從羅馬帝國時代開始，反猶太主義便一直是西方文化的一部份，而這種對猶太人近乎非理性的仇視對整個猶太民族造成了莫大的傷害。這樣的偏見也存在文學作品中，例如馬婁的《馬爾他的猶太人》和莎士比亞的《威尼斯商人》就忠實地反映出基督教社會中根深蒂固的反猶太情結。雖然這兩部作品所呈現的主題都是基督徒與猶太教徒之間長久以來的對立情況，它們的焦點卻不是集中在基督徒對猶太人的偏見上，因為它們同時也論及了基督徒本身的道德問題。換句話說，這兩部作品引領著我們去探究基督徒身為反猶太主義者背後所潛藏的矛盾問題--基督教義所提倡者與教徒實際行為間的極大落差。因此，本篇論文旨在探討馬婁和莎士比亞是否具有反猶太主義的傾向。
在《馬爾他的猶太人》一劇中，與其說馬婁是反猶太主義者，倒不如說他更像反基督教義者，因為劇中的猶太人其實只是馬婁用來藉以諷刺基督徒的一個工具而已。從他把Ferneze和the Christian Knights of Malta描繪得和Barabas一般的貪婪和虛偽看來，馬婁很顯然地不贊同基督教，更重要的是，劇中基督徒的最後勝利象徵著他們精於權謀的程度和Barabas相比是有過之而無不及。
而在《威尼斯商人》一劇中，莎士比亞則是傾向認同基督教所倡導的"慈悲之心"。雖然Shylock最後黯然退場，但莎翁如此安排的原因並不是因為他對猶太人有種族歧視，而是他相當不贊同Shylock對金錢的貪得無饜及其在法庭上的冷酷無情。馬婁和莎士比亞的作品相較之下，前者似乎將Barabas描寫成一個無惡不做的壞蛋，而後者除了強調Shylock其實是基督教社會中的一個受害者之外，也將這個角色予以人性化。因此，這兩部作品之間存在著極大的差異。

Since the Roman times, anti-Semitism has been part of the western culture. Having stirred up in many westerners almost irrational hatred of Jews, it has done a great harm to the Jewish tribe. In literature, related prejudices can also be found. For example, Marlowe's The Jew of Malta and Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice reflect the ineradicable bias against Jews in Christian societies. Although both of these works deal with the longstanding Christian-Jewish opposition, they not only focus on the Christian anti-Jewish prejudices but also touch upon the question of Christian morality. In other words, they lead us to examine the principles and practices of Christianity when its believers are propagators of Jew-baiting. This thesis, therefore, will mainly be an attempt to examine whether or not Marlowe and Shakespeare were anti-Semitic.
In The Jew of Malta, Marlowe appears to be more anti-Christian than anti-Semitic, for he employs the historically-stigmatized Jews only as a means to satirize Christians. Portraying Ferneze and the Christian Knights of Malta as avaricious and hypocritical as the Jew Barabas, Marlowe obviously is not a writer in favor of Christianity. What is more significant, the Christians' final triumph over Barabas reveals them to be better manipulators of "policy."
In The Merchant of Venice, Shakespeare appears to take sides with the Christian teaching concerning "mercy." He condemns Shylock, the Jewish money-lender, not because of his Jewish ancestry but because of his excessive thirst for money and refusal to render mercy in the court. Whereas Marlowe's Barabas is an embodiment of almost all the vile crimes that have been related to Jews, Shakespeare nevertheless distinguishes himself from Marlowe by portraying Shylock as a victim in the Christian Venice and endowing the Jew with humanity.

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