Christopher Marlowe's 1592 play follows Barabas, a wealthy Jewish merchant in Malta, whose fortune is seized by the island's governor to pay tribute to the Ottoman Empire. What follows is a bloody revenge plot that spirals through betrayal, poisoning, and political scheming against the backdrop of the Great Siege.
The play is a fascinating window into how 16th-century England imagined Malta -- as a contested frontier between Christianity and Islam, where fortunes could be made and lost overnight. Marlowe's Barabas influenced Shakespeare's Shylock, though Barabas is a far more theatrical villain. Read it before visiting Valletta's fortifications and you will see the city through an entirely different lens.