Character Sketch of Barabas in The Jew of Malta

Zuher
Published on Feb 15, 2022
Introduction
Barabas is the most notable protagonist of the play, The Jew of Malta, which entirely revolves around him. Barabas gets his name through a Biblical thief Barabbas who is caught in a Jewish crowd and is given two choices of either Jesus or him to leave. Barabas, in the play, is given only one choice, conversion to Christianity to reclaim his confiscated wealth. Mr. Jew practices the best pursuit of his policies but his intrigues reflect back upon him and appear as one of the causes behind his tragedy.

A Successful Businessman
[A little historical context here] During the reign of King Edward I, all the Jews, living in England were expelled and excommunicated because of their religion until 1656 when they were remitted. This play takes place in 1592 so Mr. Jew is located in Malta instead of England [fun fact: the author is himself from the land of Faerie Queene]. Barabas makes his living through the business of ships and money-lending. Money-lending was prohibited in Christians at that time so Barabas got an advantageous point. In Act 1 Scene 1, we see Barabas interrogating about his ships, coming from different lands including Persia, Spain, Greece and other well-known continents with gold, pearls, opals, topaz and wine brought in return. His bags of gold are so "well crammed" that the wealth of all the people of Malta combined cannot reach near the line of his amassed treasure.

Read the remaining article: https://iasad1.blogspot.com/2020/06/character-of-Barabas-in-The-Jew-of-Malta.html

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