Ambiguously Jewish: Difference between revisions

** Cohen the Barbarian. Besides his Jewish surname, there's that "wholesale destruction" joke. However, the stereotype wasn’t played up very often, and his name mainly serves as a pun.

** The entire dwarfish species is ambiguously Jewish, although the author says that this really wasn't his intention (so are the golems, and that almost certainly ''was''). ''Thud!'' added a clear, also probably unintended parallel between the Dwarvish minority in Ankh-Morpork and ''Muslims'' in the western world. It's a shame Ambiguously Semitic isn't a trope, really.

* In another odd case where the character is Jewish or Irish (or arguably both), the [[Corrupt Corporate Executive]] Melmotte in ''The Way We Live Now'' is a [[Fauxreigner]] who has likely altered his name to sound French. His wife is explicitly Jewish, and his name could be interpreted as a clever adaptation of the Jewish name Malamud, and there is a lot of prejudice by the author and characters which relies on the assumption that he is Jewish. David Suchet, who played him in the ''Masterpiece Theatre'' series, has Jewish ancestry. On the other hand, the author's notes during writing peg him at one point as an Irish-American originally named Malmedy. So, Melmotte's background basically depends on what [[Anthony Trollope]] was thinking about at any given point while writing.

* The Baudelaire orphans of ''[[A Series of Unfortunate Events]]'' are Jewish, according to [https://web.archive.org/web/20071219094234/http://www.momentmag.com/Exclusive/2007/2007-02/200702-Handler.html this interview by Daniel Handler]. Count Olaf uses expressions like "Truth, Schmuth", and has on at least one occasion disguised himself as a rabbi.

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Religion Tropes]]

[[Category:This Might Be an Index]]

[[Category:A Nice Jewish Index]]