How we cite our quotes: (Act.Scene.Line)
Quote #4
Everyone's price is written on his back,
And so much must they yield or not be sold. (2.3. 3-4)
Important? Oh yeah. (Check out Symbols: The Slave Market for more about this.) While the officer is describing how the slaves all have a certain price, we're pretty sure it applies to everyone in the play. Think, for instance, of Barabas himself, who offers to cooperate with his arch-enemy Ferneze near the end, but only for a price.
Quote #5
Faith, master, I think by this
You purchase both their lives… (2.3.369-70)
There isn't any actual money changing hands in the Lodowick-Mathias plot (well, except for Abigail), but Ithamore is marveling at how Barabas's trickery "purchases" their lives. It looks like cold, hard cash may not be the only form of currency in this play. (Go check out Barabas's remark that he"purchase[s] towns/By treachery and sell[s] 'em by deceit [5.5.46-48].)
Quote #6
But now experience, purchased with grief,
Has made me see the difference of things. (3.3.61-62)
We just like this quote for word choice: Abigail is talking about the one thing you can't buy (experience), but the theme of wealth and buying/selling is so pervasive in this play that her experience is described as having been "bought." Nice, Marlowe.