The Jew of Malta

The Jew of Malta or The Famous Tragedy of the Rich Jew of Malta is a play by Shakespeare contemporary Christopher Marlowe. Written sometime around 1589 or 1590, the story follows the Maltese merchant Barabas with the Spanish and Ottoman struggle for control of the Mediterranean as a backdrop.

The character Machiavel, a ghost based on Niccolo Machiavelli, introduces the story as a tragedy and posits that power is amoral.

The first act opens with Jewish merchant Barabas awaiting the return of his ships from the east. He learns that his ships have made port in Malta, but three Jews inform him that they must see the governor Ferneze. There, he finds out that all Jews on the island must pay half of their estate to help the Maltese government pay tribute to the Turks. The island has not paid tribute in ten years and has amassed considerable debt. Barabas refuses and the governor forces him to forfeit his entire fortune and convert his house into a convent. Barabas swears revenge but first attempts to recover some of his hidden wealth in his house. His daughter Abigail pretends to convert to Christianity so she can enter the convent to smuggle out gold.



Ferneze meets with the Spanish Vice-Admiral, who wants to sell Turkish slaves in the Maltese marketplace. He proposes that Ferneze break his alliance with the Turks in exchange for Spanish protection. When Barabas goes to the market to view the slaves, he meets Ferneze’s son Lodowick who has heard from his friend Matthias of Abigail’s beauty. Barabas formulates a plan to exact revenge on Ferneze. He tells Lodowick that Abigail will marry him. While at the market, Barabas buys the slave Ithamore who also hates Christians.

Mathias sees Barabas talking to Lodowick and suspects they are talking about Abigail. Barabas promises Abigail to him as well, setting the two friends against one another. He instructs Abigail to become engaged to Lodowick to set the jealousy in motion. Lodowick and Mathias vow revenge on one another for attempting to woo Abigail. Ithamore hands a forged letter to Mathias, allegedly from Lodowick, challenging him to a duel.

In Act III, prostitute Bellamira and her pimp Pilia-Borza decide to steal some of Barabas’s gold since business has been bad as of late. Ithamore meets Bellamira and falls in love with her instantly. Lodowick and Mathias kill one another in the duel orchestrated by Barabas. Ferneze and Mathias’s mother find them and vow revenge on their killer. Abigail learns from Ithamore that her father is responsible for the two young men’s death. Heartbroken, she appeals to friar Jacomo to let her reenter the convent she snuck into before. Furious at her action, Barabas decides to poison the nuns at the convent. He instructs Ithamore to deliver poisoned rice. Ferneze informs the Turkish emissary that Malta will not pay the tribute. The emissary leaves, warning Ferneze that his superior, Calymath, will attack soon.



Back at the convent, the nuns are all poisoned. Abigail confesses to Jacomo her father’s involvement with Lodowick and Mathias’s deaths. Jacomo cannot share this information since it was divulged during a confession.

As Barabas and Ithamore celebrate their success, Jacomo and a fellow friar arrive to confront Barabas. Barabas figures out that he knows and distracts him by pretending to want to convert to Christianity and donate to whatever monastery he joins. The two friars argue over which monastery Barabas should join. Ithamore strangles the other friar and they frame Jacomo for his murder.

Ithamore drunkenly tells Bellamira everything his master has done, so she decides to blackmail Barabas and tell the governor afterward. Barabas poisons Bellamira, her pimp, and Ithamore for their treachery.



Bellamira and Pilia-Borza tell Ferneze what they know about Barabas. Ferneze sends soldiers after Barabas and Ithamore. The poison catches up with Bellamira, Pilia-Borza, and Ithamore and they die. Barabas fakes his own death, finds Calymath, and informs him how best to attack the city. The Turks successfully storm the town and make Barabas the governor, though he still fears for his life. He sends for Ferneze. Barabas explains that he will expel the Turks and kill Calymath in exchange for a large sum of money. Ferneze agrees, after which Barabas invites Calymath to his house for dinner. Instead, Ferneze kills Barabas in the boiling cauldron meant for Calymath. Ferneze tells Calymath that he is a prisoner on the island until the Ottoman emperor agrees to free the island.

The play’s unsavory depiction of a Jew to an Elizabethan audience who would have had little exposure to an actual Jewish population is credited for promoting anti-Semitism, though there is debate among historians on how much audiences would have known about Judaism. Scholars have also posited that Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice was highly influenced by The Jew of Malta. Nevertheless, the play was an enormous success and ran for several decades.