Volume : 6, Issue : 7, July - 2017

A Foucauldian Discourse Analysis of Judaism in George Eliot�s Daniel Deronda

Alireza Farahbakhsh, Zohreh Ahmadi

Abstract :

<p>&nbsp;<span style="text-align: justify; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;, serif;">The present article aims to offer a Foucauldian reading of George Eliot&rsquo;s 1876 novel, <i>Daniel Deronda</i> according to Michel Foucault&rsquo;s theories of power and discourse.</span><span style="text-align: justify; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;, serif;"> Through analyzing Foucault&rsquo;s discourse of power in <i>Daniel Deronda</i>, George Eliot&rsquo;s view on the considerable subject of Jews and their religion is discussed. In other words, the concepts are explored in <i>Daniel Deronda</i> through the Christian and Jewish characters&rsquo; ideas about Jews and their religion. The present article reveals Jews&rsquo; limitations in the nineteenth century and their opposition with the essential problems through Jewish characters&rsquo; debate over the social issues in the novel. The article determines dominant powers operating within Jews through Daniel Deronda&rsquo;s views on them and shows Ezra Cohen Mordecai&rsquo;s resistance to these ideas.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:&#10;none;direction:ltr;unicode-bidi:embed"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:150%;font-family:&quot;Times New Roman&quot;,serif;&#10;mso-ascii-theme-font:major-bidi;mso-hansi-theme-font:major-bidi;mso-bidi-theme-font:&#10;major-bidi"><o:p></o:p></span></p>