Blog #4: Religion and Class: Jewish Characters in The Seamstress and TWWLN

One of the items that really struck me when I was reading The Seamstress was the difference in the portrayal of and attitude towards Jewish characters as opposed to The Way We Live Now and even other “middle-class” literature I’ve read from this time period. This stands out most particularly in Chapter IX “The Three Visitors.—The Catastrophe.” One of the men sent to Duke Belmont to collect on his debt is described as

a tall, good-looking man, with that peculiar facial outline which denotes the Hebrew race: he was well dressed, had a gentlemanly appearance, and wore upon his features a certain air of frankness and good-nature which is not usually ascribed by tale-writers to individuals of his profession. The other two [men who accompanied him]were not of the Jewish family: nor had they at least so far as personal appearance went, anything to be proud of in that respect; —for their sinister countenances and ominous looks contrasted strangely with the frank and open-hearted aspect of the Jew. (27)

Contrast this with what we encountered with Breghert in The Way We Live Now or even the descriptions of Fagan in Oliver Twist or Mrs. Swarz in Vanity Fair. Even a passing familiarity with the characters points to a negative portrayal of the characters by other characters in the novel, if not by the narrator and/or author. While I am not overly familiar with working-class literature, I find it interesting that the stock-character version of the Jew is portrayed so differently and yet with several similarities as well.

Breghert is consistently shown as being respectful, even in the face of insult and blatant antisemitism such as that displayed by Mr. Longstaffe, and the character in The Seamstress is similarly “properly respectful, without being servilely cringing or fawning” (27). Both men are involved in money-matters, Breghert as a banker and Mr. Solomon as a financial agent of sorts employed by Mr. Collinson. Furthermore, it is the aristocracy/landed gentry which appear to hold the most hostility towards Jewish characters. The Longstaffes and the Monograms look down upon Georgiana’s attempted connection with Breghert and in The Seamstress, Duke Belmont “who was so proud—so haughty—and who entertained such an aversion for the race which belongs to the individual to home he was thus anxiously and earnestly imploring a boon” (28).

While both texts portray their Jewish characters as being physically distinctive, Mr. Solomon is still attractive, well dressed, and “had a gentlemanly appearance” while Breghert is described as fat, not-well dressed, known for dying his beard, and overall vulgar in appearance. Furthermore, Reynolds points several times to the “aversion” of the upper-classes, implying that the lower classes (his readers) do not possess the same aversion and as such are better than their higher-ups. The same straightforward denunciations of anti-semitism do not, as far as I can recall, appear in The Way We Live Now or any of the other middle-class literature texts I’ve encountered. That is not to say it does not occur, I have not read enough to draw a sweeping conclusion, but I think it would be interesting to discuss and consider the different class reactions to Jewishness and how they are portrayed.