The Complete Plays

by Christopher Marlowe

  And yet I’ll give her many a golden cross,

  With Christian posies round about the ring. (2.3.295–300)

  The crosses here are pointedly secular, stamped onto the coins of the dowry, and the posies fit equally the mottoes on coins and wedding-rings. And, of course, the promise is false. Barabas is a deceiver, and neither characters nor audience can be sure what can be taken for granted, what is stereotypical ‘Jewish’ custom and what malicious improvisation (Barabas turning into the air, Abigail’s ‘modesty’).

  Structurally, the play is built out of the double deceits Barabas calls ‘crossbiting’ (4.3.13). He sets Lodowick against Mathias, Friar Jacomo against Friar Barnadine, just as the Knights try to play Spain off against the Turks. Barabas poisons the nuns with what looks like a charitable offering, killing his own daughter with a biblically ambivalent mess of pottage (for which Esau sold his birthright to the deceiver Jacob, Genesis 25). He deceives Ithamore with the promise of making him his heir (‘I’ll pay thee with a vengeance, Ithamore’, 3.4.117); Ithamore turns against him, gulled in his turn by Bellamira and Pilia-Borza. Barabas poisons them all with flowers, and then, in a crowning deception, fakes his own death. The discrepancy between the frenzied intrigue and the strange, unsettling reflections it implies about Christianity and its inheritance from Judaism is marked. In the end Barabas is caught in his own trap, caught out by the subtler ‘policy’ of the Christians.

  DRAMATIS PERSONAE

  BARABAS (accented on the first syllable) In the New Testament, Barabbas was a murderer (Mark 15:7, Luke 2.3:19), and a thief (John 18:40) who was released by Pilate instead of Jesus.

  ABIGALL In the Geneva Bible, the catalogue of proper names translates Abigail as ‘the father’s joy’, but the spelling here hints at the way her actions gall her father. Hunter 1964 argues that the Old Testament Abigail (I Samuel 25) was regarded as an archetype of a Jew who converted to Christianity.

  ITHAMORE Perhaps recalling Ithamar, the son of Aaron (Exodus 6:23).

  FERNEZE Grand Master of the Knights of Malta, perhaps recalling the aristocratic Italian Farnese family.

  CALYMATH Also called Selim Calymath, probably in allusion to Selim, the son of Süleyman the Magnificent (ruled 1520–66) who was Sultan of Turkey during the siege of Malta in 1565.

  PILIA-BORZA From the Italian pigliaborza, ‘pick-purse’.

  THE DEDICATORY EPISTLE

  0.1 Thomas Hammon: Probably the Thomas Hammon who was born c. 1592, and matriculated at Christ’s College, Cambridge, in 1608; he entered Gray’s Inn in 1611, to become a barrister in 1617. Thomas Heywood had previously dedicated two of his own plays, The Fair Maid of the West (part two, 1631) and The Iron Age (part one, 1632), to him.

  3 Master Alleyn: Edward Alleyn (1566–1626), the famous tragedian who also played the parts of Tamburlaine, Faustus and Barabas.

  5 Cock-pit: The private Drury Lane theatre, also known as ‘The Phoenix’.

  19 Tuissimus: Latin, your very own.

  THE PROLOGUE SPOKEN AT COURT

  8 a sound Machevill: A true Machiavel.

  THE PROLOGUE TO THE STAGE, AT THE COCK-PIT

  5 Hero and Leander: Marlowe’s narrative poem, which was pub lished with a continuation by George Chapman in 1598.

  12 Perkins: Richard Perkins (d. 1650), the Jacobean and Caroline actor who played Barabas for the play’s revival.

  14 condition: (i) Temperament, (ii) status, birth.

  PROLOGUE

  1 SP MACHEVIL: I.e. Machiavelli, but so spelt as almost to turn him into a Morality character. He was popularly depicted by Elizabethans as an unscrupulous atheist.

  3 the Guise: Henri de Lorraine, the third duke of Guise, who oversaw the slaughter of French Protestants (Huguenots) at the Massacre of St Bartholomew in 1572. He was killed on 23 December 1588 by order of the French king, Henri III. The villain of The Massacre at Paris.

  4 this land: I.e. England.

  6 guard me from… tongues: I.e. don’t refer to me openly. In the Morality-play Respublica (1.1.12–15 ), Avarice remarks on his fol lowers’ reluctance to acknowledge him by name.

  8 weigh: (Here) esteem.

  12 Peter’s chair: I.e. the papacy.

  16 Birds… murders past: Possibly an allusion to the Greek poet Ibycus, whose murder was revealed by a flight of cranes. Machevil scoffs at the notion that murders cannot remain hidden.

  19 Caesar: Machiavelli contended that Julius Caesar was a tyrant because he acquired power by violence rather than by legal right (Discourses 1.29).

  21 the Draco’s: The laws of Draco (for Q’s Drancus ) were notoriously severe. See (N).

  22 citadel: Machiavelli expressed divers views regarding the use of citadels: in The Art of War (VII) he gave instructions on building them; in The Prince (XX), he maintained that citadels provided limited protection for a ruler when confronted with civil disobedience, but are inadequate against foreign intruders; in Discourses (II.24) their use is categorically denounced. Bawcutt 1978 notes, however, that the anti-Machiavellian tradition treats them as a standard device of the Machiavellian tyrant.

  24–6 Phalaris… envy: The Sicilian tyrant Phalaris’ reputation for a love of literature depended on the false attribution to him of a book of letters. He was overthrown not, as Machevil implies, through ‘great ones’ envy’, but in a popular rising at Agrigentum, and was burned alive in the bronze bull which he had used to dispatch his own victims – a fate which perhaps anticipates Barabas’s (N).

  26 Of: Because of.

  petty wights: Common people.

  27 Let… pitièd: Proverbial. ‘It is better to be envied than pitied’ (Tilley E177).

  29 Britainy: This common Elizabethan variant spelling is metrically preferable to Q’s Britaine.

  33 grace: Honour, favour.

  35 favours: (i) Resembles, (ii) takes my part, is on my side. Proverbially paired with ‘grace’.

  ACT 1

  Scene 1

  0.1–0.2 SD It is likely that Barabas’s counting-house occupies a discovery-space, concealed by a curtain which is drawn by Machevil as he leaves the stage.

  1–3 So that… satisfied: Barabas takes great satisfaction in the huge profits from his most recent financial venture.

  3 summed and satisfied: Tallied up and settled.

  4 Samnites: Emended from Q’s Samintes. Mentioning the Samnites (N), an ancient central Italian tribe, in the same line as the biblical ‘men of Uz’ (N), emphasizes the extent of Barabas’s commercial empire.

  8 Well fare: May they fare well.

  11 Tell: Count.

  13 Would make… coin: Would think such a sum of money miraculous.

  21–32 The wealthy… captivity: The delight in precious stones may be a traditional feature of the caricature stage Jew, as in the late-medieval Croxton Play of the Sacrament.

  21 eastern rocks: The mountains of India, famed for their precious minerals.

  29 indifferently rated: Impartially valued.

  34–5 frame… from: Arrange in a way which is distinct from.

  36–7 enclose… little room: Perhaps a parody of the traditional conception of Christ within the womb of the Virgin.

  39 peers: Points.

  halcyon’s bill: Stuffed halcyons (a species of kingfisher) were used as weathervanes.

  49 riding… road: Riding at anchor in the roadstead.

  52 custom them: Pay the customs duties.

  57 as I: As if I.

  62 The very custom barely: ‘Even the customs duties alone’ (Bawcutt 1978).

  68 there’s somewhat come: ‘At least something has arrived safely’ (Bawcutt 1978).

  74 Where Nilus… main: Where the Nile flows into (contributes its waters to) the sea.

  79 crazèd: (Here) unseaworthy.

  80 they are wise: They think they know best.

  82 loading: Bill of lading.

  90–91 they coasted… businesses: They sailed by Crete (‘Candy’) for oils and other goods.

  93 Without… conduct:
I.e. without an escort (which protected against pirates).

  94 wafted: Escorted.

  103–4 the blessings… happiness: An allusion to the covenant between God and Abraham (Genesis 17:1–22). See also Exodus 6:1–8 and Galatians 3:16.

  109 substance: Wealth (cargo).

  successful blasts: Propitious winds.

  110 happiness: Good fortune.

  114 fruits… faith: The fruits of faith are a New Testament commonplace, e.g. Matthew 7:16–20.

  116 profession: Professed religion.

  117 Haply: Perhaps.

  hapless: (i) Unfortunate, (ii) poor.

  119 scattered nation: The diaspora was seen as a consequence of the curse in Deuteronomy 28:25.

  120 scambled up: (i) Competed fiercely, (ii) sought money rapaciously.

  122 Kirriah Jairim: The name of an Old Testament city (I Chronicles 2:50–53), here given to a person.

  123 Obed: The name of the son of Boaz and Ruth (Ruth 4:17–22).

  Bairseth: An unclear reference; possibly a variation of Baaseiah (I Chronicles 6:40) (Bawcutt 1978).

  Nones: Probably alluding to Hector Nuñez (1521–91), the Portuguese physician, merchant and head of the Marrano (Jewish convert) community in London.

  134 charge: Expenses.

  138 of policy: As a matter of expediency.

  146 they: I.e. the Maltese governors.

  162 With whom: Against whom.

  attempted: Launched attacks.

  169 Provide him: Prepare himself.

  fashion: Fashion’s.

  170 state: Condition.

  174 Zaareth… Temainte: Possibly reminiscent of Zophar the Naamathite, and Eliphaz the Temanite, two of Job’s comforters (Job 2:11).

  187 Ego… proximus: I am always closest to myself (adapted from Terence, Andria 4.1.12).

  Scene 2

  0.1 SD Governor: Q’s reading, Governors (also at lines 10,17, 27, 32 and 129), is most likely attributable to compositorial error, but may indicate that Marlowe did not originally give Ferneze the prominence he has later in the play.

  0.2 SD BASHAWS: Pashas, or Turkish army officers. The form Basso[es] is used interchangeably.

  2 Knights of Malta: The Knights of St John of Jerusalem who were based in Malta from 1530 onward.

  9 consider: Show consideration for.

  11 my father’s cause: I.e. the Sultan of Turkey’s business.

  13 leave: Permission (to talk privately amongst themselves).

  15 send: Give orders.

  22 That’s more… commission: That is more than we are authorized to do.

  23 Callapine: The Bashaw appears to share the name of Bajazeth’s son in Tamburlaine Part Two.

  25–6 ’tis more… constraint: Proverbial. ‘It is better to obtain by love than force’ (Tilley L487).

  45 there’s more… so: There’s more to it than that.

  47 cast: Calculated.

  cannot compass it: Cannot manage it.

  64 Who… heaven: Christian anti-Semitism was based on the belief that the Jews had accepted responsibility for the death of Christ and in consequence were an accursed race (cf. Matthew 27:25).

  91 Corpo di Dio!: Italian, body of God!

  97–8 particularly thine… multitude: An echo of John 11:50: ‘it is expedient for us, that one man die for the people, and that the whole nation perish not’ (Geneva Bible).

  105 Of naught… made: Proverbial (Tilley N285).

  108 your first curse: See line 64n. above.

  117 The man… live: Cf. Proverbs 10:2 and 12:28.

  121 profession: (i) Barabas’s Jewish faith, (ii) his commercial activities.

  136 other: Other Jews.

  137 take order… residue: Make arrangements about the rest.

  152 And therefore… wrong: And so don’t try to make fine distinctions between equally evil acts.

  159 if… day: If we fail to pay the tribute on time.

  160 simple policy: The strategy of a simpleton.

  161 policy: Trickery (playing on the previous line).

  162 simplicity: Honesty (picking up on ‘simple’ in line 160).

  163 plagues of Egypt: Cf. Exodus 7–12.

  165 Primus Motor: Latin, Prime Mover, God.

  182–6 I wot… She-asses: Cf. Job 1:3: ‘His substance also was seven thousand sheep, and three thousand camels, and five hundred yoke of oxen, and five hundred she asses’ (Geneva Bible).

  187 indifferent rate: Fair price.

  193–6 Thy fatal… eyes: Cf. Job 3:1–10, ‘Afterward Job opened his mouth, and cursed his day. And Job cried out, and said, Let the day perish, wherein I was born, and the night when it was said, There is a man-child conceived. Let that day be darkness, let not God regard it from above, neither let the light shine upon it, but let darkness, and the shadow of death stain it, let the cloud remain upon it, and let them make it fearful as a bitter day… Because it shut not up the doors of my mother’s womb: nor hid sorrow from mine eyes’ (Geneva Bible).

  197–9 For only… me: Cf. Job 7:3: ‘So have I had as an inheritance the months of vanity, and painful nights have been appointed unto me’ (Geneva Bible).

  208 ’Tis in… I speak: Cf. Job, 7:11: ‘Therefore I will not spare my mouth, but will speak in the trouble of my spirit, and muse in the bitterness of my mind’ (Geneva Bible).

  216 for: Because.

  220 mould: (i) Mould, (ii) earth, clay.

  222 A reaching thought: I.e. one who has foresight.

  223 cast: Forecast.

  237–8 things past recovery… exclamations: Proverbial (Tilley C921).

  239 sufferance breeds ease: Proverbial (Tilley S955).

  240–41 And time… turn: ‘And time, which cannot help us in this sudden crisis, may give us an opportunity to do something later on’ (Bawcutt 1978).

  267 put me… shifts: Leave me to my own devices.

  283 precise: Strict in religious observance.

  285 Entreat ’em fair: Be civil to them.

  289–90 As good… dissemble it: It makes no difference whether you dissemble from the start or only later when you have lost your faith.

  291–2 A counterfeit… hypocrisy: I.e. a Jew’s false profession of Christianity is better than the secret hypocrisy of Christians. Barabas does not entertain the possibility that any religious faith could be sincere.

  309 waters: Water supply; perhaps Barabas’s house has ponds and fountains.

  312 you, happy virgins’ guide: Although the text does not specify, Abigail perhaps addresses the First Friar, who is guiding the nuns.

  315 The hopeless daughter… Jew: Cf. Kyd, The Spanish Tragedy: ‘The hopeless father of a hapless son’ (4.4.84).

  324 labouring: Troubled, distraught.

  325 proceedeth… spirit: Comes about through the agency of the Holy Ghost.

  326 moving spirit: The friar puns on the previous line, implying that Abigail is sexually alluring.

  333 profit: In both spiritual and economic senses.

  336 What mak’st thou: What are you doing?

  339 mortified herself: Become dead to worldly values.

  347 ,353 markèd thus: The obelus (†) printed in Q after ‘thus’ indicates that Barabas ironically makes a gesture resembling the sign of the cross.

  Scene 3

  9 in a dump: Despondent, depressed.

  16 metamorphized nun: Turned into a nun.

  21 countermured: Fortified with a double wall. The emendation of Q’s countermin’d is supported by the ‘walls of brass’. Cf. 5.3.8n.

  27 or it shall go hard: Unless really bad luck prevents me.

  ACT 2

  Scene 1

  0.1 SD with a light: Indicating a nocturnal scene.

  1 presaging raven: Ravens were believed to be omens of death.

  2 passport: Permit allowing one to pass from life to death.

  12–13 O Thou… shades: Cf. Exodus 13:21–2.

  19.1 SD above: I.e. on the balcony.

  25 wealth: Days of prosperity.

/>   winter’s tales: Fantastic tales.

  31 Now that: Now would that.

  39 Bueno… no era: Spanish, my gain was not good for everybody.

  47–54 O my girl… bliss: Cf. the report of Shylock’s passion over the loss of his gold and his daughter in The Merchant of Venice (2.8.15–22).

  53 practise thy enlargement: Devise your freedom.

  61 for: In place of.

  64 Hermoso… dineros: Spanish, beautiful pleasure of money.

  Scene 2

  7 Catholic king: The King of Spain.

  11 Turkish: Q’s Spanish is clearly erroneous.

  14 luffed and tacked: Del Bosco’s ship outmanoeuvred the Turkish galleys by sailing against the wind (‘luffed’) and zig-zagging (‘tacked’). Dyce’s emendation makes nautical sense of Q’s left, and tooke.

  15 fired: Destroyed by fire.

  23 tributary league: A truce requiring the payment of tribute.

  27 he: The Turk.

  31–2 The Christian… here: The Knights of St John were removed from Rhodes in 1522 by Süleyman the Magnificent, but later settled in Malta in 1530 by order of Charles V.

  38 them: Q’s you makes a threat of Del Bosco’s reassurance.

  Scene 3

  6 present money: Ready cash.

  16 Ferneze’s hand: Perhaps Barabas has either a written assurance from Ferneze or one confirmed by a handshake.

  18 the tribe of Levi: Marlowe is probably recalling Joshua 20–21, where the Lévites held jurisdication over the cities of refuge.

  23 Florence: The home of Machiavelli.

  25 duck: Bow.

  26 stall: Shop benches used to display goods were often used by vagrants at night as places to sleep.

  27 be gathered for: Have a collection taken for them.

  33 insinuate: Ingratiate myself.

  36–7 show myself… dove: I.e. be more cunning than innocent (taken from Matthew 10:16).

  41 his father too: (Perhaps) Barabas wishes that Lodowick’s future son will also become Governor.

  42–3 hog’s cheek new singed: I.e. Lodowick has just shaved.

  45–7 custom… purge ourselves: Not a Jewish custom, but a parodie allusion to the anti-Semitic myth that Jews had a distinct smell (the foetor Judaicus ).

  48 the promise: God’s promise (cf. 1.1.103–4n.).

  53 I’ll sacrifice… wood: This echoes Genesis 22, where Abraham is prepared to sacrifice his son, Isaac, as a burnt offering to God.