Castle Rackrent by Maria Edgeworth

First published: 1800, as Castle Rackrent: An Hibernian Tale, Taken from Facts and from the Manners of Irish Squires, Before the Year 1782

Type of work: Novel

Type of plot: Regional

Time of plot: Eighteenth century

Locale: Ireland

Principal characters

• Honest Thady Quirk, the narrator
• Sir Kit Rackrent, the owner of Castle Rackrent
• Sir Condy Rackrent, Sir Kit’s heir
• Isabella, Condy’s wife
• Judy Quirk, Thady’s niece
• Jason, Thady’s son

The Story:

After the death of Sir Patrick O’Shaughlin, his fine and generous master, Honest Thady Quirk finds himself working at Castle Rackrent for the heir, Sir Murtagh, a penny-pinching owner with a vicious temper. Lady Murtagh is also more interested in money than in the happiness of her tenants. After Sir Murtagh dies in a fit of temper, she strips Castle Rackrent of its treasures and goes to live in London. The estate passes to her husband’s younger brother, Sir Kit Rackrent, a wild, carefree man. Finding the estate in debt and heavily mortgaged, Sir Kit goes to England to marry a rich wife who will repair the estate and bring a dowry for his support.

At last, Sir Kit comes back with a wealthy wife, a Jew he married while staying in Bath. It is soon apparent to Honest Thady that there is no love between the honeymooners. One serious difficulty arises over the presence of pig meat on the dinner table. Lady Kit insists that no such meat be served, but Sir Kit defies her orders. When the meat appears on the table, Lady Kit retires to her room, and her husband locks her in. She remains a prisoner for seven years. When she becomes very ill and appears to be dying, Sir Kit tries to influence her to leave her jewels to him, but she refuses. It is assumed she will die shortly, and all eligible ladies in the neighborhood hope to become the next Lady Kit. Amid the controversy over his possible choice, Sir Kit is challenged and killed in a duel. Miraculously recovering from her illness, Lady Kit goes to London. The next heir is Sir Condy Rackrent, a distant cousin of Sir Kit.

Sir Condy Rackrent is a spendthrift but a good-natured master. Although the estate is more deeply in debt than ever, he makes no attempt to improve the condition of his holdings. Sir Condy soon begins a steadfast friendship with the family who lives on the neighboring estate. The youngest daughter, Isabella, takes a fancy to Sir Condy, but her father will not hear of a match between his family and the owner of Castle Rackrent. Sir Condy really loves Judy, the niece of Honest Thady. One day, in Thady’s presence, Sir Condy tosses a coin to determine which girl he will marry. Judy loses, and soon after Sir Condy elopes with Isabella.

He expected that Isabella would bring some money to the estate, but she is disinherited by her father when she marries Sir Condy. While the newlyweds live in careless luxury, the house and grounds fall further into neglect, to the distress of the servants and tenants. Learning of a vacancy in the coming elections, Sir Condy decides to stand for Parliament. He wins the election, but too late to save himself from his creditors.

Honest Thady’s son, Jason, a legal administrator, helps a neighbor buy up all Sir Condy’s debts. With so much power in his hands, Jason scorns his own father. When Lady Condy learns that her husband’s debtors are closing in on him, she complies with the demands of her family and returns to her father’s house. Sir Condy writes a will, in which he leaves his wife all the land and five hundred pounds a year after his death. When Jason demands payment for the Rackrent debts, Sir Condy explains that he cannot make it because he gave an income of five hundred pounds a year to Lady Condy. Jason thereupon insists that Sir Condy sell Castle Rackrent and all the estates to satisfy his creditors. Having no other recourse, Sir Condy agrees. The five hundred a year is still guaranteed for Isabella. Thady is grief-stricken that his son maneuvered in this way against Sir Condy, and it causes a break between them. When Lady Condy’s carriage is upset and she is nearly killed, Jason, assuming she will surely die, hurries to Sir Condy with a proposal that he sell him Lady Condy’s yearly income. Sir Condy, needing the cash, complies with Jason’s proposal.

Judy married, in the meantime, and her husband died. She pays a call on Sir Condy, who is staying at Thady’s lodge. The old servant feels certain that Judy will now become Lady Rackrent, but Judy tells her uncle that there is no point in becoming a lady without a castle to accompany the title. She also hints that she might do better to marry Jason, who at least holds the lands. Thady tries to dissuade her from such a thought, but Judy is bent on acquiring a fortune.

Sir Condy, who long indulged in an excess of food and drink, suffers from gout. One night at a party, he drinks a large draught too quickly and dies a few days later. After Sir Condy’s death, Jason and the now-recovered Lady Condy go to court over the title of the estate. Some say Jason will get the land, and others say Lady Condy will win. Thady can only guess the results of the suit.

Bibliography

Butler, Marilyn. Maria Edgeworth: A Literary Biography. London: Oxford University Press, 1972. The standard biography, eloquent and reflecting scrupulous research in Edgeworth family papers and correspondence. Includes information on the Edgeworth family’s relationship with their retainers and tenants and on the reception of the novel.

Harden, Elizabeth. Maria Edgeworth. Boston: Twayne, 1984. A fine survey of Edgeworth’s life and work that stresses her theme of “the education of the heart” through the various phases of her development. Close analysis of the narrative strategies of Castle Rackrent. Includes a useful annotated bibliography.

Hollingsworth, Brian. Maria Edgeworth’s Irish Writing. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1997. Hollingsworth examines Edgeworth’s Irish works, including Castle Rackrent, to explore her attitudes toward vernacular language and regionalism. Includes detailed notes and a bibliography.

Kaufman, Heidi, and Chris Fauske, eds. An Uncomfortable Authority: Maria Edgeworth and Her Contexts. Newark: University of Delaware Press, 2004. The editors have collected essays examining Edgeworth’s works within various cultural and ideological contexts. Includes an analysis of Castle Rackrent.

Kowaleski-Wallace, Elizabeth. Their Fathers’ Daughters: Hannah More, Maria Edgeworth, and Patriarchal Complicity. New York: Oxford University Press, 1991. Contains a substantial discussion of Edgeworth’s life and works and her place in literary history, considered from the perspective of her place in the history of women’s writing.

McCormack, W. J. Ascendancy and Tradition in Anglo-Irish Literary History from 1789 to 1939. New York: Oxford University Press, 1985. Contains a consideration of Castle Rackrent in the light of the ideological implications of its treatment of social class. A sophisticated contribution to the sociology of the Irish novel.

Nash, Julie. Servants and Paternalism in the Works of Maria Edgeworth and Elizabeth Gaskell. Burlington, Vt.: Ashgate, 2007. Examines the servant characters in Edgeworth’s stories and novels, including Castle Rackrent, to show how her nostalgia for a traditional ruling class conflicted with her interest in radical new ideas about social equality.

‗‗‗‗‗‗‗, ed. New Essays on Maria Edgeworth. Burlington, Vt.: Ashgate, 2006. A collection of essays examining Edgeworth’s work from a variety of perspectives, including analysis of Castle Rackrent.

Ó Gallchoir, Clíona. Maria Edgeworth: Women, Enlightenment, and Nation. Dublin: University College Dublin Press, 2005. A reassessment of Edgeworth’s place in Irish literature that focuses on her views on gender and her depiction of Ireland from the 1790’s until the aftermath of Catholic emancipation and parliamentary reform. Includes an analysis of Irish identity in Castle Rackrent.

Owens, Cóilín, ed. Family Chronicles: Maria Edgeworth’s Castle Rackrent. Dublin: Wolfhound Press, 1987. A compilation of previously published critical views of Castle Rackrent, covering the work’s genesis, its contexts, and some of its critical dimensions. Contains a full bibliography of other sources on the novel.