The Jew of Malta: The World of Malta

After a careful study of "Jew of Malta" it can be said without any exaggeration that the society of Malta is full of social, political and religious evils like greed, corruption, hypocrisy, prejudice, treason, blackmailing, exploitation, lawlessness, social injustice, religious fanaticism, pride and selfishness. The play is a satirical exposition of the Machiavellian politicians, hypocrite and lusty priests, ruthless Jews and the so-called Christians who have forgotten the fundamental principles of their religion, such as tolerance, patience, pity and selflessness. The picture of Malta is very loathsome and detestable and it looks like a hell.

 

Marlowe strikes the key-note of the play when he introduces Machiavelli in the opening scene of the play. Right from the beginning we start feeling that "All is not well in the state of Malta" and all our fears prove true when we withers that "evil desires, evil thoughts and evil doings fill its five acts of the full". The central character, Barabas, is found in his counting house, counting his gold coins and pleasing his eyes and soul with the sight of his heap of wealth. With the passage of time we come to know that he is so much obsessed with passion for wealth that he can cross any limit for it. He is ruthless, selfish, materialist who leaves no stone unturned to accumulate wealth by hook or by crook and hold other people in the grip of his own benefit. He may have some personal grudge against certain Christians but his hate for all the Christians and his grudge against the whole nation cannot be justified at all. He has always an excuse ready for his misdoings as in the case of Lodowick and Mathias. He thinks:

 

"It's no sin to deceive a Christian"

 

 

He gives the details of his ruthlessness in the heroic terms. He tells Ithamore:

"There I enrich'd the priests with burials,

And always kept he sexton's arms in ure

With digging graves and ringing dead men's knells."

But is happy:

"But mark how I am blest for plaguing them.

I have as much coin as will buy the town."

Barabas' brutality is at the peak, when we find him so brutally planning for the murder of his own daughter.

 

He ridicules religion and thinks it no more that it

 

"Hides many mischiefs from suspicion".

 

Barabas has a materialistic and utilitarian outlook which places the advantages of the nation.

 

From this detailed description of Barabas' devilish activities we start thinking whether Barabas is the single fish who spoils the whole pond but such a criticism is not just because with the only exception of Abigail, almost all major and minor characters of the play are the chips of the same block. If Barabas is possessed with passion for wealth, same is the case with Ferneze, the knight, Calimath and Del-Bosco who have such respective policies to acquire more and more wealth.

 

When Ferneze asks the Turks what thing had driven them to Malta, the reply was significant:

"The wind that bloweth all the world besides,

Desire of gold."

Even the religious characters like Jacomo and Barnardine are equally avarice who altercate with each other only for Barabas' treasure. The character of low life, Ithamore, Bellamira and Pilia Borza join hands together to get as much as they can from Barabas' wealth.

 

When we think about the law and order situation in Malta, we find that both the governmentadministration and ecclesiastical figures defy and violate own rules and principles. Ferneze plays his crafty statesmanship on highly political ground. He has well convinced policy for the sake of his personal benefit and aggrandizement. He takes the tribute money from Jews on the basis of the jungle law that might is right but never pays this tribute to the Turks. In order to sell a cargo of the Turkish slaves, the Spanish vice admiral Del Bosco inculcates in Ferneze's mind the idea of breaking the treaty between Malta and Turks. The condition of church authorities is not different because they are also found worshipping the manner of gold. Barnardine is only sorrow at Abigail's death.

 

 

"Ay, and a virgin too; that grieves me most."

 

The most important features of the Malta society are religious fanatics and ethane prejudice. Katherine advises her son to avoid Barabas because he is a Jew.

"Converse not with him; he is cast off from heaven."

 

In short the word of Malta is devoid of such virtues as love, warmth, charity, pity and patience. Each character whether high or low is certainly low and mean in mentality.

 

As Harry Levis remarks:

 

"Morally, all of them operate on the same level and that is precisely what Marlowe is pointing out."

The Jew of Malta: A Typical Marlovian Tragedy

Marlovian tragedy is significant due to its newness, Renaissance influence, Machiavellian morality, powerful and passionate expression, element of tragic, inner conflict, its tragic hero, popular literary type, high seriousness, bombastic language and blank verse. 

 

Medieval drama was linked with church and there were only Mysteries and Morality plays but after the rise of a new wave of the Renaissance in Europe, there was a great change in the taste of audience. After the Reformation Movement, Mysteries and Morality plays lost all their influence on audience, rather they were disliked by the people because of their link with the old church. Interludes, Masques and Pageants were introduced and touch of comedy was felt in English Drama but all these innovations were in chaotic state when Marlowe and other "University Wits" started their career. With the revival of learning in the fifteenth century, the translation of the Senecan tragedy greatly influenced English writers. Christopher Marlowe is rightly acknowledged for his outstanding achievement of bringing English Drama from the worst condition of mere and imitation of the Senecan tragedy into its maturity. Swinburne says:

 

"Before him there was neither genuine blank verse nor a genuine tragedy in our language. After his arrival the way was prepared, the paths were made straight, for Shakespeare."

 

 

Medieval tragedy was a matter of kings or princes and the plot of these tragedies was mainly concerned with the rise and fall of the royal personalities but Marlow has a modern conception of tragic heroes. A Marlovian tragic hero belongs to a humble family but he is a great man because he possesses great qualities. Barabas, the central character of "The Jew of Malta", possesses all the qualities of typical Marlovian tragic hero. Barabas is not a king or a prince but a common Jew who has got importance in the state of Malta because he has acquired a lot of wealth by his trade ships in several countries. Barabas gets such a high status with the help of his "policy" that he dethrones Ferneeze, the ruler of Malta, and himself occupies his seat. He is not a popular person but he is a deadly enemy of the existed order. He is a symbol of common man to challenge the despotic of princes and kings.

 

A typical Marlovian tragedy has a strong influence of Machiavelli, a socio-political writer of Italy. Machiavelli rejected orthodoxical morality admired ambition as the only operated virtue of a prince and emphasized morality of new and more attractive kind which operated for the good of the individual. In "Te Jew of Malta" we find Barabas as the disciple of Machiavelli who is ambitious for power through wealth and exploits all resources to accumulate wealth. He uses Lodowick, Mathias, Ithamore, Abigail, Jocomo, Barnardine, Ferneeze and Calimath to get his required targets and never cares for any one by holding the audience spell-bound.

 

One of the most important features of Marlovian tragedy is that it has the element of inner conflict and a lot of responsibility lies on the character of tragic hero in the occurrence of the tragedy while in ancient tragedy it mainly owes to the unseen hand of blind fate. In "The Jew of Malta" this inner conflict is not so articulate. Ferneeze, in "Jew of Malta" deprives Barabas of all his wealth while Barabas cunningly manages to take back and even becomes himself the governor of Malta there. He commits a fatal mistake and takes Ferneeze in confidence and discloses his further plan and quite naturally meets his tragic end.

 

Marlovian tragedy discards the old concepts of tragedy as a medium of teaching conventional morality. His tragedy is born out of the fall of protagonist's Machiavellian morality caused by some tragic flaw in his character which is responsible for his ruin. Barabas' revengeful motives are justifiable but the tragic end which Barabas faces in not foreign but his very own fatal mistake causes his ruins.

 

Marlovian tragedy is also notable for high seriousness and beautiful poetry in mighty blank verse.

 

"Shakespeare would not have been Shakespeare had Marlowe never written or live. He might not have been altogether the Shakespeare we know."

The Tragic Fate of Marlowe's Tragic Hero

In the world of theatre, there are many plays in which the central figure is one who harnesses extreme personality traits above all others. For example, Sophocles' Oedipus is a fatherly king with great ambition and strength; and Shakespeare's Macbeth is evilly ambitious, while Romeo and Juliet are driven solely by their love for one another. These traits give these characters unbelievable success... for a time. In these stories, these attributes bring about each character's downfall and death, qualifying each as a tragic hero, one whose strength leads to weakness. Christopher Marlowe's Dr. Faustus is a definite member of this class of characters, an arrogant yet impressively ambitious scholar who desires grandiose knowledge without the help and guidance from the world's major religion, Christianity. In Dr. Faustus, Marlowe uses tragic irony concerning Faustus' misunderstanding and rejection of God to illustrate the downfall of this tragic hero.



Faustus' character is established with his first soliloquy in the very first scene. Desiring to acquire knowledge, he distrusts logic, medicine, and law, claiming that he "hast attained [the] end[s]" and mastered these areas (253 , lines 1-36). When he considers religion, "divinity," he quotes Romans 6 :23 which says, "The reward of sin is death," and continues with 1 John 1 :8 , saying that everyone sins and therefore there is "no truth in us" (253 , lines 37 , 40 , 44). From this, Faustus concludes that there is no reason in believing in a seemingly hopeless faith where the only outcome is death, and so with a haughty goodbye he says, "What doctrine call you this? ... Divinity, adieu!" (253 , line 49).



Faustus is entirely too quick to form conclusions. If he wants knowledge, the last action he should take is not learning all about a possible flaw. Modern journalist Lee Strobel says in his faith- strengthening book The Case for Faith about difficult questions people pose about the Bible, "[B]ecause [someone isn't] able to answer them [doesn't] mean there [aren't] answers" (196 ). The astounding irony of this scene is Faustus' failure to read the next verse after 1 John 1 :8: "If we confess our sins, [God] is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness" (1 John 1 :9). Faustus' arrogance and conceit will not let him become fully knowledgeable to see hope, and therefore he has personally lost all hopes for his dreams by painting Christianity in a negative light.



Faustus further condemns himself by looking to magic in order to be a "demi-god," but even more so by believing a pact with the highest devil, Lucifer, will give him his dreams (253 , line 63). He gives a message to Mephistophilis, a devil, that says:



He surrenders up to [Lucifer] his soul,

So he will spare him four and twenty years,

Letting him live in all voluptuousness,

...



To give [him] whatever [he] shall ask. (256 , lines 91-93 , 95)



In his pursuit of knowledge, now believing his soul-selling has proven successful, Faustus asks Mephistophilis questions about the planet, and the heavens, which are very readily answered. However, when Faustus asks, "[T]ell me who made the world," Mephistophilis replies, "I will not" (260, lines 71-73). Now that Faustus believes he has been granted all knowledge, the irony exists in his inability to discover the answers to the ultimate questions of how the universe came to be, and more important, who made the universe. If he knew this, his knowing it would lead him directly back to God the Creator, and therefore to all knowledge whatsoever. But Faustus is now detached from God, unable to acquire the knowledge he desires.



By the end of the play, Faustus is so far detached from God that he literally has no chance of salvation. Faustus, of course, doesn't believe this. Although he recognizes his impending end ("What art thou, Faustus, but a man / condemned to die?"), he assumes he can have salvation at the last second, for "Christ did call the thief upon the cross," alluding to Christ's forgiving of a thief the day of Christ's (and the thief's) crucifixion (271 , lines 36 , 40). But as the sky runs with Christ's blood at Faustus' end, and as he cries out,

O, I'll leap up to my God...

See, see, where Christ's blood streams in the firmament!



One drop would save my soul, half a drop! Ah, my Christ! (277 , lines 154-156)



It becomes apparent that Faustus is doomed, unworthy of God's free grace as he is taken to Hell. His tragic end reiterates his misunderstanding of Christianity by taking out of context the passages from Romans and 1 John. If Faustus really were knowledgeable, he would have known Jesus' statement:



I tell you, whoever acknowledges me before men, the Son of Man will acknowledge him before the angels of God. But he who disowns me before men will be disowned before the angels of God. And everyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but anyone who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven. (Luke 12 : 8-10)



Faustus lived for twenty-four years completely devoted to Lucifer, the chief opposition to God, never choosing right, thus signing his eternal death warrant.



Marlowe details the life of someone who misses completely the idea of God. The Christian faith does not teach a hopeless future that was given to Faustus through his ambition and stubborn delusion of grandeur. Instead, there is hope and was for Faustus. The Good Angel appears to Faustus to tell him to return to God, because "if [Faustus] hadst given an ear to [him], / Innumerable joys [would have] followed [him]" (276 , lines 108-109 ). Also, the Old Man who comes to Faustus near his end urges him to repent, telling him to "call for mercy and avoid despair" (274 , line 65). God's power is implied to be frightfully stronger than that which Lucifer gives, as when Faustus is in Rome with the devil Mephistophilis, who says even he fears the friars' chants from God (266 , lines 95-96). Faustus continually contemplates his decision to sell his soul, whether it was right or if he has condemned himself, however, he ultimately chooses to keep his satanic pact. Marlowe emphasizes through his tragic hero that no matter how condemned and sinful one feels, there is always a chance for salvation if one is willing to see it.

Renaissance elements in Doctor Faustus Renaissance ideals vs. Medieval morals

Renaissance elements in Doctor Faustus
Renaissance ideals vs. Medieval morals

Faustus's inner turmoil gives way to the dominant meaning within the play: Medieval morals versus Renaissance ideals. Marlowe's characterization of Faustus leads one to the predominant idea of duality in society of his era in which Medieval values conflict with those of the Renaissance. His refusal to see what is fact and what is fiction is a result of his pompous persona. In his quest to become omnipotent, Faustus fails to see that there is life after death and that his material possessions are of no consequence. Faustus is a combatant in his own internal war of knowledge or salvation.

In the opening of the play Marlowe uses the chorus to announce the time, place, and most importantly, to introduce Faustus. The chorus refers to the Greek myth of Icarus while characterizing Faustus - " Till swoll'n with cunning, of self conceit,/ His waxen wings did mount above his reach/ And melting, heavens conspired his overthrow!"(Prologue. 19-21.). " His waxen wings did mount above his reach" is an ironic comparison between Icarus and Faustus. It is ironic because Icarus directly disobeys his father, which ties into the idea of moral sin. However, in Faustus' case it is disobedient to become too learned. Also, the line " heavens conspired his overthrow" could be a reference to Lucifer's attempt to overpower God. Thus, the Chorus would ultimately be making reference to Faustus attempting to outwit God. This is the contrast between Medieval and Renaissance values; the medieval world shunned all that was not Christian while the Renaissance was a re-birth of learning in which people openly questioned divinity as with much more. The chorus makes it seem that Faustus is a 'bad' man because he seeks knowledge. In essence, it portrays Faustus as a "Renaissance man who pays the medieval price for being one."

Faustus's constant struggle to explore Renaissance principles is heightened by the Good Angel and Bad Angel. The Good Angel pulls Faustus towards Medieval values. He represents Faustus's Medieval instincts: "O Faustus, lay that damned book aside/ And gaze not on it lest it tempt thy soul/ And heap God's heavy wrath upon thy head!/ Read, read the Scriptures - that is blasphemy!" ( 1.1.67-69 ). The Angel is eluding to Medieval ideals by saying that books are 'damned' and will bring 'God's heavy wrath'. 'That is blasphemy' is yet another reference to books not being of God. The Good Angel is Faustus key to salvation. Again, Faustus's inner conflict gives way to the ultimate theme of redemption and sin. While the Good Angel represents the medieval era, the Bad Angel signifies the Renaissance : "Go forward Faustus, in that famous art/ Wherein all nature's treasure is contained./... / Lord and commander of these elements!"( 1.1.71-74 ). The Bad Angel feeds Faustus's thirst for knowledge by telling him that 'all nature's treasure is contained' in his books. Going even further, the Angel tells Faustus to be 'Lord' and 'commander' of these elements ultimately telling Faustus that he could be God if he so chose. Both angels are ultimately signify duality within society. Where half are pulled towards the righteous Medieval morals and the others toward liberated Renaissance ideals.

Faustus embraces his Renaissance persona by acknowledging his life choices. In his never ending quest to obtain knowledge, Faustus conjures Helen of Troy so that he may marvel at her beauty: "Was this the face that launched a thousand ships/ And burnt the topless towers of Illium? / Sweet Helen, make me immortal with a kiss./ Her kiss suck forth my soul. See where it flies!" ( 5.1.95-99 ). Helen is an apt person for Faustus to gawk at. She was considered to be the most beautiful women in all the world. However, Faustus lives in a time and place of sexual repression. Thus, Helen represents sin and sexual freedom - an end to Medieval morals. The word 'immortal' implies that Helen's kiss allows men to live forever and that Helen herself is 'immortal'. This ironical comparison demonstrates that Faustus is still in denial about death. However, with 'Her kiss suck forth my soul', Faustus suggests that Helen has taken his life. This is ironic on many levels, most noticeably being that many men died to rescue Helen from the Trojans. In addition, Faustus is the only one responsible for his lost soul. The conjuring of Helen of Troy represents Faustus's decision to accept what he has done with his life and follow his Renaissance persona. In calling on Helen, Faustus has yielded himself to immortal sins. First and foremost, Faustus has sinned by using black magic to call on Helen. Lastly, Faustus is openly sexual with Helen of Troy. His kissing of Helen is ultimately a symbol of accepting that which has already been done and preparing to face eternal damnation.

Faustus's epic battle between Medieval morals and Renaissance ideals results in his eternal damnation. Faustus has many chances to repent, yet not once does he decided to put an end to seeking knowledge and practicing magic. His decision is ultimately a signal for the end of Medieval beliefs in 'religion being the key' and the emergence of free thinking. Faustus has been said to be "a Renaissance man who paid the Medieval price for being one" ( R.M. Dawkins). He was an intellectual in a society of ignorance imposed upon by the clergy of the Catholic Church.

Though Faustus is the tragic hero of the play one must really consider if in fact Faustus's demise is tragic. Faustus makes his own decisions and knows where they will take him to in the end. He refuses to see that heaven and hell do exist and despite the many warnings given to him about the heinousness of hell, he still follows the path of damnation Faustus's harrowing demise results in eternal damnation is tragic. Though he is a man with the charisma and courage to follow his passions in life despite the duality within society and the constant pulling of morals and ideals. Faustus is told time after time that he can still repent and save himself from the wrath of God. Several times he does in fact repent, yet because of his inner conflict he 'takes it back'. Not till Faustus utters his last words is one completely sure that Faustus's story is tragic, at best. Ultimately, he dies unhappy and still a combatant in his own internal war.

At the end we can say that in spite of being a man of medieval period, Faustus was a Renaissance man. And by his activities we find the elements of Renaissance where medieval values are buried because of the emergence of Renaissance ideals.