Towards a Positive Image of the Jew in the Comedia

The image of the Jew in the comedia has been considered negative because Golden-Age dramatists were understood to be serious in propagating anti-Jewishness, which was part of the ruling ideology. This point of view does not recognize the irony in many anti-Jewish scenes; the presence of irony suggests that these dramatists did not share the official anti-Jewishness, and that they may have been using dissimulation: overtly reproducing official policy while, covertly, to protect themselves, subverting it. It is not surprising that these apparently anti-Jewish scenes are ironic, after all, these dramatists lived in an authoritarian society that turned life into theatre, and they belonged to a converso-humanist intellectual tradition of dissimulation. These two factors influenced their dramatic techniques, which may be described as double language. The above considerations indicate that the image of the Jew in the comedia is ironic and capable of a more positive interpretation than previously thought.