The Jew of Malta

by

Christopher Marlowe

Don Mathias Character Analysis

Don Mathias is Katherine’s son and Abigail’s love. Barabas has already promised Mathias Abigail’s hand in marriage, but then Barabas promises Abigail to Don Lodowick, too, in an effort to turn the men against each other and influence them to murder each other to avenge Ferneze, Lodowick’s father, and his theft of Barabas’s gold. Barabas knows that Mathias and Abigail are in love, but their feelings mean nothing to Barabas compared to his desire for revenge. Barabas easily convinces Mathias that Lodowick is pursuing Abigail behind his back, and he encourages them to engage in a deadly duel through a forged letter delivered by Ithamore. Mathias is ultimately killed, as is Lodowick, in the battle engineered by Barabas, and Abigail is left heartbroken.

Don Mathias Quotes in The Jew of Malta

The The Jew of Malta quotes below are all either spoken by Don Mathias or refer to Don Mathias. 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:
God and Machiavellianism Theme Icon
).
Act 2, Scene 3 Quotes

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: 51
Explanation and Analysis:
Act 3, Scene 2 Quotes

Oh bravely fought, and yet they thrust not home.
Now Lodowick, now Mathias, so;
So now they have showed themselves to be tall fellows.

Related Characters: Barabas (speaker), Don Lodowick, Don Mathias
Page Number: 65
Explanation and Analysis:
Act 3, Scene 3 Quotes

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: 68
Explanation and Analysis:
Act 3, Scene 4 Quotes

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: 77
Explanation and Analysis:
Act 5, Scene 5 Quotes

Ferneze: Should I in pity of thy plaints or thee,
Accursèd Barabas, base Jew, relent?
No, thus I’ll see thy treachery repaid,
But wish thou hadst behaved thee otherwise.

Barabas: You will not help me then?

Ferneze: No, villain, no.

Barabas: And villains, know you cannot help me now.
Then Barabas breathe forth thy latest fate,
And in the fury of thy torments, strive
To end thy life with resolution:
Know, Governor, ‘twas I that slew thy son;
I framed the challenge that did make them meet:
Know, Calymath, I aimed thy overthrow,
And had I but escaped this stratagem,
I would have brought confusion on you all,
Damned Christians, dogs, and Turkish infidels;
But now begins the extremity of heat
To pinch me with intolerable pangs:
Die life, fly soul, tongue curse thy fill and die!

Related Characters: Barabas (speaker), Ferneze (speaker), Don Lodowick, Don Mathias, Selim-Calymath
Page Number: 129-130
Explanation and Analysis:
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Don Mathias Quotes in The Jew of Malta

The The Jew of Malta quotes below are all either spoken by Don Mathias or refer to Don Mathias. 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:
God and Machiavellianism Theme Icon
).
Act 2, Scene 3 Quotes

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: 51
Explanation and Analysis:
Act 3, Scene 2 Quotes

Oh bravely fought, and yet they thrust not home.
Now Lodowick, now Mathias, so;
So now they have showed themselves to be tall fellows.

Related Characters: Barabas (speaker), Don Lodowick, Don Mathias
Page Number: 65
Explanation and Analysis:
Act 3, Scene 3 Quotes

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: 68
Explanation and Analysis:
Act 3, Scene 4 Quotes

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: 77
Explanation and Analysis:
Act 5, Scene 5 Quotes

Ferneze: Should I in pity of thy plaints or thee,
Accursèd Barabas, base Jew, relent?
No, thus I’ll see thy treachery repaid,
But wish thou hadst behaved thee otherwise.

Barabas: You will not help me then?

Ferneze: No, villain, no.

Barabas: And villains, know you cannot help me now.
Then Barabas breathe forth thy latest fate,
And in the fury of thy torments, strive
To end thy life with resolution:
Know, Governor, ‘twas I that slew thy son;
I framed the challenge that did make them meet:
Know, Calymath, I aimed thy overthrow,
And had I but escaped this stratagem,
I would have brought confusion on you all,
Damned Christians, dogs, and Turkish infidels;
But now begins the extremity of heat
To pinch me with intolerable pangs:
Die life, fly soul, tongue curse thy fill and die!

Related Characters: Barabas (speaker), Ferneze (speaker), Don Lodowick, Don Mathias, Selim-Calymath
Page Number: 129-130
Explanation and Analysis: