Who is a usurer? This is a person who deals with money loans. Today this is the name of a person or organization that lends at very high interest rates. Moneylender is a negative word. A significant role in the blackening of the representatives of the ancient profession was played by writers. In their works, loan sharks are, as a rule, money-grubbers, harnessers, and scoundrels.
A bit of history
The meaning of the word "money-lender" became known to people even before the money appeared. It sounds, of course, in different languages in different ways. In English - usurer. In German - wucherer. Moneylenders are people who have been, are and will be. Borrowing money is a service that will hardly ever lose demand.
Moneylenders in our country a hundred years ago were contemptuously called extortionists. From the word "famously", that is, "grief", "trouble." They were hated, they were wished for evil, they were cursed. At the same time, none of the representatives of the respected profession came home to the future client himself. Usually everything happened exactly the opposite: a person who was in a difficult situation went to the usurer’s house, then returned home with the necessary amount.
Sometimes it was not possible to return the money on time and the interest-maker, according to Dostoevsky, had to be sent to the other world. It was necessary to return to the poor fellow the sum two times exceeding that which the mortgage agent loaned to him. It was impossible to ignore debt. The moneylender had its own bookkeeping, in addition, his interests were protected by the state. In order not to be in a debt hole, the unfortunate fired or repeated the feat of Raskolnikov.
But were all usurers rascals? Perhaps they simply did not arouse sympathy among writers, creative people, as you know, often in need? Perhaps a negative attitude towards them arose due to the huge number of negative characters. The moneylender is a person who does not quite a noble cause. But as Marshak said, all professions are important and necessary. In fact, a negative attitude towards usurers arose a very long time ago. Prose writers and poets have nothing to do with this.
The opinion of the sages on usury
One thinker who lived several centuries BC claimed that money does not bear any fruit, and therefore it is not permissible to use it for profit. Thomas Aquinas fully agreed with his predecessor. The medieval philosopher also regarded usury as dishonest activity. And once he even expressed a rather unusual point of view. Thomas Aquinas said that the moneylender is engaged in nothing more than the sale of time. A rather complicated idea, understandable only to people of the Middle Ages. But we found out the main thing: the extortioners, interest-holders and lenders were never held in high esteem.
Modern usurers
It is worth recalling that in the Middle Ages, and much later, interest-holders did what pawnshops do today. Nevertheless, the recent rejection of citizens does not cause. Significantly more negative emotions are generated by small credit organizations, lending money at an unjustifiably high percentage.
Sometimes news reports appear in the press about how in the city of N a certain citizen committed suicide due to the inability to pay the debt to the bank. Such stories are too sad to be compared with plots from Russian classics. In the early 1990s, there were few banks in Russia; they did not give out consumer loans. The role of the credit organization was performed by criminal elements. The stories of people who have met such "entrepreneurs" are no less sad. All this confirms the fact that usury is not only an ancient occupation, but also immortal.
"Moneylender Death"
As already mentioned, such characters are often found in literature. There are many examples, so here is one of them. Sadriddin Aini wrote the story Death of the Moneylender, and in 1967 the book was filmed. The work deals with the events of 1917, where the protagonist owed a large sum to the usurer at the time. The extortionist, having lost hope of returning her money, takes the sister of the main character into a concubine, then sells it to another villain.