Philo-Semitic Representation of Jewish Nationalism and Identity in Eliot’s Daniel Deronda

Abstract

This paper explores Daniel Deronda, which is a political novel where Eliot openly takes a stand for the Jewish cause and provides her solution to the Jewish Question. Eliot attempts to reveal through her book that Judaism which seems to have lost its fervour (due to Jewish conversions and expulsions), is not lost and remains at the very core of Jewish hearts and values. Through various instances in the novel, Eliot supports Jewish nationalism and their struggle for identity and rebukes British racial dominance and the literary antisemitic tradition