Castle Rackrent

Throughout the novel, Edgeworth reveals the tension between rationality and feeling. On the one hand, there is the editor’s effort to document the doings of an Anglo-Irish family with as much authenticity as possible and tell a “plain unvarnished tale”; however, in order to this, they must invoke the mouthpiece of Thady, who is characterized by his “partiality” to the Rackrent family (2, 3).

The fact that Thady is so emotional and commits such non-masculine acts such as falling into moods and crying makes him more authentic a narrator to the Enlightenment-period English reader, who maintains the stereotype that Englishmen are rational, whereas Celts are sentimental and erratic. Thady’s narration is full of affection for the Rackrent—and formerly O’Shaughlin—institution, which he is “proud to say” is one of “the most ancient in the kingdom” and extends to a strong favor of the family, even when their ineffective leadership is causing him and those like him to suffer (8). He clings to the idea that Sir Condy is ever the promising “white-headed boy” who sat on his knee as a child, even when his passivity, reliance on drink, and profligacy in spending are a liability (39). As a narrator, Thady is somewhat objective: he observes the Rackrents’ misdeeds and mismanagement, so that the reader can see them, but does not pass judgment.