The Jew of Malta Hypocrisy Quotes

How we cite our quotes: (Act.Scene.Line)

Quote #1

Rather had I, a Jew, be hated thus
Than pitied in a Christian poverty;
For I can se no fruits in all their faith
But malice, falsehood, and excessive pride,
Which methinks fits not their profession (1.1.113-17)

Why on earth would anybody want to be a Christian? If you ask Barabas, all they do is talk about how righteous they are and then turn around and do the opposite. And they don't make good money. Definition of the fuzzy end of the lollipop.

Quote #2

Honour is bought with blood and not with gold (2.2.56)

Think about the context here: Bosco is offering to fight off the Turks so that he can sell his Turkish slaves on Malta, and Ferneze breaks his promise to the Turks. Now that he's got some back-up, he can get them killed and then make money off of the Turkish slave trade. See any honor there? We sure don't.

Quote #3

Excess of wealth is cause of covetousness,
And covetousness, oh, 'tis a monstrous sin. (1.2.122-23)

Ferneze is preaching that, on top of all of his other totally legit reasons for confiscating Barabas's wealth, he's doing Barabas a favor by saving him from the sin of covetousness. This is pretty rich coming from a guy who's blatantly stealing from a disenfranchised minority group to save his own bacon.