Language:
English
Year of publication:
2005
Titel der Quelle:
Philological Quarterly
Angaben zur Quelle:
84,3 (2005) 287-310
Keywords:
Siege of Jerusalem (Middle English poem) Criticism, interpretation, etc.
;
Jewish literature History and criticism
;
Antisemitism in literature
;
Christianity and antisemitism History 1500-
;
Jews in literature
;
Judaism in literature
Abstract:
In contrast to scholars who focus only on the antisemitism in the late 14th-century English poem, which is a vitriolic invective against the Jews for crucifying Jesus, argues that the gruesome imagery of mutilated bodies in the 1st-century Roman siege of Jerusalem also expresses sympathy for the Jews' suffering and criticism of Roman imperialism. "The Siege" reflects the view of Augustine that Jewish existence should be tolerated, even if for Christian theological reasons. The graphic description of the besieged Jews is a condemnation of the perpetration of the Roman "pogrom" and, indirectly, of the English one at York. The poet's distrust of imperialistic enthusiasm is, thus, connected with disgust for antisemitic violence.
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