Esther M. Zimmer Lederberg
Racism and Anti-Semitism in Dickens

Background

In fact, the topics included in this examination of Charles Dickens are not limited to racism/Colonialism and anti-Semitism, but must of necessity go beyond and include aspects of gender (inequality of women) as well as social injustices found in a society emerging from dominance of a landed gentry (aristrocracy) into a modern society characterized by the emerging Industrial Revolution.

Dickens is viewed by many of his readers as opposing social injustices, even campaigning against social injustices. In particular, most of his readers understand or assume that various characters in his novels or other written works disguise or re-live aspects of social injustice found in Dickens' life. Is this true? If this is not true, why do so many readers think it is true?

First, it should be clear that in fact, Dickens (represented by characters found in novels such as "David Copperfield") is most focused upon the class structure of Victorian England, and securing a position for himself among the priviledged classes. Enough literary criticism exists to support this conclusion. Suffice it to note such things as:

The injustices of a class-stratified society do not loom large for David Copperfield (Charles Dickens). This suggests examining the entire question of social justice for Charles Dickens and the characters he constructs to represent (consciously or otherwise) found in his writings.

Thus to answer the first question: "In particular, most of Charles Dickens' readers understand or assume that the various characters in Dickens' novels or other written works are a disguise and re-live aspects of the social injustice of class membership found in Dickens' life." Dickens is primarily concerned with injustices focusing upon his privileged class membership, not social injustices to the unprivileged lower classes. If Uriah Heep stuck to his lower class position, he would be less slimy. So long as Martha and Em'ly accept their membership in the lower class, they are good members of class-structured Victorian England.

Thus we still must answer the second question:

"Why do most of Charles Dickens' readers think or assume that various characters found in Charles Dickens' novels or other written works demonstrate (show) that Charles Dickens focuses upon social injustice found in Victorian England (not limited to class structure)?

This question is not new and has been broached and answered by Dickens specialists. Specifically, the population of England was becoming increasingly literate. It should not be forgotten that Dickens was an astute businessman! 1 Indeed, Dickens basked in his being considered a "word-painter" appealing to "all who see and read". "A student could learn drawing and improve his or her writing at the same time." The English population learned "the reading of the 'portrait/face'". "Dickens himself clearly states his use of portraiture as a literary tool in his preface to Martin Chuzzlewit. Here he notes that his characterizations are portraits, 'sketches' in which a 'character is delineated.'". It is pointed out that "'vivid portraiture is needed to help the audience recall characters from month to month...'" (as Dickens books are published as serializations). "'Charles Dickens,' the writer of artistic portraiture, versus, as some critics were wont to label him, 'Boz,' the mere popular caricaturist. It appeals to the growing middle-class taste for 'fine art'." To aid sales (considering loss of money due to counterfeits), Dickens facsimile signature is used consciously as a trademark: the marketing of images (to earn money). To be explicit, the supposed views of Dickens were used as advertising! The views that readers have is the consequence of rhetoric (propaganda) explicitly directed to persuade his audience of what they would like to think. 2

Questions Concerning Class Injustices Not Examined by Charles Dickens

The first section has established the fact that Charles Dickens is not interested in injustices in society outside of Dickens' class membership. Note that this question now extends beyond the characters employed by Dickens in his novels and other writing. Dickens is now open to examination on a more general basis.

  1. Was Dickens an anti-Semite?
  2. Was Dickens a racist, a rascist that supported British Colonialism?
  3. Did Dickens really care about the social injustices found in the emerging industrial capitalist society?
  4. How actively did Dickens portray women as socially inferior to men?

Was Charles Duickens Anti-Semitic?

A little history: Jews, as a consequence of the Crusades (circa 1000 AD), had sought refuge from persecution in England. Unlike Christians, Jews were allowed to lend money at interest. In this capacity they were very useful to the king, and lived under his protection. Noblemen and merchants also borrowed from Jewish moneylenders. By 1275 Edward I had developed a new system of banking and forbade the Jews to lend money. Anti-Semitic feeling was rife and Jews were often treated as scapegoats for the country's problems. In 1287 Edward I held 3,000 Jews to ransom in the Tower of London. Three years later he issued an edict expelling all Jews from England.

The schism between Catholicism and Protestantism lead to the Holy Inquisition. In accordance with the Inquisition, property of Jews, Protestants, etc. could be seized. Thus the business interests of English Protestants was placed in jeopardy. The Portuguese Inquisition started circa 1536. The British were very active in Portugal thus their property needed to be protected (Methuen treaty: 1703). Thus at this time period, Jews were readmitted to England by Cromwell in 1656. How were Jews viewed in England at this time? Shakespear's character Shylock (Merchant of Venice, 1596-1598) is an eloquent expression of this matter. By 1847, Rothschild had been elected to Parliament, but could not be seated as Rothschild refused to swear by a Christian oath of office. Note that 1847 is the time period of Dickens. Thus the general attitude towards Jews during Dickens' time was one of prejudice. Consider the then popular "Jews's Song":

THE JEW IN GRAIN;
OR THE DOCTRINE OF AN ISRAELITE
.
To be sung in High German Dialect
.
I once was but a pedler, and my shop was in my box,
So sure as I'm a smouch 3 , and my name is Mordecai;
And I cheated all the world, in spite of whipping-posts or stocks,
For I never sticks to trifles when dere's monies in the way.
I had good gold rings of copper gilt, and so I got my bread,
With sealing-wax of brick-dust, and pencils without lead.
In my pick-pack, nick-nack, shimcrack, tick-tack, tink lum tee,
And de shining chink to clink is de moosick still for me.
"Now vatsoever country by chance I travel through
" 'Tis all the same to I, so the monies but comes in.
"Some people call me tief, just because I am a Jew,
So to make them tell the truth, why I think there is no sin.
"Then I shows them all my goods, with a sober, winning grace,
"And sometimes pick their pockets while they're smiling in my face."
With my pick-pack, &c.
To make up goods the cheaper some people steal the stuff,
And by selling of good bargains they never want for trade;
But I could always find the way to sell them cheap enough,
As you know 'tis quite as easy for to steal them ready made.
And though I'm not a Christian, I should think it very great sin
When a stranger comes across me if I would not take him in,
With my pick-pack, &c.
Or suppose I do the business of a doctor, or a priest,
And in want of my assistances a poor man sent for me,
As in doing of my duty I would mind myself at least;
If I spy a good fat piece of pork, and he could give no fee,
He may think I would refuse it—bless my soul, he is mistaken,
I could sell it; if not, eat it, so that would not save his bacon.
With my pick-pack, &c.
Or if I was a judge, or a justice of the peace,
Whenever prosecutors brings a thief before the bench,
If they swear upon the book till they was all black in the face,
Let the prisoner use good arguments, a fig for evidence;
But if the rogue was pennyless, my work I would go through,
As my conscience would not let me rob the gallows of its due.
With my pick-pack, &c.
Or suppose I was in Parliament, the scheme I would propose,
So sure as I'm a smouch, and my name is Mordecai,
Would be like the little plough-boy, to sell my ayes and nos,
For I never sticks for trifles when there's monies in the way.
And before I would stand out, when there's plenty of the pelf,
If the devil was the purchaser, by Cog, I'd sell myself.
With my pick-pack, &c.
"And if I should go down to the vorld vat is below,
"Where the devil, as folks say, lives in constan smoke and fire,
"To meet with all those friends what I cheats on earth, you know,
"And to be a pedler still, that's all vat I desire.
"For after such good practice, my trade I can't forbear,
"So you must look dev'lish sharp, or I'll cheat you all down there."
With my pick-pack, &c. 4

When a Jewish friend criticized Dickens for labeling Fagin, the receiver of stolen goods in "Oliver Twist", as "the Jew," the distinguished author replied: "It unfortunately was true of the time to which that story refers, that that class of criminal almost invariably was a Jew". 5 Eliza Davies wrote to Dickens, concerned about Dickens' portrayal of Fagin as a "vile prejudice against the despised Hebrew". Eliza Davis wrote to Dickens as "he was such an influential person who could make a difference and affect a general prejudice." Eliza Davis asked Dickens if he could "justify himself or atone for a great wrong on a whole though scattered nation?" Dickens pondered, and thought it best to change references to "The Jew", using "Fagan" instead. Did Dickens feel that the change was necessary else he be viewed as anti-Semitic? We need only examine Dickens' reply to Eliza Davies: "I must take leave to say that if there be any general feeling on the part of intelligent Jewish people that I have done to them what you describe as a great wrong, they are a far less sensible, a far less just and a far less good tempered people than I have always supposed them to be." To be fair, however, we must place Dickens in his time. Is it surprising that Dickens shared in such prejudiced views? Dickens' characters, such as Fagin were in historical accord with Shakespear's Shylock. The public expected this. The various theatrical performances of "the Merchant of Venice" or of Dickens' novels portrayed Jews as stereotyped villains. However, was Fagin the only anti-Semitic depiction of a Jew in Dickens' works?

To get an idea of the psychological climate towards Jews during Dickens' times, the following illustrations found in newspapers says much.

  1. Figure 6
  2. Figure 7
  3. Figure 10
  4. Figure 11
  5. Figure 16
  6. Figure 17
  7. Figure 19
  8. Figure 20

Now to continue with the discussion, specifically, was Fagin the only anti-Semitic depiction of a Jew in Dickens' written works?

"Throughout the novel ["David Copperfield"], David, perceiving the similarities between himself and this socially ambitious clerk, calls attention to Uriah's difference, as seen in Uriah's grotesque physique and his deviant sexuality, and these markers of difference serve to racialize Uriah, to mark him as 'other.' Racial stereotypes in Victorian England extended across economic, gender and sexual domains, and Uriah's character likewise amalgamates many social differences. Racial discourse, furthermore, incorporates the perverse class and sexual representations evident in Uriah's characterization. ... Uriah figures as the novel's ultimate scapegoat, with racial characteristics offering a key explanation for his deviant behaviour and appearance. While Uriah embodies an inclusive mark of racial difference, he may most clearly be aligned with anti-Semitic representations of 'the Jew'. The stereotyped Jew in Victorian England incorporated a variety of anxieties and demonstrating Uriah's similarities to this trop offers a way to identify his diverse collection of signs and stigmas. In demonstrating Uriah's particular villainies, and David's intense repulsion for this figure, Dickens draws on the long history of anti-Semitic associations and stereotypes. Uriah's appearance, his lust for money, and his dangerous sexuality all resemble the 'anti-Semite's Jew'."

Take note, this is an example of Dickens' refined ability to paint what he sees (ie: his prejudices or what he believes to be the prejudices of his audience). Continuing,

"... many Victorians claimed to be able to infer mental and psychological characteristics from simply identifying differences in skin colour or head shape and size. Yet even as racial categorization took on this cultural significance, it began with the simple act of looking at the body. While Victorian racial discourses were complex and varied, a key tenet was the privileging of English self-discipline as compared to the loss on control exhibited in 'other' races." The author goes on to note Uriah's red hair, just as Fagin in "Oliver Twist" had red hair. It is pointed out the colour code "...that a red wig was initially worn by the devil in medieval drama before being transferred to the Jew...". 6

"We have always entertained a particular attachment towards Monmouth-street, as the only true and real emporium for second-hand wearing apparel. Monmouth-street is venerable from its antiquity, and respectable from its usefulness. Holywell-street we despise; the red-headed and red-whiskered Jews who forcibly haul you into their squalid houses, and thrust you into a suit of clothes, whether you will or not, we detest. 7

This is an examination of Dickens' anti-Semitism, however, a more balanced view should be presented. Dickens was not only anti-Semitic, Dickens was also very anti-Catholic. To be more exact, Dickens felt that Popish Catholicism had earned a permanent red stain, dripping from the intruments of torture employed by the Holy Inquisition. 8

To those that revere Dickens, perhaps laud Dickens as one of the greatest English novelists, there may be a need to present Dickens in a "cleansed" light: in other words, to censor Dickens' true views concerning anti-Semitism? It has been pointed out that Dickens' anti-semitism was more explicit and pronounced in his letters. In fact, it has been pointed out that "This is true despite the fact that perjorative references to Jews have occasionally been censored from his letters. The restoration of such passages (a restoration promised in a new edition of the letters) will add a few instances to those I present here and below." In fact, Dickens even wrote of Christians (not Jews) "No news yet," he wrote in 1837, "from the 'infernal, rich, plundering, thundering old Jew.'" when writing about the publisher Richard Bentley, who Dickens knew wasn't Jewish. 9

One of the major difficulties one can have with Dickens is his inconsistencies! While Dickens expressed strong views of anti-Semitism when he was younger, yet Riah in "Our Mutual Friend" shows a decided shift away from anti-Semitism. Similarly, Dickens appears to vascillate in aspects of social justice: Dickens being so sensitive to the plight of those suffering injustice, yet Dickens calls for the extermination of peoples? What are we to make of these inconsistencies? Some people answer that Dickens' views matured as he matured. This is likely to be true, but also that Dickens was inconsistent due to his bourgeois (Biedermeier) outlook.

1 Dickens had to protect his interests as well. Consider that "... Edward Lloyd ... laid the basis of his publishing fortune, and evoked Dickens' almost apoplectic wrath, by supplying the penny market with imitations under such transparent titles as The Penny Pickwick, Oliver Twiss, Nickelas Nicklebery, and Martin Guzzlewit." See "The English Common Reader: A Social History of the Mass Reading Public, 1800-1900", by Richard D. Altick, Ohio State Univ. Press, Columbus, Ohio, 1957

2 "Literature in the Marketplace: Nineteenth-century British publishing and reading practices", edited by John O. Jordan and Robert L. Patten, Cambridge University Press, 1996, pp: 225, 228, 232, 235, 238, 241, 242.

3 Jew, thief.

4 "Dickens and the Jews", by Harry Stone, Victorian Studies 2, p. 228
"The Universal Songster or Museum of Mirth Forming the most complete, extensive, and valuable collection of Ancient and Modern Songs in The english Language with A copious and Classified Index, pp. 262-263

5 "How Shylock Became Fagin's Cousin: The Jewish Old Clothes Man in Shakespeare, Dickens, and Victorian Burlesque Theatre", by Michael Shapiro, University of Illinois. Paper presented at the University of California, Santa Cruz, Feb. 7, 2007

6 " 'Red-headed animal': Race, Sexuality and Dickens's Uriah Heep", by Tara Macdonald, Critical Survey, Vol. 17, 2005, pp. 48-62

7 " Sketches by Boz", Penguin 1995 reprint, Scenes, Chapter 6, Meditations in Monmouth-street, p. 96.

8 "Pictures from Italy", by Charles Dickens
         Anti-Catholicsm: See pp. 20, 23, 24, 43, 66, 67, 95, 110, 114, 133, 134, 139, 151, 155, 168, 181
         Anti-Semitism:

"And yet there were some business-dealings going on, and some profits realising; for there were arcades full of Jews, where those extrordinary people were sitting outside their shops, contemplating their stores of stuffs, and woollens, and bright handkerchiefs, and trinkets: and looking, in all respects, as wary and business-like, as their brethren in Houndsditch, London.", p. 93
[Note: Houndsditch was the section in London where old clothes were primarily to be traded, thus the Jewish section of London.]

"The little town of miserable houses, walled, and shut in by barred gates, is the quarter where the Jews are locked up nightly, when the clock strikes eight—a miserable place, densely populated, and reeking with bad odours, but where the people are industrious and money-getting. In the daytime, as you make your way along the narrow streets, you see them all at work; upon the pavement, oftener than in their dark and frowzy shops: furbishing old clothes, and driving bargains.", p. 150

9 " Dickens and the Jews", by Harry Stone, Victorian Studies 2, p. 232 [footnote 17]

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