The Jew of Malta

The Jew of Malta
Title page of the 1633 quarto
Written by	Christopher Marlowe
Characters	Barabas Abigail Ithamore Ferneze Don Lodowick Don Mathias Katharine
Date premiered	c. 1590
Place premiered	London
Original language	Early Modern English
Subject	Jews, greed, antisemitism, revenge
Genre	Revenge tragedy
Setting	Malta, 1565

The Jew of Malta (full title: The Famous Tragedy of the Rich Jew of Malta) is a play by Christopher Marlowe, written in 1589 or 1590. The plot primarily revolves around a Maltese Jewish merchant named Barabas. The original story combines religious conflict, intrigue, and revenge, set against a backdrop of the struggle for supremacy between Spain and the Ottoman Empire in the Mediterranean that takes place on the island of Malta. There has been extensive debate about the play's portrayal of Jews and how Elizabethan audiences would have viewed it.