Which English playwright wrote 'The Jew of Malta'?

Christopher Marlowe wrote The Jew of Malta. Usually dated to 1589 or 1590, the play is an Elizabethan revenge tragedy centered on Barabas, a wealthy Jewish merchant whose schemes unfold amid political and religious conflict on Malta.

The plot combines personal vengeance with the struggle between Christian, Jewish, and Ottoman interests. Barabas responds to the seizure of his wealth by the governor with increasingly elaborate acts of manipulation and violence. The play’s theatrical energy, dark humor, and ambitious central character helped establish Marlowe’s reputation as a major dramatist of the English Renaissance.

The work is sometimes confused with Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice because both plays feature Jewish protagonists and engage with money, prejudice, and religious identity. They are separate works, however, and Marlowe’s play predates Shakespeare’s. Scholars also debate whether the surviving text was revised, particularly in its later acts, and how much the 1633 quarto reflects earlier performance versions.