Ivanhoe's Jewish Characters

[Brian Cronin]

Hey, has anyone read the book Ivanhoe recently?

I last read it as a little kid, so I don't really remember the details - so could someone fill me in on how Sir Walter Scott treated the Jewish characters in the book?

I was watching the movie recently, and it was interesting how good of a portrayal the Jewish characters get. It stands out in a 1950s film, so it would REALLY stand out in an early 19th century British novel!!!

I know the characters were in the book, and were notable that Scott wrote about Jewish rights at ALL, but I just wonder exactly HOW he wrote them - was it as good of a portrayal as the film?

-Brian

[Omar Karindu]

As I recall, Rebecca is protrayed very well, a rich and generous character, as well as a healer. She's also the character who tends to win the reader's sympathies; Scott apparrently wrote that eh considered her more deserving of Ivanhoe's love than Rowena, but that historical accuracy meant that he could not have them marry.

Her father, Issac of York/Isaac the Jew....well, he's (of course) a moneylender. His character conflict seems to be a struggle between doing what's right for his daughter, and doing what will allow him to remain wealthy. He's also a bit of a cad, and spends quite a bit of time deciding whether to sell out his daughter and Ivanhoe to retain financial privelege or do what's right at some risk to himself.

In short, he's a less-murderous version of Shylock, one who ultimately makes the right decision, but is still very much a Jewish stereotype of the stock sort. It's likely that Scott mistakes this stereotype for some sort of historical reality; his sources in both literary tradition and histories would probably have treated the anti-Semitic take as real, and he invests Isaac with as many sympathetic qualities as the essentially nasty character type will allow.

In short, it's arguably more sympathetic to its Jewish characters than the bulk of other British fiction from its time period, but a modern reader might still have one or two issues with the portrayal of Isaac.

[Brian Cronin]

Thanks a lot, Omar!

-Brian