Abigail Character Analysis in The Jew of Malta

Abigail is Barabas’s daughter and Mathias’s love. Abigail is incredibly beautiful and young—around 14—and she is first introduced after Ferneze seizes Barabas’s wealth and converts his mansion into a convent. Barabas convinces Abigail to join the convent under false pretenses to retrieve the gold he has hidden under the floorboards, which she agrees to do even though she knows it is immoral and deceitful. Afterward, Barabas again asks for Abigial’s help in his scheming, and he convinces her to pretend to be in love with Don Lodowick, even though she is really in love with Mathias and hopes to marry him. Barabas is secretly plotting his revenge against Ferneze, which includes the death of Ferneze’s son, Lodowick, and Don Mathias. Abigail leads Lodowick on as her father asks her to do, but she is shocked and heartbroken when she learns her dishonesty leads to Lodowick and Mathias’s deaths, so she entreats Friar Jacomo to join the nunnery—this time for real—as penance for her sins. When Barabas learns of Abigail’s conversion to Christianity, he considers it a personal betrayal, and he vows to avenge Abigail as well. With Ithamore’s help, Barabas delivers a pot of poisoned rice to the convent, killing all the nuns, including Abigail. Abigail is arguably the most morally sound character in Marlowe’s play, even though she is easily manipulated by her father’s machinations and refuses to betray him, even when he proves disloyal to her.

Abigail Quotes in The Jew of Malta

The The Jew of Malta quotes below are all either spoken by Abigail or refer to Abigail. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:

Barabas: Then Abigail, there must my girl
Entreat the abbess to be entertained.

Abigail: How, as a nun?

Barabas: Ay, daughter, for religion
Hides many mischiefs from suspicion.

Related Characters: Barabas (speaker), Abigail (speaker), Ferneze, Abbess

Related Symbols: Gold

Page Number and Citation: 32

Explanation and Analysis:

Abigail: Thus father shall I much dissemble.

Barabas: Tush,
As good dissemble that thou never mean’st
As first mean truth and then dissemble it;
A counterfeit profession is better
Than unseen hypocrisy.

Related Characters: Barabas (speaker), Abigail (speaker)

Related Symbols: Gold

Page Number and Citation: 32

Explanation and Analysis:

Oh my girl,
My gold, my fortune, my felicity;
Strength to my soul, death to mine enemy;
Welcome the first beginner of my bliss:
Oh Abigail, Abigail, that I had thee here too,
Then my desires were fully satisfied.
But I will practise thy enlargement thence:
Oh girl, oh gold, oh beauty, oh my bliss!

Related Characters: Barabas (speaker), Abigail

Related Symbols: Gold

Page Number and Citation: 40

Explanation and Analysis:

In spite of these swine-eating Christians,
Unchosen nation, never circumcised;
Such as, poor villains, were ne’er thought upon
Till Titus and Vespasian conquered us,
Am I become as wealthy as I was:
They hoped my daughter would ha’ been a nun:
But she’s at home, and I have bought a house
As great and fair as is the Governor’s;
And there in spite of Malta will I dwell:
Having Ferneze’s hand, whose heart I’ll have;
Ay, and his son’s too, or it shall go hard.

Related Characters: Barabas (speaker), Ferneze, Abigail, Don Lodowick

Related Symbols: Gold

Page Number and Citation: 44

Explanation and Analysis:

Barabas: Oh, sir, your father had my diamonds.
Yet I have one left that will serve your turn:
I mean my daughter. (But ere he shall have her
I’ll sacrifice her on a pile of wood.
I ha’ the poison of the city for him,
And the white leprosy.)

Lodowick: What sparkle does it give without a foil?

Barabas: The diamond that I talk of, ne’er was foiled
(But when he touches it, it will be foiled).
Lord Lodowick, it sparkles bright and fair.

Lodowick: Is it square or pointed? Pray let me know.

Barabas: Pointed it is, good sir (but not for you).

Related Characters: Barabas (speaker), Don Lodowick (speaker), Ferneze, Abigail

Page Number and Citation: 46-47

Explanation and Analysis:

Yonder comes Don Mathias, let us stay;
He loves my daughter, and she holds him dear:
But I have sworn to frustrate both their hopes,
And be revenged upon the—(Governor).

Related Characters: Barabas (speaker), Ithamore, Abigail, Don Lodowick, Don Mathias

Page Number and Citation: 51

Explanation and Analysis:

Ithamore: Oh mistress! I have the bravest, gravest, secret, subtle, bottle-nosed knave to my master, that ever gentleman had.

Abigail: Say, knave, why rail’st upon my father thus?

Ithamore: Oh, my master has the bravest policy.

Related Characters: Ithamore (speaker), Abigail (speaker), Barabas, Don Lodowick, Don Mathias

Related Symbols: Barabas’s Nose

Page Number and Citation: 68

Explanation and Analysis:

Stay, first let me stir it Ithamore.
As fatal be it to her as the draught
Of which great Alexander drunk, and died:
And with her let it work like Borgia’s wine,
Whereof his sire, the Pope, was poisonèd.
In a few, the blood of Hydra, Lerna’s bane:
The juice of hebon, and Cocytus’ breath,
And all the poisons of the Stygian pool
Break from the fiery kingdom; and in this
Vomit your venom, and envenom her
That like a fiend hat left her father thus.

Related Characters: Barabas (speaker), Ithamore, Abigail, Don Lodowick, Don Mathias

Page Number and Citation: 77

Explanation and Analysis:

Bernardine: Know that confession must not be revealed,
The canon law forbids it, and the priest
That makes it known, being degraded first,
Shall be condemned, and then sent to the fire.

Abigail: So I have heard; pray therefore keep it close,
Death seizeth on my heart, ah gentle friar
Convert my father that he may be saved,
And witness that I die a Christian.

Bernardine: Ay, and a virgin too, that grieves me most:
But I must to the Jew and exclaim on him,
And make him stand in fear of me.

Related Characters: Abigail (speaker), Friar Bernardine (speaker), Barabas

Page Number and Citation: 82-83

Explanation and Analysis:

Abigail Character Timeline in The Jew of Malta

The timeline below shows where the character Abigail appears in The Jew of Malta. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.

...the Christians be kings, Barabas says, and leave him to his wealth and his daughter, Abigail, whom he holds “as dear / As Agamemnon did his Iphigen.” Three Jews enter talking... (full context)

...does not comfort Barabas. Poverty is worse than death, and there is nothing left for Abigail. Ferneze tells Barabas that he should feel good about their agreement—it is “right,” he says.... (full context)

...better than such “common men,” and he will not let Ferneze get in his way. Abigail enters in hysterics. She offers to go to the senate-house, cry at their feet, and... (full context)

...just hang himself, but Barabas refuses to give in at any cost. He turns to Abigail. “We ought to make bar of no policy,” Barabas says and tells Abigail to go... (full context)

As Barabas and Abigail talk, Friars Jacomo and Bernardine pass by with two nuns and the Abbess on their... (full context)

As Abigail and Barabas exit with the Abbess and Friars Jacomo and Bernardine, Don Mathias, a local... (full context)

...seen much darkness, Barabas says, and his own world will remain dark until he sees Abigail again. Suddenly, Abigail appears at a window—she has found Barabas’s hidden gold. “Receive thy happiness,”... (full context)

...the bags close to his body, “Oh girl, oh gold, oh beauty, oh my bliss!” Abigail tells Barabas to gather his bags and be gone. The nuns will soon rise for... (full context)

...the market to buy a slave. Barabas again complains about the “swine-eating Christians” who wanted Abigail to become a nun and scoffs. Abigail is at home in Barabas’s fancy new mansion... (full context)

...Lodowick heard that Barabas was there, and he is hoping to catch a glimpse of Abigail and see if she is as beautiful as Mathias claims. As Lodowick approaches, Barabas quietly... (full context)

...that Ferneze has all his diamonds; the only diamond Barabas has left is his daughter, Abigail. (In an aside, Barabas says that he would rather see Abigail dead than with Lodowick.)... (full context)

...Mathias wonders what business Lodowick has with Barabas and worries that it might be about Abigail. Barabas watches Mathias enter. He knows that Mathias and Abigail love one another, but Barabas... (full context)

...Barabas tells him not to worry. They were talking about “diamonds,” Barabas says, “not of Abigail.” Katherine notices the hushed conversation and asks Mathias if he is talking to a “Jew.”... (full context)

...the “diamond” is that he promised. Barabas guides Lodowick to his mansion and yells for Abigail to open the door. Abigail appears, and Barabas tells her “entertain” Lodowick. In an aside,... (full context)

Abigail is reluctant and reminds Barabas that she loves Mathias. Of course, Barabas says, promising Abigail... (full context)

Mathias immediately asks where Abigail is, and Barabas answers by telling Mathias how he intends for Abigail to marry him.... (full context)

Lodowick and Abigail approach, and Lodowick asks if that was Mathias he saw leaving. Barabas confirms it was... (full context)

Lodowick assures Barabas that he is interested in Abigail, not Barabas’s money, and needs only Barabas’s consent to marry her. In another aside, Abigail... (full context)

...Mathias can exact his revenge later, Barabas suggests, and Mathias agrees. Barabas again promises that Abigail will marry Mathias, but he says that Lodowick has gone to tell Mathias’s mother, Katherine,... (full context)

Alone with Barabas and Ithamore, Abigail promises that she will make Mathias and Lodowick friends again, and that she will have... (full context)

Abigail enters with Ithamore, who is laughing. Abigail asks what is so funny, and Ithamore says... (full context)

Alone, Abigail laments Barabas and his “policy.” She admits that Barabas has every right to hate Lodowick... (full context)

Jacomo is confused, especially since Abigail only recently decided that the nunnery was not for her. Yes, Abigail says, but certain... (full context)

Barabas enters, reading a letter from Abigail. He is shocked that his daughter has joined the convent, and now she expects him... (full context)

Barabas is certain that Jacomo is to blame for Abigail’s conversion. Abigail has definitely joined the convent, Ithamore confirms, but she sent for the friar... (full context)

...tries to interrupt Barabas’s rant, but Barabas doesn’t listen and tells Ithamore not to defend Abigail. Barabas further says that he could not stand it if Ithamore hated him like Abigail... (full context)

...returns with a pot of rice, and Barabas tells him that he will soon witness Abigail’s death and become Barabas’s only heir. Ithamore is excited to hear it and asks if... (full context)

...be!” Bernardine cries. Jacomo quickly exits, on his way to hear another nun’s confession, and Abigail enters. She tells Bernardine that all the other nuns are dead and that she will... (full context)

Abigail asks Bernardine if he knows Mathias and Lodowick, and Bernardine says he does. She reveals... (full context)

Bernardine looks at Abigail’s dead body and is disappointed that she died a virgin, but he is excited to... (full context)

Ithamore asks Barabas if he feels any grief over Abigail’s death, and Barabas quickly says no. He is only sad that she lived as a... (full context)

...and Jacomo begin talking at once and Barabas keeps interrupting them. When the friars mention Abigail, Barabas orders them not to speak of her. The men then tell Barabas that they... (full context)

Barabas immediately knows that Abigail exposed him in a confession to Bernardine, so Barabas quickly changes his tactics. “Oh holy... (full context)

Alone, Barabas hatches a plan to kill both Bernardine and Jacomo. Abigail clearly exposed Barabas’s involvement in Mathias and Lodowick’s deaths in her confession to Bernardine, and... (full context)

...Lodowick without ever touching them, and he further admits to delivering the poisoned rice to Abigail and the nuns and strangling Bernardine with his belt. In a quick aside, Pilia-Borza suggests... (full context)

...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. (full context)