A Presentation of Jews in the Renaissance:

I have always been interested and passionate about the struggles of other people throughout history. For my research topic this semester, I delved deeper into something that has been present all through the years—anti-Semitism. Over the past months I have paid close attention to and explored the anti-Semitic focuses on many of the works of the Renaissance.
My academic career has been riddled with discovering instances in which the Jewish people are looked down on or persecuted. I am endlessly fascinated by how the Jews constantly strive to live their lives apart from the meaningless hate others may feel for them. I also found the fact that Jews came across as harmful, humorous, or toxic to nearly every culture since they first came to be as a group to be extremely interesting. History has seen them morph from acknowledged and learned (but never more than "just Jews") scholars, wearing their required gold circle badge, to just jokes of the day--never really human.

Today we still see examples of the Jews being set up to portray the old stereotypes. In the television show Family Guy, for instance, the only Jewish couple, Peter and Lois Griffin’s friends Mort and Muriel Goldman, own their own store and pharmacy. They are shown to have flaming red and curly hair, thick glasses, crooked teeth, and are known for their whiny neuroticism that has become a very “Jewish” character trait over the years—especially with the recent comedic style and success of the great Woody Allen.

With the illustrations and examples in literature to support my point, it is easy to see how the Renaissance was filled with anti-Semitism. Throughout the world and throughout time, they have been a people to bear the burden of the scapegoat. A hatred for the Jews is apparent in each work they are included in within the period of the Renaissance. This was my focus for a research topic and will continue to intrigue me. The way I see it, we must all educate ourselves on each version of the past so as to not recreate problems or keep others feeling oppressed or unusual.