Stereotypier og satire: Jødeparagrafen debattert i tre norske dramaer 1844–1852

Abstract

In the period 1844–1852, several Norwegian plays were written that deal in various ways with Jews in Norwegian society in the era of the Jewish paragraph. In this article I investigate the political tendency in three of them: Jøden (cirka 1844) by Andreas Munch, En Jøde i Mandal (1849) by Adolph Rosenkilde, and Den første Jøde (1852) by Christian Rasmus Hansson. These comedies portray and thematize Jews, and they can be considered as posts in the debate about the Jewish paragraph. A key issue for the article is to investigate how the playwrights exploit the plays’ opinion-forming potential for conveying positive attitudes towards Jews and the idea that the Jews have a place in Norwegian society, but it also examines the different attitudes towards Jews that are voiced in the comedies.