This study depicts 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.
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 occur. The significance of Christian and non-Christian
relations increase as the age of colonisation advances, and more
territorial expansion and long-distance trade are undertaken. The
encounter with different cultures and faiths awakes European
consciousness to the existence of great non-Christian societies. This
knowledge in turn evokes apprehension of the existing attitudes and
beliefs in Christian Europe. Notions of race and religion begin to
shift. Non-European peoples commence 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 study explores various aspects influenced and
sustained by Christianity. Christian beliefs form 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 study explores the changes in the development of racial thinking
and its religious underpinning. Christianity inevitably influences
different spheres of social life and conduct because of its popularity
during this time period. Religion empowers European nations to endorse
their values in foreign territories and advocates the spread of
Christianity in the world. The Island P
