ABSTRACT
This chapter investigates Anthony Trollope’s portrayal of Jewishness by using two contemporaneous marriage scandals and most especially Darwin’s controversial racial theories in The Descent of Man. Trollope has often been criticized for creating anti-Semitic portrayals of Jewish men, including in this novel, but Cameron argues that cultural and historical context leads to a more nuanced understanding of his narrative strategies. Specifically, Cameron examines Trollope’s appropriation of Darwin’s theories in his portrayal of Jews with a close reading of this topic in The Prime Minister, with references to several other novels by Trollope including The Way We Live Now . Like his mother before him, his treatment of controversial social issues often brought them to the surface especially when most Victorians did not want to deal with them. Instead, Trollope’s criticism of anti-Semitism was often itself criticized, and his publicizing of two current marriage scandals resulted in his social satire being overlooked.
