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| Character | Barabas | |
|---|---|---|
| Gender | Male | |
| Age Range(s) | Adult (36-50), Senior (>50) | |
| Type of monologue / Character is | Descriptive, Lamenting, Introduction to story | |
| Type | Dramatic | |
| Year | 1589 | |
| Period | Renaissance | |
| Genre | Tragedy, Drama | |
| Description | Barabas shows his wealth in a counting house | |
| Location | ACT I, Scene 1 | |
Summary
Barabas is a wealthy Jewish merchant who lives in Malta. At the beginning of the play he learns that the governor of the island has confiscated all his money and land in order to pay tribute to the Turks. His house is also confiscated and turned into a nunnery. Since he still has a lot of money hidden in the house, he proposes to his daughter to dress up as a nun, pretend to convert to christianity and join the convent in order to retrieve his hidden treasures. The play follows Barabas as he conspires to get revenge against Ferneze, the governor, and his son Lodowick, with the help of a Turkish slave, Ithamore. At the end of the play, after having killed various characters including the governor's son, he helps the Turkish army to invade the island and he is made governor. He then conspires with Ferneze to kill the Turkish leader but at the end Barabas is the one who dies.
This monologue is the introductory monologue for Barabas. He is in a counting house and describes his wealth to other merchants.
This monologue is the introductory monologue for Barabas. He is in a counting house and describes his wealth to other merchants.
Written by Administrator
| Excerpt |
|---|
| BARABAS [Discovered in his counting house, With heaps of gold before him.] So that of thus much that return was made; And of the third part of the Persian ships There was the venture summ'd and satisfied. As for those Samnites, and the men of Uz, That brought my Spanish oils and wines of Greece, Here have I purs'd their paltry silverlings. Fie, what a trouble 'tis to count this trash! Well fare the Arabians, who so richly pay The things they traffic for with wedge of gold, Whereof a man may easily in a day Tell that which may maintain him all his life. The needy groom, that never finger'd groat, Would make a miracle of thus much coin; But he whose steel-barr'd coffers are cramm'd full, And all his life-time hath been tired, Wearying his fingers' ends with telling it, Would in his age he loath to labour so, And for a pound to sweat himself to death. Give me the merchants of the Indian mines, That trade in metal of the purest mould; The wealthy Moor, that in the eastern rocks Without control can pick his riches up, And in his house heap pearl like pebble stones, Receive them free, and sell them by the weight! Bags of fiery opals, sapphires, amethysts, Jacinths, hard topaz, grass-green emeralds, Beauteous rubies, sparkling diamonds, And seld-seen costly stones of so great price, As one of them, indifferently rated, And of a carat of this quantitiy, May serve, in peril of calamity, To ransom great kings from captivity. This is the ware wherein consists my wealth; And thus methinks should men of judgment frame Their means of traffic from the vulgar trade, And, as their wealth increaseth, so inclose Infinite riches in a little room. |
