A Seductress Constructed: The Female Jewish Moneylender of Regnard’s Le joueur

Authors of seventeenth-century France engaged in literary constructions of the Jew although they had little or no direct contact with a Jewish population. Mme La Ressource of Regnard’s 1697 Le joueur merits particular attention because she is one of the rare fictional constructs of a Jewish woman. As a moneylender, she supports the gambling habit of the play’s protagonist, Valère. Beyond this immediate purpose, she functions as a foil to Valère’s chaste sweetheart, Angélique; she is a seductress who commodifies and corrupts. This article analyzes how these functions stem from Mme La Ressource’s particular construction as a female Jewish moneylender.