Name: The Jew of Malta
Price: 756.00 TWD
Availability: InStock
Author: Christopher Marlowe
ISBN: 9781904271758

Type

Physical Book

Author

Illustrated by

Other

Publisher

Year

2021

Language

English

Pages

344

Format

Paperback

Dimensions

19.6 x 12.7 x 2.0 cm

Weight

0.36 kg.

ISBN13

9781904271758

Synopsis "The Jew of Malta"

The Jew of Malta, written around 1590, can present a challenge for modern audiences. Hugely popular in its day, the play swings wildly and rapidly in genre, from pointed satire, to bloody revenge tragedy, to melodrmatic intrigue, to dark farce and grotesque comedy. Although set in the Mediterranean island of Malta, the play evokes contemporary Elizabethan social tensions, especially the highly charged issue of London's much-resented community of resident merchant foreigners. Barabas, the enormously wealthy Jew of the play's title, appears initially victimized by Malta's Christian Governor, who quotes scripture to support the demand that Jews cede their wealth to pay Malta's tribute to the Turks. When he protests, Barabas is deprived of his wealth, his means of livelihood, and his house, which is converted to a nunnery. In response to this hypocritical extortion, Barabas launches a horrific (and sometimes hilarious) course of violence that goes well beyond revenge, using murderous tactics that include everything from deadly soup to poisoned flowers. The play's sometimes complex treatment of anti-Semitism and its relationship to Shakespeare's Merchant of Venice remain matters of continuing scholarly reflection.

Christopher Marlowe

(Author)

View Author's Page

Christopher Marlowe (1564-1593) was an Elizabethan playwright, poet, and translator. His life remains a great mystery surrounded by all sorts of legends. He was born in Canterbury the same year as William Shakespeare into a prosperous middle-class family. He studied at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, where he earned a Bachelor of Arts in 1584 and completed his Master's in 1587. Initially, Cambridge authorities were reluctant to grant him the degree because they suspected he had converted to Catholicism, but the Queen's Privy Council intervened on his behalf, emphasizing that Marlowe "had rendered good service to Her Majesty" and had been working for the "benefit of the country." However, the exact nature of the service he provided to the crown is unknown. After his years in Cambridge, Marlowe moved to London where he led a dark and turbulent life (he had a couple of run-ins with the law and had a bad reputation) while trying to make his way as a playwright.

He is the author of seven plays and an incomplete poem: the two parts of Tamburlaine the Great, The Jew of Malta, Edward II, Doctor Faustus, Dido, Queen of Carthage, and The Massacre at Paris, as well as the poem Hero and Leander. In 1593, at just twenty-nine years old, he was arrested and accused of being an atheist. He did not go to prison, and before his case was judged, he died during a brawl in a tavern in Deptford.

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