Abigail’s Turn in The Jew of Malta

Christopher Marlowe’s The Jew of Malta centers on conversion and dislocation, issues materially figured in the play’s first act as a Jewish mansion is confiscated and turned into a convent. This essay adds another dimension to critical discussions of turning by focusing on a feature of convent architecture called a turn. Conversion quickly becomes a revenge strategy in Marlowe’s play, and the introduction of the turn, a feature added to the converted mansion, at once insures the tragic ending of the play’s central convert Abigail and mimics her complicated agency as she rotates between active and passive roles.