Castle Rackrent

“We cannot judge either of the feelings or of the characters of men with perfect accuracy from their actions or their appearance in public; it is from their actions or their appearance in public; it is from their careless conversations, their half finished sentences, that we may hope with the greatest probability of success to discover their real characters.”

Edgeworth’s editorial comment that the “careless conversations” and “half finished sentences” of the biographer’s subject reveal their characters far better than their more public statements paves the way for Thady’s revelations of minutiae in his narrative. It is in the incidental reported actions that the reader can observe both his character and those of the various Rackrents.

“He was an illiterate old steward, whose partiality to the family in which he was bred and born must be obvious to the reader.”

Edgeworth emphasizes Thady’s authenticity and guilelessness; the fact that he is illiterate somehow makes him seem more trustworthy, because he has no recourse to the highfaluting rhetoric that can bring forth deception. She also draws attention to his fierce loyalty, perhaps asking the reader to be attentive to where his judgment might be clouded.

“When Ireland loses her identity by union with Great Britain, she will look back with a smile of good-humoured complacency on the Sir Kits and Sir Condys of her former existence.” 

Edgeworth anticipates that the dissolution of Ireland and the Irish identity, which has enabled the behavior of the Sir Kits and Sir Condys. These decadents will soon become a nostalgic figure of fun, rather than a current phenomenon. This is part of Edgeworth’s effort to emphasize that these figures were soon to be symbols of the past.