Early Modern Drama · Character Archetypes

JACOMO

in The Jew of Malta — Marlowe, Christopher

Metadata

PlayThe Jew of Malta
AuthorMarlowe, Christopher
Year (catalogued)1633
First performance1589
Decade1630s
GenreTragedy
Play typeAdult Professional
CompanyUnknown
Theaterbefore the Court;Phoenix/Cockpit;Whitehall;Indoor Professional
Speech prefix(es)Ioco. | 1 Fry. | Fry. | 1. Fry. | Fry, | Io • o.
Words366
Characters1919
Typicality0.26 (cosine to cluster centroid)
TCP idA06991
BritDrama no.828
ClusterCluster 10 — Mourners, mothers & doleful voices

Important excerpts

No keyword-matching excerpt could be extracted (the cluster label doesn't share vocabulary with this character's speech).

Full speech

This is the hour wherein I shall proceed; O happy hour, wherein I shall convert And Infidel, and bring his gold into our treasury. But soft, is not this Bernardine ? it is; And understanding I should come this way, Stands here a purpose, meaning me some wrong, And intercept my going to the Jew; Bernardine ; Wilt thou not speak? thou thinkest I see thee no ; Away I'de wish thee, and let me go by: No, wilt thou not? nay then I'll force my way; And see staff stands ready for the purpose: As thou likest that, stop me another time. Good sirs I have don't, but nobody knows it but You two, I may escape. Good Barabas let me go. Villains, I am a sacred person, touch me not. Sisters, we now are almost at the new made Nun nery. But, Madam, this house And waters of this new made Nunnery Will much delight you. Hinder her not, thou man of little faith, For she has mortified her self. And is admitted to the Sisterhood. Barabas, although thou art in mis-belee e, And wilt not see thine own afflictions, Yet let thy daughter be no longer blind. O brother, brother, all the Nuns are sick, And Physic will not help them, they must die. And so did fair Maria send for me: I'll to her lodging; hereabout she lies. Exit. O brother, all the Nuns are dead, let's bury them. Why? what has he done? What h a he crucified a child? Thou hast offended, therefore must be damned. Virgo, salve. Wherein? Why Abigail it is not yet long since That I did labour thy admission, And then thou didst not Like that holy life. Who taught thee this? Abigail I will, but see, thou change no more, For that will be most heavy to thy soul. Thy father's, how? Come, shall we go? I warrant thee, Barabas. Exit What do you mean to strangle me? What, will you save my life? No doubt, brother, but this proceedeth of the spirit. But Barabas who shall be your godfathers, For presently you shall be shrived. Why stricken him that would have stroke at me.

Plot summary

Plot — The Jew of Malta
For ten years, Malta has failed to pay tribute to the Turks; now Séliml(@alymath comes to collect the arrears, but grants Bémeze, the Governor, a month to find the money. Ferneze requires the island’s Jews to contribute half their assets towards the sum, on pain of forcible conversion; but Bafabas, a wealthy merchant with trading links all over the east, refuses either to pay or to become a Christian. His entire estate is seized and his house converted to a nunnery. Unbeknown to the authorities, there is a cache of money and jewels hidden in the house; Barabas has his daughter, Abigail, become a nun in order to get access to it. After retrieving the gold, she leaves the convent, and Barabas buys a new house. The Spanish Vice-Admiral, Martin(§@elgposcs} arrives in Malta after routing the Turkish navy. He is granted permission to sell his prisoners as slaves on the island, even though this will be provocative to the Turks; Ferneze decides to keep the gold he levied to pay the tribute, and count on Spanish aid in the war that will follow. Barabas visits the slave market and buys [fiamiore; they swap stories about their exploits in villainy. A Turkish pasha comes to collect the tribute money, but Ferneze refuses to pay. War looms. Mathias and WEdGwiek both love Abigail. Barabas asks her to encourage Lodowick, even though she prefers Mathias; he doesn’t want her to marry either, but particularly wants to destroy Lodowick to get revenge on Ferneze, his father. He tells Mathias of Lodowick’s interest, and forges a challenge from Lodowick. The two young men fight and kill one another. When Abigail finds out what has happened, she rejoins the nunnery. Barabas adopts Ithamore as his heir and sends the nuns an anonymous gift of poisoned rice. They all die; Abigail’s last act is to confess to Friar Barnardine her 1589 father’s part.in the deaths of Mathias and Lodowick. Barmardine and Friarjacom try to exploit the power this knowledge gives them over Barabas, without explicitly revealing it (which is forbidden under canon law). Barabas sets enmity between them by pretending he wishes to join a religious order and give that order his money; the two friars vie with one another to offer him an easier life, and he promises himself to both. He and Ithamore strangle Barnardine with his own girdle and stand up the body as if alive; it falls down when Jacomo strikes it, and he is hanged for the murder. With fewer visitors coming to Malta, there has been a slackening in trade…