INTRODUCTION
The play Jew of Malta, describes the tragic end of Barabas, a Jewish leading role, who sought revenge against the governor of Malta for taking away all his wealth. The city of Malta is depicted as full of corruption and religious hypocrisy. The Christians in this city can also be argued to be hypocrites therefore, making Jews hating on them and full of vengeance against them. The church in this play does not separate from political dealings. As a result, Barabas one of the Jew, hates them with passion and plots murder, deceit and betrayal in order to finish all his enemies. All the characters in the play are portrayed as unsympathetic and always torturing a victim. In the city of Malta, all men betray each other in order to gain profit for themselves. The governor and political system in this city is depicted as corrupt and hypocritical by forcing only the Jews to pay taxes of the whole city. Anti -Semitism can be argued to be the main reason why all evil is happening in this city. Ferneze the governor collects money from all Jews but refused to pay when the Turks came for their demand thereby, showing how the officials have been controlled by greed and corruption. Just like other cities marred with bad moral the servant connived with prostitutes in this play to steal from their boss Barabas. This research will analyze into details whether the themes of revenge, betrayal, and Hypocrisy in the play are intertwined with the dangers of anti-Semitism.
THEME OF REVENGE
The theme of revenge is described all over the play as Barabas sought vengeances for the loss of his wealth. Is anti-Semitism the cause of Barabas losing his gold? Revenge was provoked first by the Governor of Malta, Ferneze and the Knights when they impounded on all the wealth of Barabas. There was tribute demand from Malta that had remained unpaid for over ten years to the Turks. The governor decided to extract money from the Jews only and the option they had was to either convert to Christianity or pay half of their wealth. Since Barabas refused to convert and had initially refused to part with his wealth terming Christians religion full of thieves, his wealth was confiscated. Barabas was hurt and for this reason, he set out to revenge against the governor Ferneze for losing his gold he states âI am not of the tribe of Levi, / that can so soon forget an injuryâ. It can be argued that clearly the hate between Christians and the Jews was visible and the stereotype of Jews being greedy business men cannot be emphasize as Barabas first refused to part with half of his wealth like the other Jews . In fact the play starts with Barabas counting his gold and inquiring whether the shipped merchandise is safe. It can be argued that it is true how Barabas preferred to honored for being wealthy than be pitied for being a poor Christian. Jews are also known for being treacherous since the time of crucifixion when Judas betrayed Jesus at the last supper for money. This stereotype stills exists and can be depicted in this play. Barabas had a huge desire for his gold and even had to craft ways to get hold of the hidden money in his house. His greed is inevitable and the loss of gold resulted into violence and death of innocent people. Anti -Semitism can be argued to be the main reason why revenge is happening in this city. Ferneze the governor collects money from all Jews but refused to pay when the Turks came for their demand thereby, showing how the officials have been controlled by greed and corruption.
The Jews are also known to be revengeful and pay an eye for an eye. For this reason, Barabas longed for power to deal with all his enemies. Barabas later killed Lodowick the son of governor Ferneze; with the main reason being the loss of all his wealth. This can also be argued as the effect of the hate between the Jews and the Christians. It is in the process of taking vengeance that Barabas kills innocent lives including that of Abigail, his own daughter. By killing his own daughter because she also betrayed him by implicating his father on the murder of his lover Mathias and Lodowick, this shocked the audience. Abigail, the daughter of Barabas, also pledged to revenge against the Christians who had seized the wealth and house of his father and turned it into a nunnery. As the play develops, Barabas seems to enjoy executing his schemes and the desire for revenge thus spirals rapidly out of control. Barabas also vows revenge on Ithamore for trying to steal from him. In the end, he was poisoned together with the others. Barabas is the main avenger in this play and even at the end of this play he dies trying to revenge against all those who betrayed him. The Turks can also be seen as seeking revenge against the whole island of Malta because the governor collected the money but refused to surrender it to them. With the help of Barabas after he was thrown out of the city after faking death they succeeded. On the other hand, Jews are known to be persecuted and face hostility in many countries. This play may have shed light more on this by highlighting the dangers faced by Jew living in Malta. It can be argued that the author of this play wanted to show the hostility faced by most Jews (McAdam 87).
THEME OF HYPOCRISY
In this play, the church as well as the Christianity religion is depicted as hypocritical. In this church, Christianâs values and political dealing are not separate. The church can be argued to promote anti-Semitism. Barabas terms the Christians as hypocrites who are envious of his wealth and success in addition to being persecutors of his people, the Jews. He canât see why anyone would choose to be a Christian and states âFor I can see no fruits in all their faithâ. This can be argued as a clear sign of the hatred between the Christians and Jews. Barabas accuse Christians of talking about righteous but not practicing it rather they do the opposite. In the nunnery, Barabas presumes that the sins committed by the Christians are visible especially with the nuns who increase in number due to pregnancy.
The Christianity religion is also accused of hiding numerous mischiefs which are not suspected by the public. For this reason, Abigail is able to pretend to be a nun in order to gain access to their home which had been seized and transformed into a nunnery. Barabas further states that the Christians use their religion as an excuse to do extort and commit evil while quoting the bible as the same time. The Catholic Church in this play engages in actions that can be termed as unchristian such as Tax levy of an entire city being paid by a fraction of the inhabitants. The governor, Ferneze and the friars pretend to stand for the ways of the church and follow law of the land. However, their hypocrisy is later revealed in the play that they are more corrupt than Barabas.
The friars are portrayed as having a strong desire for gold and sex. On the other hand, Ferneze and the officers used power and position to satisfy their selfish gains and even stealing in the name of religion. They demanded that the Jews should pay the long overdue tribute demanded by the Turks. This shows that the Christians were anti-Semitic and hated the Jews. Therefore, the governor gave orders that the Jews must either convert to Christianity or part with half of his wealth. Barabas is infuriated since all his wealth is gone and calls Christians thieves. Ultimately, Ferneze as a hypocrite collects money from all Jews but refused to pay when the Turks came for their demand (Margaret 47).
On the other hand, Barabas is also revealed as a hypocritical opportunist who had committed crimes in order gain his wealth. He states that he âKill sick people groaning under walls: Sometimes I go about and poison wellsâ. This is hypocritical and shows Barabas as a criminal who can do anything to gain wealth. Barabas and his servant Ithamore killed one of the friars Barnardine who came to convert him to Christianity after the betrayal by his daughter. The two later laid blame on Jacomo who they turned over to the authorities. The character Ferneze the Malta governor, is also depicted as hypocrite Christian who lack the Christians values and morals such as love, forgiveness and mercy. In fact, he informs all the Jews that they must taxed heavily and pay the overdue tribute with half of their wealth. It can be noted that the Christians hate the Jews and the other way round. Barabas stated that their suffering and afflictions in that city was as a result of curse from God. Barabas the rich Jew, challenged the governor of Malta who was a Christian whether their religion was based on theft since the so called Christians justify the taking away of Barabas gold by portraying him as cursed and sinful. In the Jew of Malta, each character justifies their brutality to other by citing religion. Barabas calls Christians as hypocrites who deserve to be killed by Muslims. To avoid punishment by the authority Barabas feigned his death by drinking a sedative concoction. Abigail was loyal to his father and can be termed as hypocritical by agreeing to disguise herself into a nun in order to gain access to the wealth of his father which was hidden under the floor boards. Barabas ended up killing his daughterâs lover Mathias, because he was a Christian.
THEME OF BETRAYAL
In this play, many chances for betrayal are common. Barabas stated that the governor of Malta Ferneze betrayed him by taking all his gold and thus, had set out to seek revenge against him. He said âI hope to see the governor a slaveâ. Barabas daughter, Abigail felt betrayed when his father murdered the love of his life Mathias. She became very frustrated with Barabas and went back to the convent. Barabas thought that his daughter betrayed him by going back there and being converted to a Christian and vowed to disinherit her. As a result, he makes his slave Ithamore his only heir. This is also a sign of betrayal when the father gives his inheritance to a slave rather than to her only daughter. Barabas kills his own daughter together with other nuns by poisoning them. He termed the death of his daughter as a personal betrayal and denied that he could never think of being a Christian. This can also be seen when Ferneze asked him to be a Christian and replied that he can never be a converted. Abigail is also portrayed in this play as betraying his father by reporting him as the murderer of both Lodowick and Mathias to the priest before she died. After the betrayal by Abigail, the friars turned up to convert Barabas to Christianity and him being such a hypocrite tried to play games on the two of them who ended up fighting over who had the rightful claims of converting Barabas.
However, Barabas and his servant Ithamore killed one of the friars Barnardine and lay the blame on Jacomo who they later tried to turn over to the authorities. The servant who had been made the only heir Ithamore also tried to betray his boss by trying to steal from him together with Bellamira, a Courtesan. Ithamore betrayed his boss by blackmailing him in order to have the money. He also revealed all the crimes they had done together with his boss. Barabas seek revenge and poison all three with poisoned flowers. However, in the last act the governor is furnished with all the crimes that Ithamore and Barabas had committed and order their arrest. Anti -Semitism can be argued to be the main reason why betrayal is happening in this city. Ferneze the governor collects money from all Jews but refused to pay when the Turks came for their demand thereby, showing how the officials have been controlled by greed and corruption.
Later in this play, we can see that Barabas betrayed the city of Malta to the Turks who later made him the governor. After feigning his death to avoid punishment from the authority he was thrown out of the city and from there he sought revenge against all Malta. He helped the Turks enter the protected city. However, due to his evil schemes and wicked virtue of betrayal his down fall came as he plotted to destroy the Turkish commander together with their soldiers by inviting them to a feast where the floor will collapse. Unfortunately, he is also betrayed and dies in his own cauldron. When he helped them he was made a governor but said to himself that no one could accept him coz they all hates him and his life is in danger. This can be argued that Jews cannot expect to gain political power and maintain their Jewish identity. He himself in the play conceded that Jews cannot make kings because their population is sparse and can only depend on Christians to rule them.
Conclusion
The play Jew of Malta is a tragic end of Barabas, a Jewish character who vowed revenge against all his enemies. Since time immemorial Jews have been known to revenge in order to gain acceptance in the society. To accomplish this he plots murder, deceit and betrayal in order to finish all of them. The first revenge was against Governor of Malta Ferneze who impounded on all of his wealth and seized his house which was turned into a nunnery. He killed Lodowick the son of governor. Barabas hates Christianity and refused to convert and later he took it as a betrayal when his daughter converted into Christianity. The process of taking vengeance saw Barabas kills innocent lives including that of Abigail, his daughter. It seems he enjoyed executing his schemes and the desire for revenge thus spirals rapidly out of control. Barabas is the main avenger in this play however, at the end of this play he dies trying to revenge against all those who betrayed him. Abigail also pledged to revenge against the Christians who had seized the wealth and house of his father and turned it into a nunnery (Bevington 56).
Finally, it can be argued that this city is filled with corruption and religious hypocrisy resulting to hate between Christians and Jews. The Jews cannot even have a political office because the whole city hates them. Christopher Marlowe brings out all the characters as unsympathetic and always torturing a victim. In the city of Malta all men betray each other in order to gain profit for themselves. Although Barabas can be argued to be selfish and greedy for money, it can be argued that the city in which he resides is anti-Semitic and both the Jews and Christians hate each other. On the other hand, Jews are known to be persecuted and face hostility in many countries. This play may have shed light more on this by highlighting the dangers faced by Jew living in Malta. It can be argued that the author of this play wanted to show the hostility faced by most Jews. Christians are portrayed as hypocrites and envious of the wealth and success of Jews population. Killing own daughter for the sake of this hatred can be viewed as shocking. Though Barabas brags about doing all those evils because he is Jewish I think that this is not the true representation of all Jews. Christianity religion is accused of hiding numerous mischiefs such as extorting money and commit evil while quoting the bible as the same time. However, their hypocrisy is later revealed in the play that they are more corrupt than Barabas.
Vengeance is a stereotype of Jews and this theme can be argued to be elicited from the dangers of anti-Semitism. This play portrays Jews as bad people who kill innocent people carelessly without any human feelings. They are thought to be cursed and sinful in nature. The other theme of betrayal is common. It can be argued that Jews are known for betrayal kills his own daughter just because he hates Christians. Barabas he termed the death of his daughter as a personal betrayal and denied that he could never think of being a Christian. Anti -Semitism can be argued to be the main reason why all evil is happening in this city. Ferneze the governor collects money from all Jews but refused to pay when the Turks came for their demand thereby, showing how the officials have been controlled by greed and corruption. In summary, this paper has analyzed the themes of revenge, betrayal, and hypocrisy in the play and concluded that they are intertwined with the dangers of anti-Semitism in the Jew of Malta.