Part 4 (1/2)

Harpagon exclaims to his servant: ”Ah, wretch, you are eating up all my wealth,” and Shylock says the same thing to Launcelot. Harpagon's, ”It is out of Christian charity that he covets my money,” is not unlike the reproach of Shylock, ”He was wont to lend out money for a Christian courtesy!” And ”justice, impudent rascal, will soon give me satisfaction!”

is with Shylock ”the Duke shall grant me justice!” While if we compare the words which Moliere puts into the mouths of those who revile the miser, they suggest the taunts thrown at Shylock. ”I tell you frankly that you are the laughing-stock of everybody, and that nothing delights people more than to make game of you”; has its equivalent in the speech ”Why, all the boys in Venice follow him,” etc. And ”never does anyone mention you, but under the name of Jew and usurer,” tallies with Launcelot's ”My master is a very Jew.” Other instances might be quoted.

Of course it cannot be overlooked that Shakespeare has given Shylock one speech of undoubted power which silences all his opponents. For while the Christians are unconscious of any wrongdoing on their side towards the Jew, Shylock complains loudly and bitterly of the indignities thrust upon him by the Christians, and in that often-quoted speech beginning ”Hath not a Jew eyes” he complains with an insistence which certainly claims consideration. Now in so far as Shylock resents the want of tolerance shown him by the Christians, he is in the right and Shakespeare is with him; but when he tries to justify his method of retaliation and schemes to take Antonio's life, not simply in order to revenge the indignities thrust upon him, but also that he may put more money into his purse, Shylock is in the wrong and Shakespeare is against him. For it is obvious that Shylock does not seek the lives of Gratiano, Solanio, or Salarino, the men who called him the ”dog Jew,” or the life of the man who ran away with his daughter, but of the merchant who lends out money gratis, who helps the unfortunate debtors, and who exercises generosity and charity. Whatever blame attaches to the Christians on the score of intolerance, Antonio is the least offender, except in so far as it touches Shylock's pocket. And when Shylock the usurer a.s.serts that a Christian is no better than a Jew, he forgets that Christianity, in its original conception and purpose, forbade the individual to prey on his fellow-creatures; and this is the Christianity which Antonio practises.

Finally it is the intention of the comedy, as Shakespeare has designed it, to ill.u.s.trate the consequence of a too rigid adherence to the letter of the law. The terms of the bond to which Shylock clings so tenaciously, and for which he demands unquestioning obedience, ultimately endanger his own life and with it the whole of his property. Shylock falls a victim to his own plot in the same way that Barabas tumbles into his own burning caldron; but the Christians spare the Jew's life and half his wealth is restored to him, and restored to him by Antonio ”the bankrupt,” who is still himself greatly in need of money. That Shylock must in return for this mercy deny his faith is not in the eyes of the Christian a punishment or even an act of malice, but a means of salvation.

The basis, then, of Shakespeare's comedy, it is contended, is a romantic story of love and adventure. It shows us a lovable and high-minded heroine, her adventurous and fervent lover, and his unselfish friend, together with their merry companions and sweethearts. And into this happy throng, for the purpose of having a villain, the dramatist thrusts the morose and malicious usurer, who is intended to be laughed at and defeated, not primarily because he is a Jew, but because he is a curmudgeon; thus the prodigal defeats the miser.

If we look more closely into the two plays of Marlowe and Shakespeare, and compare not only Barabas with Shylock, but also Marlowe's Christians with those of Shakespeare, we find a dissimilarity in the portraiture of the Christians so marked that it is impossible to ignore the idea that Shakespeare, perhaps, wished to protest not against Marlowe's ”inhuman Jew,” but against his pagan Christians. The variance, in fact, is too striking to be accidental, as the following table will show:

THE FAMOUS TRAGEDY OF THE THE MOST EXCELLENT RICH JEW OF MALTA. HISTORY OF THE MERCHANT OF VENICE.

The play is named after the The play is named after the Jew who owns the argosies. Christian who owns the argosies.

The Christians take forcible The Christians ask a loan of possession of all the Jew's the Jew on business terms.

wealth.

The Jew upbraids the Christians The Christian upbraids the for quoting Scripture to Jew for quoting Scripture to defend their roguery. defend his roguery.

The Christians break faith A Christian Court upholds with the Turks, and also with the Jew's claim to his bond.

the Jew.

The Jew's daughter Abigail Jessica gives away her father's rescues her father's money money to the Christians.

from the Christians.

The Jew's servant helps his Launcelot leaves his master master to cheat the Christians. to join the Christians.

Two Christians try to cajole Lorenzo elopes with Jessica, the Jew of his daughter, and die and finally inherits the Jew's victims to his treachery. wealth.

Abigail becomes a Christian Jessica becomes a Christian and is poisoned by her father. and is happy ever after.

The Jew is the means of Portia saves the Christian saving the Christians from the from the Jew.

Turks.

The Christians are accessory The Christians spare the to the Jew's death, which is an Jew's life, which is an act of act of treachery on their part. mercy on their part.

It might be objected that the interval of seven years between the production of the two plays renders it improbable that Shakespeare would have intentionally contrasted his play with Marlowe's. But the popularity of ”The Jew of Malta” exceeded that of any other contemporary play.

Although it was not printed till 1604, it was produced in 1588, and references to it in contemporary plays continue to be found until 1609.

Owing, besides, to Alleyne's extraordinary success as Barabas, the play continued to be acted at intervals until 1594, between which date and 1598 Shakespeare had written his own comedy. The setting-off, too, of play against play was a common practice, especially among the early Elizabethan dramatists, and Greene did not hesitate to avail himself of the success of Marlowe's ”Doctor Faustus” to write his ”Friar Bacon and Friar Bungay.”

Now in so far as ”The Jew of Malta” makes fun of friars and nuns, it would be considered legitimate amus.e.m.e.nt by a Protestant audience. We have a similar record on the French stage of revolutionary times when as M.

Fleury remarks: ”All the convents in France were shown up at the theatres, and the surest mode of drawing money to the treasury was to raise a laugh at the expense of the Veil.” But Marlowe goes further than this. He attacks Christianity wantonly and aggressively, not only by portraying Barabas's contempt for the Christians, but by making the Christians contemptible in themselves, and wanting in all those virtues which were upheld in the newly accessible Gospels. They are without honour and chivalry or any sense of justice or loyalty. They are false and treacherous to Jew and Turk alike, and Barabas can well say of them:

”For I can see no fruits in all their faith, But malice, falsehood, and excessive pride, Which methinks fits not their profession.”

Further, the Christians take by force the Jew's money to pay the city's tribute to the Turks, which after all is not paid, the Christians keeping the money for themselves. It is but the bare truth that Barabas states when he mutters: