Keywords
Barabas
Christopher Marlowe
greed
The Jew of Malta
How to Cite
Abstract
This study examines the representation of ambition and greed in the character of Barabas in Christopher Marlowe’s The Jew of Malta and explores the moral and social message conveyed through these traits. Barabas, as the central character of the play, is portrayed as a wealthy Jewish merchant whose excessive desire for power and material gain shapes his actions and drives the plot. Using a qualitative descriptive method and close reading approach, this study analyzes dialogues, monologues, and significant events in the play to identify how ambition and greed are constructed and how they develop throughout the narrative. The findings reveal that Barabas’s ambition evolves from a pursuit of economic success into a destructive desire for revenge and domination, while his greed manifests as an obsessive attachment to wealth as a source of identity and authority. These two traits operate in a mutually reinforcing relationship that accelerates Barabas’s moral decline. Furthermore, the study demonstrates that Marlowe uses Barabas’s character to critique moral corruption, social injustice, religious hypocrisy, and materialism in Elizabethan society. The study concludes that The Jew of Malta presents ambition and greed not merely as individual flaws, but as interconnected forces that reflect broader social and moral decay.
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Copyright (c) 2026 Geby Amanda Sihombing, Bella Renata Manalu, Enjelina Rointan Ambarita, Roselyn Gracia Sitompul, Martina Girsang