How Did Walter Scott Present His Characters In Ivanhoe Antisemitism

Sir Walter Scott believed that Jews are the same as Christians and used his characters in Ivanhoe to express his views. In the early 1800s, when Ivanhoe was written, there was a lot of antisemitism in England. This was being carried over from history, where Jewish people had been discriminated against for centuries. In the Middle Ages, the time in which Ivanhoe takes place, the Christian Catholic Church held power over much of Europe. The Church believed everyone should be Christian and influenced the way Christians viewed Jews.
Sir Walter Scott was born in Edinburgh, Scotland in 1771. He lived in Southern Scotland for most of his life, practicing law at his father’s firm until 1830 and writing to keep an extra income. Scott’s first book was
a collection of Scottish ballads, which became very popular. He started a publishing company with one of his friends, and produced more ballads of his own creation. In 1814, he started publishing historical novels for financial reasons. His series of ‘Waverly’ novels were published anonymously, but he later claimed penmanship for them. Ivanhoe, published in 1819, was Scott’s first book set in England.
Before the time of Walter Scott, in the 1700s, Jews in England could only become British citizens by applying to Parliament and converting to Christianity.
Essentially, people who followed Judaism could not be citizens. In 1753, a bill was issued to allow Jews who had been born outside of England to be naturalized by Parliament without converting to Christianity. The ‘Jew Bill of 1753’, as it was known, had passed both houses of Parliament by May without much opposition. Almost immediately after its adoption, however, there was a public outcry against the bill. Christians held protests in the streets and in November one Jewish man was killed. Following the murder, Parliament rescinded the bill. In 1829, Jewish people were still arguing for official equality. An Emancipation bill passed the House of Commons in 1833, but was defeated in the House of Lords. Since the Jew Bill was rescinded in the late 1700s, and Jews still fought for their rights in the mid-1800s, it can be inferred that at the time Ivanhoe was written there was a prominent dislike of Jewish
people.
Anti-Semitism is even more prominent in the Middle Ages, when Ivanhoe is set, than in the 19th century.
In the 12th century, the Catholic Church held a lot of power over Europe. The Church wanted everyone to be Christian, influencing Christians’ views of Jews. Christians viewed Jewish people as dirty and low-class, Jews were shunned from high society and given the taboo, dirty, and unwanted jobs. One of the most common professions among Jewish people was moneylender. Because moneylenders charged high rates of interest, Christians disliked Jews even more. When King Richard I went off to the Third Crusade, Jews were taxed at a much higher rate than the rest of the population. Even though they made up less than 0.25% of the British population, Jews payed for 8% of the total income of the royal treasury (Jewish Virtual Library). As a result of the higher taxes the moneylenders were forced to raise their interest rates. This angered the Christians indebted to them, causing mobs to attack Jewish communities and burn Jewish establishments. One character in Ivanhoe, Isaac of York, is a moneylender. Isaac has a lot of money to lend, however, which attracts a lot of attention from Christians. Reginald Front-de-Bouf even threatens to torture him after Isaac refuses to pay the ransom for his captured daughter. Sir Walter Scott opens chapter five, the chapter where Isaac is introduced, by quoting Shakespeare’s Merchant of Venice – “Hath a Jew not eyes? Hath not a Jew hands [and]
passions? Fed with the same food, hurt with the same weapons . . . as a Christian is?” Scott wants the reader to believe that the Jewish people are the same as Christians. The main character in Scott’s book, Wilfred of Ivanhoe, treats the Jews around him with respect. If Scott were anti-Semitic, he would have made his main character be so. Ivanhoe is in love with the Jewish woman Rebecca, until he finds out that she is a Jew. Because society would forbid them to ever be married, the two cannot be together, but Ivanhoe saves Rebecca’s life when she is in danger.
When Sir Walter Scott wrote Ivanhoe, he made a comment on the antisemitism in his own time through the actions of his characters. Discrimination against Jews was very prominent in the 19th century, as it had been since the 12th.