The Jews were no longer a part of English history, and in fact were expunged from it.

It was into this atmosphere that Shakespeare was born in 1580, 300 years after the Jews had been forced out of England. If there were Jews in London at the time of Shakespeare, they were certainly in the minority.

In 1589, Marlow created a play entitled the Jew of Malta. It was a play that did not vilify the Jew, but satirizes Christian society. Using a Jewish villain, Barabas, as protagonist when his property is seized and he is expelled from England, Marlow has his character embark upon a vengeful slaughter of nuns and other Christians. In the play, Barabas is boiled to death in front of the audience, creating sensational and violent theater. While the play vilifies the Jews, the main point of the play was to satirize Christian society for its...
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