Talk:The Jew of Malta

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article is part of Wikipedia's Elizabethan theatre coverage, and has come to the attention of WikiProject Elizabethan theatre, an attempt to create a comprehensive and detailed resource on the theatre and dramatic literature in England between 1558 and 1642. If you would like to participate in the project, you can choose to edit the article attached to this page (just like any other article!), or visit WikiProject Elizabethan theatre, where you can join the project and see a list of open tasks.

• Not sure why "Barabas the Jew" is highlighted in red at the bottom of the page. That is an existing page.

[edit] Critical commentary

"Meanwhile, very few of the play's other characters show significant redeeming qualities. Although Barabas's daughter, Abigail, is a possible exception most characters in the play are selfish, greedy and unscrupulous. Even Abigail's becoming a nun is open for interpretation- at least initially- as a means to spite her father. The play ridicules Christian monks and nuns for engaging in forbidden sexual practices, and portrays a pair of friars trying to outbid each other to bring Barabas (and his wealth) into their order. Malta's Christian governor, in addition to his unfair treatment of the city's Jews, is revealed to be a grasping opportunist who seizes any chance to get an advantage. The Turkish slave Ithamore is somewhat idiotic and has no qualms about getting drunk when offered wine (and sex) by a prostitute, and aside from him there are the Turkish invaders who plan to make the city's defenders (the Knights of Malta) into galley slaves."

This seems very open to dispute, or at the best is a highly personal reading of the play. Is the Turkish prince really that rotten a person? Or the two sons, Lodowick and Matthias? Or the mother of Matthias, Katherine? I would quibble too about the governor, I think the description of him here is a little cartoonish compared to Marlowe's actual sketch. This section has a lot of loaded words and appears to be trying to stack the deck sometimes, and some of the traits it's chosen for whipping seem like irrelevancies --- somehow, Ithamore getting drunk is more indicative of his bad side than his killing people or blackmailing his former boss. The section after that beginning The play is unusual also seems poorly worded and confused in its reasoning to me. It is hard to write critical commentary that isn't a little idiosyncratic, but some of the blanket statements in here seem to go a touch beyond that.Eupolis 17:48, 5 November 2006 (UTC)

• I did wonder that about the Turkish prince myself, when I read it. On the other hand there is no gainsaying the fact that he and his men are fully prepared to turn the Maltese into galley-slaves if they don't pay up. And I only added that bit about Ithamore's getting drunk myself because technically, Muslims aren't supposed to- not that murder and blackmail aren't frowned upon in the Islam faith as well, but with the concept of jihad (that, admittedly, Marlowe probably wouldn't have known about) and the fact that the character is brought into slavery before Turkey and Malta are even at war in the play, makes it perhaps more understandable when you see that the play is set at a point when three religions are only just at the pique of tolerating one another. And the fact that the govenor is wiling to sell allies as slaves does, I think, accurately suggest "a grasping opportunist".

It does? In that scene in question, the governor at first refuses to allow the sale of Del Bosco's Turkish slaves because it would break the league and lead to Malta's ruin, and he does this despite being opposed by his own knights. He only agrees to Del Bosco's demand after he's told that Spain claims to have title to Malta, and "means quickly to expel you hence" unless Malta goes along and sides with Spain. How are you being a grasping opportunist if you make your decision at the point of a gun? I don't disagree that he has opportunistic traits, but I also feel uneasy with the blanket characterizations of him, which is why the quibble. I think Marlowe's portrayal was a little more complex than that. As for Ithamore, no point is made of his drinking, and if it was against Islamic law hardly anybody in his audience would have known about it. And as for the Turkish prince, though Barabas is of the opinion that the Turks let the tribute pay go lax so they could have an excuse to invade Malta, when the Turks are asked for an extra month to collect the money the prince courteously grants it. I feel like this text is trying a little too hard to impose a "they're all bad people" reading on the play. You know it's gone too far when even Abigail is just a possible exception to the thesis presented here. I guess her sincere love for Matthias doesn't count for much. Eupolis 17:14, 6 November 2006 (UTC)

• Ah well, I didn't add the part you quoted, merely agreed with it, and added the part about Ihamore's getting drunk. Anyone is free to add to it further...

[edit] Abigail/Abigall

To the poster who's been repeatedly making changes to Abigail's name, without explanation. If you weren't aware, there have been repeated requests for you to talk about it here and/or explain your reasoning. Let's see what can be done. Eupolis 23:13, 9 November 2006 (UTC)

My edition of the play reads "Abigall". The introduction suggests this is because her actions "gall" her father. This does, perhaps, suggest over-analysis on the part of the editor, but I only changed it back because that's how it reads in the text.

My print edition calls her "Abigail", as does every digital edition that I can locate. Ben W Bell talk 11:03, 16 November 2006 (UTC)