The Jew of Malta: Act 5, Scene 1 Summary & Analysis

Ferneze enters with Martin Del Bosco and several knights and officers. Ferneze tells the men to take up arms and fortify Malta. Selim-Calymath and the Turks have come, and they will take Malta or die trying. Suddenly, Bellamira and Pilia-Borza enter, asking to speak to the governor. Ferneze turns them away, calling Bellamira a lowly prostitute, but Bellamira says she knows who killed Lodowick. It was not Mathias, she says, but the Jew, Barabas. Pilia-Borza confirms Bellamira speaks the truth and says that Barabas also killed the nuns, Abigail, Friar Bernardine, and who knows how many others.

Ferneze says he must have proof of Barabas’s guilt, and Bellamira tells him that Barabas’s slave, Ithamore, will confess to every murder. Ferneze orders his men to fetch Barabas and Ithamore. “I always feared that Jew,” Ferneze says. The officers enter with Barabas and Ithamore and order Barabas to confess, but he pretends not to know what they are talking about. Ithamore immediately confesses to delivering the letter to Lodowick, giving the poisoned rice to the nunnery, and strangling Bernardine, but Barabas demands to sit before a judge. Ferneze agrees, and as the officers drag away Barabas, Ithamore, Bellamira, and Pilia-Borza, Barabas prays that his poison will soon take effect.

Katherine enters and asks Ferneze if he has found their sons’ murder. Yes, Ferneze says, it was Barabas, the Jew. He explains to Katherine that Barabas’s slave, Ithamore, delivered a forged letter to Lodowick that turned the men against each other. She asks where Barabas is now, and Ferneze says he is in jail, awaiting trial. Suddenly, and officer bursts in and tells Ferneze that Ithamore, Bellamira, Pilia-Borza, and Barabas are dead. Ferneze is shocked, and Bosco notes how suspicious the timing is. It is not suspicious, Ferneze says, but “just,” and he orders Ithamore, Bellamira, and Pilia-Borza to be buried, but he tells his men to throw Barabas over the city walls for “vultures and wild beasts” to feed on.

After Ferneze’s men throw Barabas over the city walls, Barabas wakes up, having taken a “sleepy drink” to fool them. He decides that he will help Selim-Calymath conquer Malta, kill all the citizens, and make Ferneze a slave. Calymath and the Turks approach, assuming Barabas is a spy. He tells Calymath that he is indeed a spy—for the Turks. He says he is the Jew named Barabas, and he will help the Turks enter the city through a secret passageway he knows about in the city walls. Calymath asks if Barabas is the Jew taxed by Ferneze to pay the tribute, and Barabas confirms that he is.

Barabas tells Selim-Calymath that Ferneze stole his money and accused him of heinous crimes, but Barabas was able to escape. Calymath asks if Barabas broke out of prison, but Barabas tells him he drank a potion made of “poppy and cold mandrake juice.” Barabas slept so deeply, they thought him dead and threw his body over the city walls. Calymath comments on Barabas’s cunning, and as the men exit, he tells Barabas that he will make him the new governor if he is able to help them conquer Malta.