[NOTE: A brief trailer for the Royal Shakespeare Company's production of The Jew of Malta...note how several people say how "funny" is was!]
Answer TWO of the
following:
Q1: When Abigail decides
to become a nun for the second time, Barabas goes off on a rant, proclaiming
her “False, credulous, inconstant Abigail!” (197). He then hatches a plan which
sounds like his boasts from Act 2, Scene 3: he decides to poison the entire nunnery
with poisoned pottage. Does his broken heart drive him mad in this scene? Does
he love Abigail even more than his gold? Or is he simply too vain to accept
that anyone could choose a life apart from him? How does this confirm or
complicate Barabas’ character?
Q2: Acts 3 and 4 most
closely resemble the plot and tragic-comic elements of Titus Andronicus much
more than Dr. Faustus. Where do we see echoes of this later play, that
might prove Shakespeare studied it closely when writing his own, and/or worked with
Marlowe in writing it?
Q3: Barabas is a master
dissembler, not only in lying but in manipulating different roles throughout
the course of the play. Discuss a scene where his language ‘clothes’ him in a
different character: how does it impress the characters around him? Do they buy
his performance? Do we?
Q1: This scene confirmed to me that Barabas is very vain. He only used Abigail to further his plan for vengeance. He thinks he is the best and has no feelings whatsoever for his daughter or anyone else. He killed both of her suitors after he told her show them equal favor. He KNEW she loved Mathias, and he still put his death in motion. I think he thought that Abigail would never find out about his part in the plan, and if she happened to find out, would be okay with it. He said on 297 that because she knew of his "device in Don Mathias' and Lodovico's deaths" and asked him to repent, she "varies from [him] in belief". I think Barabas sees Abigail as a pawn and now that she knows what he did, he has to tie up the loose ends.
ReplyDeleteQ3: In Act 4 Scene 1, he tells Ithamore that he "must dissemble"(306). Due to his aside, the audience is already prepared for his trickery. Even so, he does it so well that, when reading the following monologue, I got caught up in his lies as well. He is very easy to believe because he uses all the right language and emotions within his speeches. The Friars absolutely believed him when he said he wanted to convert to Christianity in this scene. I think that this belief in him was helped along by his descriptions of his wealth and promise that whoever converted him could have all of it for themselves and their church. The friars stumbled over and fought each other to convert Barabas, regardless of his faults. This also shows the corruption in even the most devout people.
Great response: I think Barabas thinks of Abigail as a treasure, part of his gold--and indeed, he talks of selling her as a diamond to Lodovico. She has no right to sell herself to anyone else without his consent, and the betrayal unhinges him. I think he imagines his gold and his daughter being equally devoted to him, and has nightmares about them both running off together (which happens in Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice--coming soon!).
Deletehelpful
Delete1.) Barabas has absolutely no sympathy for killing his daughter. He thinks it's right for her to be killed and condemned to Hell. He doesn't feel bad at ALL for killing all of the nuns. He feels like, apart from his way of life, there is no way of life. He used Abigail from the beginning anyways to get stuff that he needed. And when she finally realizes what he did to her love, Mathias, she confessed everything - causing her ultimate death.
ReplyDelete3.) Barabas is a very manipulating character. I honestly think he's just full of shit the entire time. He claims to give Ithamore his wealth and house and all that. He claims to the Friars that he will convert to Christianity (Haha). He fills Mathias and Lodowick with lies, to make them both believe that Abigail is in love with both of them - making them kill each other. This event was the first thing to give me insight to what type of person Barabas is - which is not a good impression.
Yes, he's full of it--because he loves to "dissemble," or in another word, act for a willing audience. He knows what to say and when to say it, and since he lies/acts so often, we never know when to believe him or which performance is the "real" Barabas. But the scene with Ithamore is so comically absurd that it's clear this is a performance, too, in order to get Ithamore to take the bait.
DeleteQ1. I think that this is a great example of how vain Barabas is, and furthers our dislike of his character. We are also able to see the true goodness of Abigaill as she continually does what her father wishes. Barabas's use of his daughter allows us to feel little simpathy for his loss, as he kills his daughter and all of the nuns, but allows us to more clearly see that his only real love is money. We do however feel great sympathy towards Abigall as, even in her last breathes, she attempts to be good. We also feel for her as her love Mathias is murdered, and in turn furthering our dislike of Barabas. This whole scene reminded me of Romeo and Juliet in the way of the feud leading to the demise of both lovers.
ReplyDeleteQ3. In Act 4 Scene 1 we see that Barabas pretends to play stupid with the friars. We see him lie and make a great speech about nothing but his money. At the end of his speech the friars seem to have forgotten of all his sins are readily willing to forgive him and accept him because of his money. While we all know that church officials were not innocent at this time, Barabas's ability to so easily sway them, causing them to physically fight over him, is amazing. It speaks to great lengths about Barabas's ability to speak to his audience, and once again his ability to move amongst groups, such as religious peoples, nobility, and servants...
Great responses...I think Abigail is a great case in point. She's trying to be a good tragic heroine, and she even dies in the right way: nobly, doing the right thing. But this is a comedy, and the friar undercuts his death speech by claiming he wish he had seduced her before she died. Also, Barabas seems gloriously unaffected by her death and keeps on plotting revenge--but more for his money and position than for his lost daughter. Yet there's not much at stake here, so we're not worried or shocked by his conduct. He's just an actor having fun with a role, and in a world where everyone is so two-faced and hypocritical, it ceases to be about race and becomes about the entire human race.
DeleteQ2: The largest similarity to Titus Andronicus is the “death scene”. Barabas appears disguised as a French fiddler, much like Titus’s chef outfit. He then proceeds to kill everyone in a manner that is even more anti-climactic than Titus. There is much less emphasis on death in this scene. Titus prefaces his actions with a morbid discussion with Saturninus. Barabas does nothing of the sort with his victims. This scene is just as anti-climactic, but much funnier.
ReplyDeleteQ3: Barabas changes character several times. Two of the most obvious are during his conversation with Ithamore, and his brief stint as a French fiddler. Barabas’ boastful and murderous persona is much more believable than his fiddler ruse. This is mostly because he is pretending to be serious while bragging to Ithamore; the fiddler scene is purely comical, and thus, less believable.
Yes, it is like the Titus death scene, but played for laughs, and not as macabre or unsettling. Titus starts out this way, but somehow goes off the tracks, becoming full of mayhem and bombast. Marlowe, on the contrary. is more interested in the silliness of the plot, and wants every strand of it to really play out for the audience. He never lets the language run away with him the way Shakespeare does, particularly in his early plays.
DeleteMarilyn Kull
ReplyDeleteQ1: At this point, Barabas is so obsessed with what he list that he doesn't care for Abigail. She was a mode for obtaining some of his wealth back. Much like the scenes where Faustus would proclaim himself as being so knowledgeable and mighty, Barabas is doing the same by gloating admit his wealth throughout the play. His daughter was ultimately no more important, especially because she abandoned the religion that had caused him such heartache. Her return to the nunnary is like a final stab to Barabas.
Q3: Barabas play's the role of a French musician during act 4. His foolery is reading noticed by the audience, but the play runs it's course without notice. Perhaps if the characters had been familiar with French they could have noticed, but they are as much fold as they are knowledgeable. Instead of knowing he streaks false French, out that he is coming then with bad English, our two "masterminds" fall victim to his plan as well.
Right, Abigail is just a possession, and like his gold, ought to stay where it belongs--not in the hands of a Christian! Though he might have some love for her, the betrayal is more that she exposed his plans than that she left his side. Because that threatens to lose him even more gold and power, and he's played nice for far too long with the Christians in Malta to lose that!
DeleteElyse Marquardt
ReplyDeleteQ1) Abigall has just betrayed Barabas's entire plan of action. His myopia made him think he could trust her to keep his plot secret, so when she suddenly has a heart and confesses his wicked schemes, he is shocked. It seems that he only decides to kill her and the whole nunnery because he is angry and wants to take revenge, like a selfish child who wants to terrorize the whole playground because one kid took his toy. This only confirms his character of a selfish, angry, but incredibly intelligent villain. In one sense, Marlowe is having Barabas live up to Jewish stereotypes; but by making him brilliantly clever, Marlowe is also defining those stereotypes.
Q3) Barabas performs brilliantly when he pretends to become a Christian for the sake of revenge on the two friars. His speech "To fast, to pray, and wear a shirt of hair..." is moving as he promises all of his wealth to the religious house wherein he will soon live. This performance does not shock US, since we have witnessed his playacting at previous times. But to the other characters, his speech is true and they become enchanted by his deception.
Elyse Marquardt
Yes, the beauty of this play is that we've seen him act and then tell us he's acting, so we expect every performance when it comes. And how many performances he gives us! He's both eloquent and sadistic, silly and seductive, and always cold and calculating. He's so fun to watch because you know you can't take him seriously, and yet, he's willing to do anything--and kill anyone--for a few more pieces of gold.
Delete1. To be honest, it's hard to say, solely because the play reads more like a comedy than anything. Barabas' reaction is over the top and crazy-which makes it hilarious. I'm not sure if he loves his daughter as much as he does his wealth. I mean, I'm sure he loves his his daughter, but if he had to choose between gold and his daughter well... Sorry Abigail, time is money. He's also really petty, or perhaps falling into the 'evil Jew' role he's built up a little too well. It's really hard to say.
ReplyDelete3. I'd argue that he tailors his language every time he speaks to someone else if he believes it would benefit him. Whether it is tricking the Friar's to letting him go free, convincing Ithamore that he is a murderous fiend, and even managing to pretend to be a French musician. It's hilarious because we know, most of the time, that Barabas is lying. We may not necessarily buy it totally, like the French musician part, but we're more than willing to play along if only just to laugh a little harder. Everyone in the play buys is, which is a hallmark of comedy shows (or shows with a humorous tint to it).
Yes, great responses; this is a play about acting, and how much life is like a great play (or a comedy), with everyone trying to assassinate and betray one another for money and power. Act V is full of this, so you never know who trusts whom and if anyone can trust anyone, Jew or Christian alike. Barabas is one of the best actors in Malta, but ultimately, even he doesn't possess the complete script, and so fails to see his exit in the final act!
DeleteQ1: Barabas could easily be described as a man who intends and expects to get what he wants, and when Abigail defies him once again and decides to become a nun, he throws a fit, and his murderous tendencies take over. He decides to kill all the nuns, and with that he shows no discrimination, and kills his daughter as well. I think the very fact that he decided to murder Abigail clearly shows that he didn’t love her more than his gold. This complicates Barabas’ character because there is really no way to figure him out. We are made to think he is capable of care and love, but quickly we are shown that that love does not transfer from his riches to the people around him.
ReplyDeleteQ4: The comedic factor enters this scene when Barabas disguises himself as a French musician, complete with a bad French accent and everything. Barabas strategically keeps in his hat a posy that he had poisoned prior to arriving, somehow knowing that Bellamira would request to smell it. One line that I thought was hilarious was after Barabas said (in aside) that the scent of the flower was death, Ithamore ordered him to continue playing or he would “cut his cat’s guts into chitterlings.” The situation as well as the horrible French accent that Marlowe takes the time to actually spell out is what makes this scene so humorous and over-the-top. I don’t think the comedy threatens the idea of the “tragedy of a Jew”, it simply gives diversity to the play. When one thinks of a tragedy, they usually think sadness, loss, and death. The added humor only strengthens the play’s appeal
Great responses...as you suggest, this is more like our own movies, where even a serious film has humor, and where action films are often so ridiculous we don't know whether to take them seriously at all (like most of the Marvel movies). ONce we realize this, the play becomes not only less offensive, but more enjoyable, since it's making fun of everything: race, hypocrisy, morals, and even plays themselves. You never quite know what Marlowe's true intent is, other than making us enjoy an evening at the theater.
DeleteDaniel Bonar
ReplyDeleteQ3: in Act 2 Scene 3, Barabas goes on a 27 line bender bragging about his supposed exploits of debauchery to Ithamore. Before this we haven’t really seen this side of Barabas, only the greedy side. I think that he does convince Ithamore that he has done all these things, however I’m not entirely convinced because I don’t think someone can kill that much and come away sane.
Q4: This scene is funny because of how obvious it would be to anyone in real life who Barabas is. His awful French accent and violin antics remind me of the
Marx brothers movies. If you go into this play expecting it to be serious, yes you could say it “ruins” the prologue, but if you look at it like the Marx brother’s “Night at the Opera” you’ll realize that this is meant to be a commentary on how absurd the world around us truly is.
Ha, I like your description: "a 27-line bender." That's how it reads, isn't it? I think he's more acting than boasting, playing just another role for Ithamore's benefit. However, before long, he actually has to make good on his malice, and so poisons the entire nunnery. Yet I think his daughter's betrayal unhinges him and makes him start believing he's a tragic hero...and so begins his downfall.
DeleteQ1: believe Barabas is tied up with his own vanity so much that he must prove to Abigail that leaving him is the worst thing she could do to him. His character is confirmed by his actions where he weighs his own image and greed over the lives of the nuns.
ReplyDeleteQ3: The comedy of a disguised character being gossiped about to his face and poising someone with a flower would be hilarious when staged. The atmosphere of drinking would lend itself perfectly to this scene and not retract from the play but give us a more close view of reality in the play. the "tragedy of the Jew" is brought to the surface because we see that he is being paid by his own money and being made a fool by his own servant, Ithamore, a conman, and a courtesan.
Good responses; yes, as you suggest, the tragedy here is how Barabas tries to fool the town and is fooled in turn. He loses his money even as he plots to preserve it. He's following rules that everyone else has read and is following in turn. So everyone turns on each other, erasing the distinction between Christian, Jew, and everything in-between.
DeleteQ2: In act 4, Barabas visits Ithamore, Bellamira, and Pilia-Borza dressed as a Frenchman. Completely oblivious to Barabas' disguise, he succeeds as poisoning them all in a cold and off-putting sort of way. This scene is quite ridiculous and not quite as tragic as its contents would leave you to believe upon first glance - much like Shakespeare's Titus Andronicus. In Titus, there is a scene in which Titus dresses up as a chef and succeeds at killing the guests at his party. This cruel, and ridiculous fashion in which our main character goes on a killing spree immediately made me think of the dark humor each of these plays represents.
ReplyDeleteQ4: Referring back to Act 4, Scene 4, I believe that having an anti-hero dressed as a Frenchman, speaking in a really rough, funny foreign accent would lend itself extremely well onstage. Perhaps it might threaten the comedy to someone who is taking this play at face value, but I think back in its time, The Jew of Malta wasn't taken nearly as seriously as we take it due to it being a "classic." If anything, this humor brings us back to the idea that these aren't people to admire or feel sorry for - but to laugh at.
Shelby Pletcher
Great responses...as you suggest, this play really was kind of a comedy for its day. It wasn't meant to be all serious, and just as many of our horror movies are full of comedy, so, too, this play is shot through with farce to lighten the more serious moments. Or maybe Marlowe never took any of this too seriously?
DeleteQ1: Abigail is an interesting character when you think about what Marlowe is trying to accomplish through her. I think that she helps the audience lose sympathy for Barabas, if they have any. She seems to break away from Judaism by choosing a Christian suitor and also turning against her father. She even says, "witness that I die a Christian." Meanwhile, Barabas seems to cling to his Jewish stereotypes by pursuing his wealth above all else.
ReplyDeleteQ2: I think that it is interesting that Marlowe and Shakespeare both show fathers who are more concerned with their own pursuits than their daughters. This makes me think that Shakespeare must have seen potential in Barabas's character and it turn, made Titus resemble him in many ways. Titus uses Lavinia to gain revenge and glory for himself and ultimately kills her, and Barabas uses Abigail to get his gold and then decides to feed her poisoned rice. Titus plays dumb in order to best Tamora, and Barabas pretends to be a Christian and fools the friars, etc.. The more I read, the more similarities I see.
Great responses...and you'll see more similarities between Barabas and Shylock when we begin The Merchant of Venice. The question is, does Shylock become a more human Barabas, or are they virtually the same character in two different plays?
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