The Significance of Christian / Non-Christian Relations in the Formation of Early Modern Identities in The Island Princess (1621) and The Jew of Malta (1590)

Inhaltsangabe:Introduction: This work will depict the significance of Christian and non-Christian relations in the formation of early modern identities in John Fletcher’s The Island Princess and Christopher Marlowe’s The Jew of Malta. I have chosen these works to argue that Christian and non-Christian relations are explicitly demonstrated in the Elizabethan and Jacobean plays due to their incorporated issue of religion. The plays are set in the early modern period, during which many changes occurred. The significance of Christian and non-Christian relations increased as the age of colonisation advanced, and more territorial expansion and long-distance trade were undertaken. The encounter with different cultures and faiths awoke European consciousness to the existence of great non-Christian societies. This knowledge in turn evoked apprehension of the existing attitudes and beliefs in Christian Europe. Notions of race and religion began to shift. Non-European peoples commenced to be perceived as rivals to Christianity. Marlowe’s and Fletcher’s plays depict the anxieties towards the Other, where religion becomes the central issue of distinction. Marlowe’s tragedy The Jew of Malta deals with Judaism and Catholicism and their mutual hostility. Fletcher’s tragi-comedy The Island Princess deals with the pagan princess’s conversion to Christianity. This work will explore various aspects influenced and sustained by Christianity. Christian beliefs laid a foundation for early modern European society. The emerging identities are indispensably intertwined with Christianity and Christian attitudes of that time. Notions of race and gender cannot be easily defined without religion. This work will explore the changes in the development of racial thinking and its religious underpinning. Christianity inevitably influenced different spheres of social life and conduct because of its popularity during this time period. Religion empowered European nations to endorse their values in foreign territories and advocated the spread of Christianity in the world. The Island Princess, for example, explores underlying Christian values, which set the heroine’s conversion in the centre of the play. The Jew of Malta, on the other hand, explores the notion that Christians are not flawless. Not only does it reveal the condemned character traits of the Jews, but it also ridicules the Christians. This work will investigate the emergence of Christians’ repulsive attitudes towards the [...]