fair as is the Governor’s;
And there in spite of Malta will I dwell:
Having Ferneze’s hand, whose heart I’ll have;
Ay, and his son’s too, or it shall go hard.

Related Characters: Barabas (speaker), Ferneze, Abigail, Don Lodowick
Related Symbols: Gold
Page Number: 44
Explanation and Analysis:

Barabas: Oh, sir, your father had my diamonds.
Yet I have one left that will serve your turn:
I mean my daughter. (But ere he shall have her
I’ll sacrifice her on a pile of wood.
I ha’ the poison of the city for him,
And the white leprosy.)

Lodowick: What sparkle does it give without a foil?

Barabas: The diamond that I talk of, ne’er was foiled
(But when he touches it, it will be foiled).
Lord Lodowick, it sparkles bright and fair.

Lodowick: Is it square or pointed? Pray let me know.

Barabas: Pointed it is, good sir (but not for you).

Related Characters: Barabas (speaker), Don Lodowick (speaker), Ferneze, Abigail
Page Number: 46-47
Explanation and Analysis: