THE JEW OF MALTA'
SIR,—Marlowe's later work is clouded by the mental instability which lies behind the bravado of his genius. Hero and Leander is marred by something like the insanity of Swift. But this cannot account for the grotesque absurdity of the latter half of The Jew of Malta. This is not Marlowe at all. The play, said to have been left unfinished at a time when Marlowe was in disgrace, was completed by an inferior hand, perhaps by Kyd. But the first half gives a theme as great as Tamburlaine and much more subtle. The Napoleonic financier, who, working secretly, aims at the control of the world's trade, could have been a figure to frighten the theatre audience. It is more likely that the play ended among roars of laughter.
CARLYLE TAIT 16 Clarence Road, Devonshire Park, Birkenhead
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