Jew of Malta

Book Description
The Jew of Malta is a formative and brilliant play which has come to hold an increasingly important position in the Marlowe canon. This edition is based on the only surviving text, the 1633 quarto, which has been carefully examined and is shown to be more authentic and reliable than most earlier scholars were prepared to allow. The fullest available account of the sources of the play is given, with discussion of Marlowe’s knowledge of Mediterranean history, and consideration of Elizabethan Machiavellianism. The play’s theatrical vitality is illuminated by the suggestions about it’s original staging in Bawcutt’s fascinating appendix.


The Merriam-Webster Encyclopedia of Literature
(in full The Famous Tragedy of the Rich Jew of Malta) Five-act tragedy in blank verse by Christopher Marlowe, produced about 1590 and published in 1633. In order to raise tribute demanded by the Turks, Ferneze, the Christian governor of Malta, seizes half the property of all Jews living on Malta. When Barabas, a wealthy Jewish merchant, protests, his entire estate is confiscated. Seeking revenge on his enemies, Barabas plots their destruction, but in the end he is betrayed and dies the death he had planned for his enemies.


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This edition is of the best-known play by one of Shakespeare's chief predecessors and early contemporaries, Christopher Marlowe. The Jew of Malta was enormously influential on Shakespeare when he came to write The Merchant of Venice, and for good reason, since the play explores anti-Semitism and revenge. An introduction discusses the significance of this formative and brilliant play, with detailed commentary provided for meanings of difficult words, lines and references. Distilled from the insight and learning found in the fuller Revels edition but updated and streamlined, this is the most contemporary commentary now available.


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