Christopher Marlowe’s The Jew of Malta -written in 1589-1590, and first performed in 1592- It is now sometimes seen as a satire of then-contemporary attitudes of Christians towards Jews. Elizabethan England probably saw the play as a demonization of the Jewish faith. The Jew of Malta is considered to have been a major influence of William Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice . The Jewish merchant in question, Barabas, is introduced as a man owning more wealth than the entire city of Malta. The name Barabas comes from the Biblical figure of Barabbas, a notorious bandit. Barabbas, rather than Jesus Christ, was released by Pontius Pilate at the behest of a mob. In order to raise tribute demanded by the Muslim 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. With the aid of his daughter, Abigail, he recovers some of his former assets and buys a Turkish slave, Ithamore, who appears to hate Christians as much as Barabas. Barabas then uses his daughter's beauty to embitter the governor's son and his friend against each other, leading to a duel in which they both die. When Abigail learns of Barabas's role in the plot, she consigns herself to a nunnery, only to be poisoned (along with all of the nuns) by Barabas and Ithamore. Barabas is finally dropped into a boiling cauldron by the Turks and killed. As with Shakespeare's Merchant of Venice, the unremitting evil of The Jew of Malta's protagonist leaves the play open to accusations of anti-Semitism. 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 Jew of Malta was a success in its first performance at the Rose theatre in early 1592. It gained significant notoriety due to Marlowe's arrest for heresy and subsequent violent death in 1593, and the 1594 execution of Dr. Rodrigo Lopez, Queen Elizabeth's Jewish physician. The play remained popular for the next fifty years. Barabas. 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 servants, and the winds To drive their substance with successful blasts? Who hateth me but for my happiness? Or who is honored now but for his wealth? 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. Haply 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 scambled up More wealth by far than those that brag of faith. There's Kirriah Jairim, the great Jew of Greece, Obed in Bairseth, Nones in Portugal, Myself in Malta, some in Italy, Many in France, and wealthy every one, Ay, wealthier far than any Christian. I must confess we come not to be kings. That's not our fault. Alas, our number's few, And crowns come either by succession Or urged by force, and nothing violent, Oft have I heard tell, can be permanent. Give us a peaceful rule; make Christians kings, That thirst so much for principality. I have no charge, nor many children, But one sole daughter, whom I hold as dear. Shakespeare’s “Christian Comedy” The Merchant of Venice (1594-1597) By Michael J. Cummings . Was William Shakespeare anti-Semitic? ........ One school of Shakespeare interpreters answers yes, resoundingly. Their primary evidence is his depiction of the Jewish moneylender Shylock in The Merchant of Venice as grasping, vengeful, and ethnically foul. Shakespeare’s message: Jews are evil. ........ However, close scrutiny of the play reveals that Shakespeare wrote it to condemn the moral and ethical values of errant Christians, not Jews. The Christian characters in The Merchant of Venice assess their own worth and the worth of others according to faulty standards, believing that money, position, and establishmentarian affiliations are the sum of a man or a woman. It is they who force Shylock into money lending; it is they who seed his monomaniacal lust for revenge. To be sure, Shylock exhibits monstrous behavior, but it is reactive behavior. He makes his living through usury because usury is the only way he can compete in Christian Venice; he accumulates wealth because he believes it gives him security and independence in a hostile Christian world. ........ What Shakespeare thought about Jews is profoundly important to writers, teachers, actors, historians, social scientists, members of the clergy–indeed to every thinking human being– because of the extraordinary influence his literary legacy exerts on human thought and endeavor. No other writer of any age is more widely read; no other writer is more argued over and written about. The popularity of Shakespeare films in recent times further aggrandizes his reputation while instilling uneasiness in those who believe he harbored prejudices that inflame anti- Semitism. ........ To find out Shakespeare–to try pin him down on the Jewish question–critics generally scrutinize The Merchant of Venice and its characters as well as other Shakespeare works with significant racial, ethnic, or religious themes. They also peruse the Elizabethan era’s record of strong anti-Semitism. ........ A daunting task for explorers of this subject is to put aside their own biases. Not all researchers can. Consequently, they guide themselves toward the desired conclusion rather than letting the research guide them to the most logical conclusion. Lovers of Shakespeare are prone to such bias. So are fault-finders who criticize Shakespeare for the offensive dialogue in The Merchant of Venice . To be sure, there is much for these fault-finders to complain about. Throughout the play, Christians depersonalize and alienate Shylock by refusing to use his given name. Instead, they call him “the villain Jew,” “this currish Jew,” “infidel,” and “cruel devil.” To the Christians, Shylock is diabolically foul. Plot The comedy starts out with Antonio, a great merchant prince of the city of Venice who sends out his ships as far as Mexico and the Indies, seeks a loan from the Jew Shylock. He readily agrees to Shylock’s suggestion that Antonio forfeit a pound of his flesh if the three thousand ducats are not paid back within three months time. The issue between the Jewish moneylender and the Christian merchant is not simply the taking of interest. It is the usurer’s merciless exploitation of his victims. He is no mere banker, but a crafty and ruthless loan shark. Defenders of Shylock often argue that at first his offer of friendship is sincere, and that he never meant the forfeit of a pound of Antonio’s flesh as anything but “a merry jest,” until his daughter Jessica deserted him to elope with one of Antonio’s Christian friends. Shylock's Passion ........ Of course, there can be no denying Shylock’s passion for accumulating wealth. Verily, he breeds it, as rams and ewes breed lambs, he tells Antonio in Act I, Scene III. He also tells his daughter, Jessica, that he even dreams about moneybags. After Jessica raids those moneybags and her father’s store of jewels to abscond with Lorenzo, a Christian, Salanio tells his companion Salarino in Act II, Scene VIII: ................ I never heard a passion so confused, ................ So strange, outrageous, and so variable, ................ As the dog Jew did utter in the streets: ................ 'My daughter! O my ducats! O my daughter! ................ Fled with a Christian! O my Christian ducats! ................ Justice! the law! my ducats, and my daughter! ................ A sealed bag, two sealed bags of ducats, ................ Of double ducats, stolen from me by my daughter! ........ These lines appear to indict Shylock as a man so consumed by his love of money that he cares more for his ducats than he does for his daughter. However, while acknowledging Shylock’s avarice, careful Shakespeare exegetes also should note that Salarino, a Christian, is a biased reporter who prefaces his news with the slur “dog Jew.” In a court of law, his credibility would be nil. But what if he reported the exact words of Shylock? In that case, consider that the passage is framed at the beginning and end by “my daughter” and that the heart of the passage, Line 4, is also so framed. It indicates that Shylock cares about Jessica. That she would steal from him and run off with an avowed enemy wounds him deeply. ..Christian gibes also brand Shylock as Satan in godly clothing. In Act I, Scene III, after Shylock quotes the Bible to make a point, Antonio tells Bassanio: ANTONIO Mark you this, Bassanio, The devil can cite Scripture for his purpose. An evil soul producing holy witness Is like a villain with a smiling cheek, A goodly apple rotten at the heart: O, what a goodly outside falsehood hath! ANTONIO Well, Shylock, shall we be beholding to you? SHYLOCK Signior Antonio, many a time and oft In the Rialto you have rated me About my moneys and my usances: Still have I borne it with a patient shrug, For sufferance is the badge of all our tribe.