“Fagin’s Political School” (Punch 1867)

Fagin’s Political School

John Tenniel

1867

Wood engraving

Punch (9 November 1867): 189

Signed with monogram lower right

The full caption below the image reads as follows: “Now, mark this; because these are things which you may not have heard in any speech which has been made in the city of Edinburgh. (Laughter and cheers.) I had — if it be not arrogant to use such a phrase — to educate our party. It is a large party, and requires its attention to be called to questions of this kind with some pressure. I had to prepare the mind of Parliament and the country in this question of Reform.” — Mr. Disraeli’s Speech at the Edinburgh Banquet.”

For commentary see below

Image from the Internet Archive web version of a copy of Punch in the University of Michigan Library.

[This image may be used without prior permission for any scholarly or educational purpose without prior permission as long as you credit this site and the Internet Archive.]

Commentary

The editorial cartoonist John Tenniel represents Benjamin Disraeli in the role of Fagin, the Jewish leader of a band of child pickpockets and thieves in Charles Dickens’s Oliver Twist particularly as he appears in a various illustrations (see below). Disraeli/Fagin instructs his fellow politicians in the criminal act of picking pockets, just as Dickens has Fagin instruct his gang of young street urchins. Tenniel has his Fagin demonstrate how to pickpocket the British public while Lord Derby (the middle of the three figures at right) and John Bright look on approvingly.

In addition to Tenniel’s clever use of Oliver Twist, there are two points about this cartoon worthy of mention. First of all, Punch, which had by and large approved of Disraeli’s efforts to extend the right to vote, here takes his Edinburgh speech as evidence of his dishonesty, whereas it could equally be seen as proof of his competent leadership. His listeners obviously thought that.

Second, we must note the obviously anti-semitic depiction of Disraeli, something that also occurs when cartoonists present him in the role of Shakespeare’s Shylock in the Merchant of Venice. In general Tenniel and other Punch cartoonists only draw Disraeli with an exaggerated hooked nose and other anti-Jewish stereotypical feartures when they oppose and even mock one of his policies, such as making Queen Victoria Empress of India. Here it is apparent pride in having “educated” (fooled?) the Tories that becomes a target for Punch’s satire.— George P. Landow

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Last modified 16 September 2017