Jews have long been a target of discrimination and persecution, even as far back as in the medieval times. They were discriminated against and humiliated, ostracized by the society, stereotyped as group of avaricious money-lenders, accused of crimes that they had not committed and worst yet, being persecuted in massacres. Different literary and historical sources evince the above human condition. A closer look at the various sources leads us a detailed exploration of the predicament faced by Jews in the medieval time.

One such source is Ivanhoe, a contemporary literary source. The storyline of the novel paints a vivid picture of the predicament faced by the Jews in the medieval time. The story is set in England. The Jews at that time were underdogs who were ridiculed, rejected, and had no ways to get even. They even had to face expulsion from their...