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.
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"...an important scholarly publication."--Renaissance Quarterly
--This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
About the Author
N. W. Bawcutt, formerly a Reader, is now Honorary Research Fellow in the Department of English at the University of Exeter
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Infinite riches in a little play,
By
This review is from: The Jew of Malta (Revels Student Editions) (Paperback)
Ok, so perhaps not infinite, but lots. Marlowe's plays are all a bit strange in their own way. The Jew of Malta is sort of like a really raw take on the issues in the Merchant of Venice (i.e. no sweet love story here). But Marlowe's Barabas gets to enjoy being bad a lot more than Shylock does, and the character is amazingly capable of perhaps not earning the reader's sympathy but extracting her complicity instead. There's some great language in this play and some spectacular misanthropy. The revels editions are always a good bet; they have enough scholarly apparatus to be of significant help and are well-edited and well laid-out on the page. This one is very thin and portable, and so it can feel like a rip-off for 9 bucks. However, the quality of the critical help here is far greater than in the Everyman collected edition of Marlowe.
2 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Not Marlowe's Best, But Still Interesting.,
This review is from: The Jew of Malta, Second Edition (New Mermaids) (Paperback)
I do not feel this matches Marlowe's "Faustus," "Massacre At Paris," "Dido Queen of Carthage," or "Edward II." But it does have some memorable features. At first, Barabas is a sympathetic character, but like many of Marlowe's characters, he goes too far and becomes detestable. Barabas' daughter Abigail is a striking figure. She initially feels sorry for her father but later sees what he has become and falls victim to her father's wickedness. Her death as a Christain in 3.6 is memorable. Ithamore is convincing as a villain who knows no honor. Ferneze is fine as the hero who eventually restores order. It's not Marlowe's best play, but it is still worth some interest.
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