The Origins of Totalitarianism by Hannah Arendt Summary Essay

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Summary of the Chapter "The Potent Wizard" from "The Origins of Totalitarianism" by Hannah Arendt

This chapter revolves around Benjamin Disraeli, who is portrayed as a very ambitious politician and was characterized by luck and fortune. He did not know the feeling of déclassé, and thus, he expressed his being a Jew through every aspect possible. He rose through the political ladder in London despite his family being not born in England. He had an excellent and deep understanding of society, as demonstrated in his saying, 'What is a crime among the multitude is only a vice among the few' (p.89), which could be used as an indication of the rise of the Mafia and Mob of the 19th century.

Another factor contributing to his success was his ability to 'absolute sincerity and unreserved' (p.90). He was born an Englishman, and England admired his Jewish history because Jews who had settled in the 18th century were educated and wealthy. Therefore, Disraeli embraced his Jewish roots as it made him a 'chosen man of the chosen race' and him being English as it was an excellent opportunity for him to pursue his political aspirations. Therefore, it was a major achievement for him to be elected a member of the 'Grillion's dining club' (p.91), and the ultimate achievement was a sincere friendship with the Queen.

Disraeli was generally popular and favored, and this is attributed to his greatest achievement that 'nobody said in private that would not have flattered and pleased him if it had been said in public' (p. 92). His success associating with Lord Robert Cecil and his ambition corresponded to Carlyle's heroes. However, his ambition and desire to distinguished longing for the aristocratic society were not unordinary of the middle class of England. Driven by his ambitions, he joined the Conservative Party and followed a policy that would always 'select the Whigs for hospitality and the Radicals for alliance' (p. 93).

In no European country did the middle class achieve enough to reconcile their intelligence with their place on the social ladder.

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For instance, the unhappy German philistine noticed Disraeli's struggle to achieve nobility and the general need to 'protect aristocratic titles against bourgeois money' (p.93). This is best illustrated by the development of, among others, vague blood theories and strict control of marriages.

Nevertheless, rich, middle-class men could buy titles, and thus, the aristocracy was haunted. To defeat this rush for the autocracy, Disraeli developed a theory that argued that 'Englishmen are from a parvenu and hybrid race, while himself was from the purest blood in Europe,' 'Arabian laws and Syrian customs regulated life as a Briton,' and 'Jewess is the queen of heaven' (p.93).

These arguments touched the weakest point in the aristocratic race theory and started race opinions with Judaism being degenerated into a simple birth among assimilated Jewry. Disraeli and fellow Jews believed to be the children of God, without believing in God. However, he emphasized the superiority of race as the race was related to blood, which denoted the only one aristocracy, the 'aristocracy of nature' (p.94), resulting from the unmixed race.

Disraeli's theories had a counter effect, where the Jewish intelligentsia was caught up in the general secularization process. Jewish piety on messianic hope and the faith in the chosenness of the Israeli was targeted for dilution (p.95). Through secularization, modern Jewry produced a paradox through Jewish assimilation, which engendered Jewish chauvinism (P.96). This paradox was most powerful in Disraeli, for he was an English imperialist and a Jewish chauvinist, and England was the Israel of….....

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