# The Jew of Malta — Character guide

> Key figures in The Jew of Malta by Christopher Marlowe.

- [Barabas](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_jew_of_malta_se/characters/barabas.md): Barabas begins as Malta's wealthiest Jew, then loses everything when the governor seizes his estate to pay Turkish tribute, and the play's engine becomes his elaborate revenge. He hides gold beneath his own floor, feigns
- [Ithamore](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_jew_of_malta_se/characters/ithamore.md): Ithamore is bought in the slave market for a hundred crowns and immediately trades villainous résumés with his new master, each claiming worse crimes than the other. He carries poison to the nuns, delivers forged challen
- [Abigail](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_jew_of_malta_se/characters/abigail.md): Abigail is the one person Barabas genuinely loves, and she loves him back, offering to storm the senate-house and tear her hair over his losses. When her father uses her as bait in his revenge, she is caught between Lodo
- [Ferneze](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_jew_of_malta_se/characters/ferneze.md): Ferneze rules Malta under Turkish tribute and solves the crisis by seizing the wealth of its Jewish residents, telling Barabas his goods are forfeit for the common good. He grieves his son Lodowick's death with genuine a
- [Lodowick](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_jew_of_malta_se/characters/lodowick.md): Lodowick is a young nobleman who wants the diamond Barabas dangles and, more dangerously, wants Abigail. He accepts the Jew's invitation into the house and the daughter's company without asking why a grieving father woul
- [Mathias](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_jew_of_malta_se/characters/mathias.md): Mathias loves Abigail and believes she loves him, a hope Barabas privately vows to destroy as part of his revenge on the governor. He is warned by his mother Katharine to stay away from the Jew, but he keeps returning, f
- [Pilia-Borza](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_jew_of_malta_se/characters/pilia_borza.md): Pilia-Borza runs errands between Bellamira's house and Barabas's, delivering threats and collecting crowns with a rogue's relish. His mangled face and hacked hands mark him as a man of the cross-biting trade, yet he serv
- [Bellamira](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_jew_of_malta_se/characters/bellamira.md): Bellamira writes to Ithamore before she has even met him, drawn by reputation and the promise of profit. She weighs gold lightly and men heavily, kissing Ithamore while tossing his money aside, and her charm makes him ea
- [Friar Jacomo](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_jew_of_malta_se/characters/friar_jacomo.md): Jacomo competes with Barnadine for the honor of converting the wealthy Barabas, each friar claiming the greater house and stricter rule. He shrives Abigail and learns her secrets, a knowledge that makes him dangerous to 
- [Friar Barnadine](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_jew_of_malta_se/characters/friar_barnadine.md): Barnadine receives Abigail's confession and learns of the forged challenge and the poisoned broth, but the seal of the shrift forbids him to reveal it. He tries to use the knowledge to frighten Barabas into repentance, u
- [Selim Calymath](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_jew_of_malta_se/characters/calymath.md): Calymath arrives with the Ottoman fleet to demand Malta's tribute, and his power reshapes every alliance on the island. He is proud, cautious, and willing to be courted, especially by a Barabas who promises pearls and ba
- [Martin del Bosco](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_jew_of_malta_se/characters/martin_del_bosco.md): A Spanish knight who advises Ferneze against paying tribute to the Turks.

HTML index: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_jew_of_malta_se/characters