'Come to reign over us again': the representation of a new gentry in Maria Edgeworth's 'Irish' novels

Abstract

This thesis is centred around a critical analysis of the representations of native Irish, Anglo-Irish and Ireland itself in Maria Edgeworth's four so-called 'Irish' novels - Castle Rackrent, Ennui, The Absentee, and Ormond- in particular, of Edgeworth's representation of an idealized Anglo-Irish 'new gentry' who will resolve social and political unrest and bring unity and peace to Ireland. As instances of colonial discourse, Edgeworth's 'Irish' novels are split between an apparent authority and transparency - as assertions of Anglo-Irish legitimacy - and their implicit acknowledgement of the problematic nature of a colonial authority whose singularity is undercut by its necessary recognition of the racial/cultural 'difference' of the colonized. This thesis focuses on the strategies employed by Edgeworth in her production of narratives which assert the necessity of colonial power, and the ambiguities and uncertainties which perpetually undermine such an assertion within the text. Ultimately, the depictions of a blissful union between Anglo-Irish and native Irish in these texts are denied by the very nature of colonial power: as Homi Bhabha points out, colonialist power is based on the radical difference of the colonized people. For such a union to take place, the gap between 'civilized' Anglo-Irish and 'barbaric' native Irish would have to be nullified. This, however, becomes unthinkable since the Anglo-Irish 'right to rule' is dependent on such a gap. The failure of such a union is a failure which is built into colonialist discourse itself.