Palacky University Olomouc Philosophical Faculty Department of English and American Studies

IRIS !U"#URE $ Irish Identity through Eyes of the English

Olomouc% $&'( "enka )outn*

Irish identity through the Eyes of English #hroughout the history the countries of Ireland and England +ere seen as t+o neigh,ours having a long an on-going dispute. For a long time% Ireland had ,een merely a younger re,ellious si,ling desperately imitating its idol. #his assumed that it +as Ireland +ho +anted to follo+ the steps of England and ,ecome its reflection. /ut as Declan )i,erd points out in his ,ook Inventing Ireland: The Literature of the Modern Nation, 01i2f Ireland had never e3isted% the English +ould have invented it.4 ' Ireland has al+ays ,een seen as a counterpart to its greater neigh,our% England. #hroughout history those t+o countries fought against each other for the independence and freedom% taken ,y the po+er of the )ingdom. #he country +as seen as a place of primitive and ,ar,arian people +ho +ere in need of cultivation and proper re-education% no dou,t conducted ,y the English. And therefore

England sa+ a great opportunity to take the pain to complete this uneasy and devoting act% to purify the rigged people from their ignorance and ,lissfulness. In order to 5ustify its actions% +hich +ere ,y no means deli,erate% it had to come up +ith the image of Irish people. It +as easier to help poor savages% than completely normal% although someho+ different% peaceful people from a near,y near island. An island +hich +as significant for agricultural life% pure nature% and its environment% completely different from the capitalist England. So they turned to the English colonialists +ho +ere sent to Ireland to civili6e natives. #his task +as possi,ly 5ust a disguise for future coloni6ation of the island. o+ever% the first English settlers +ere not very fond of depriving the native people of land and as )i,erd notes% 0many 7orman settlers gradually ,ecame
1

Kiberd, Declan. Inventing Ireland. p.9.

more Irish than the Irish themselves.4 $ 8hy9 /ecause they kne+ ho+ to fit the English image of Irish people and someho+ +anted to ,lend in +ith the original population. /ut am,ition and prospect of +ealth and success gave a+ay their good nature and Ireland soon came to ,e called :not-England; denoting that it +as merely a counterpart to its greater and civilised neigh,our overseas< +ith :proper; Englishmen% the self-proclaimed saviour making the rules and controlling the affairs of Ireland.( #he identity of Ireland and Irish people has since its early history ,een ,ased on the English +ho created it. #hey had to invent someone +ho +as inferior to them in order to 5ustify the e3ploiting of land and its former inha,itants. Irish had ,een thought of as :strange% ,arefoot% ,ar,arian people% in ragged clothes and funny names.; It did not matter much that Irish +ere in many cases as intelligent and sophisticated as their English counterparts. Englishmen needed to create much more inferior image of natives% to ,e a,le to 5ustify their intentions and act as +ise and generous people +ho take the uneasy task to educate free uncontrolla,le spirits of the 8est. So sooner or later% the English coming to Ireland ,ecame +illingly =or against their +ill> tyrants. As )i,erd points out% it +as not merely a tyranny against opposing nations% ,ut rather against their very o+n selves% ,ecause the Irish looked very much like English.? #he English al+ays preserved themselves as the great% controlled and refined nation @ and so they +ere pleased to find someone of opposite nature.

2 3 4 5

Kilberd, Kilberd, Kilberd, Kilberd,

D. D. D. D.

p.9 p.9 p.10-11 p.

In the 8ild 8est% the green vast country +as full of passionate and red-hotheaded creatures +hich needed to ,e taught and civilised. #his +as a fitting place to set English virtues and so Ireland ,ecame almost a pro5ect. Even Sir 8illiam Parsons% +rote that A8e must change their course of government% clothing% customs% manner of holding land% language and ha,it of life =B> it +ill other+ise ,e impossi,le to set up in them o,edience ...A C Everything in name of Irish +ell-,eing% so +hy to ,lame England9 #he stereotypes of Irish people ,ecame +ell kno+n amongst English and penetrated even to the literary +orks. #he most prolific poets and +riters% among them Edmund Spenser% called for total cultural cleansing and everyone +as dreading the conseDuence of cultural hy,ridity. E 0#he Faels must ,e redeemed for their +ildness< they must cut their gli,s of overhanging hair =+hich concealed their plotting faces>< they must convert their mantels =+hich often concealed offensive +eapons> into conventional cloaks< a,ove all% they must speak the English tongue.4G #his Duote does not point only to the +ild appearance of Irish people% ,ut also to their possi,le criminal and violent nature% +hich +ould engender the goodhearted English. /y such proclamations% English people +ere afraid not only of the savagery and ,ar,arism of Irish% ,ut also the language +as posing a threat to civilised nation of England. So the Irish +ere struggling not 5ust for their o+n image and identity% ,ut also for the Irish language itself. English society +as much stronger and therefore ,ecame full of self-pronounced lords% +hich deprived Irish not only of their land ,ut to some e3tent also the language. As mentioned ,efore% the aspects of Irish culture +ere
6 7 8

Kilberd, D. p.10 Kilberd, D. p.10-11 Kilberd, D. p.10

seen as primitive and ,ar,aric and English language +as in ma5ority of time superior to Irish in ,usiness and politics. H #herefore it +as not an easy task to preserve it in a +ritten form through literary +orks. #he gradual disuse of Irish language +as seen also through the speeches of such prolific politician as !harles Ste+art Parnell% +ho ,eing educated at !am,ridge% never learned the Irish language and so used the English language of his oppressors even during political speeches.'& #his led% as )i,erd points out% to pathetic situations ,ecause 0English had ,ecome the language in +hich the Irish nationalist case +as made< a kno+ledge essential for re,els +ho sought to defend themselves in court or for those agitators +ho +rote threatening letters to landlords4. '' #his meant that although the ma5ority of Irish +ere protesting against England and its rule and use of English as an official language of common affairs% they had to learn and use it in order to plead their cases in the court and also ne+s articles had to ,e produced in English if they +ere to ,e reprinted in English press% to attract the attention. o+ever% the Duestion of language did not apply only to everyday affairs of common people. Also the Irish +riters had to decide +hether to use the language of his or her homeland% or to choose the language of its oppressors. An important and to some e3tent deciding factor +as the audience. In the first case% he +as a,le to reach to the native audience% help the people to cope +ith the situations and affairs of their threatened land. On the other hand% +hen choosing the English language% the +orks could ,e targeted to+ards consumers in the rest of the +orld =also 7orth America>. /ut the English +ere e3pecting certain stereotypical images of Irish and their desires needed to ,e satisfied in order for the literary +ork to ,e

Kiberd, D. p.136 Kilberd, D. p.136 11 Kilberd, D. p.137

10

successful. So the Irish +riters themselves often e3ploited their o+n very nature employing the inferior image of savage Irishmen. '$ /ut even +hen they chose to picture the true Irish identity% not the one ,iased ,e the English people% they often failed to deliver the message. Sometimes they +ere 5ust too distant from the real life of common people that they +ere not a,le to share the same e3perience and matters. And it +as not 5ust a Duestion of language% ,ut also the use of it +hich trou,led the authors. Iany of them used English methods in dealing +ith Irish and therefore +ere prone to lose the tradition of their native language% leading to o,scure com,inations of Irish language and English utterance% and vice versa. '( /ut still resistance against English and their language +as seen among famous authors. As Jeats +roteK AIn Ireland% +here the Faelic tongue is still spoken. and to some lime e3tent +here it is not% the people live according to a tradition of life that e3isted ,efore commercialism% and the vulgarity founded upon it< and +e +ho +ould keep the Faelic tongue and Faelic memories and Faelic ha,its of mind +ould keep them% as I think% that +e may some day spread a tradition of life that makes neither great +ealth nor great poverty% that makes the arts a natural e3pression of life% that permits even common men to understand good art and high thinking% and to have the fine manners these things can give.4 '? In the past Ireland as an oppressed country had to shed their o+n image +hich +as merely created and imposed upon them ,y the English people. #hey had to struggle to preserve the a+areness of their o+n uniDueness and it +as not an easy task to keep the tradition and aspect of their very o+n selves alive. #hey had to shed the image of the nation +hich +as imposed upon them ,y the English 7o
12 13 14

Kiberd, D. p.137 Kiberd, D. p.137-8 Kiberd, D. p.139

matter ho+ far from the truth this image is% it is preserved in many literary +orks to this very date and still stays unDuestioned.

8orks !itedK

)i,erd% Declan. Inventing Ireland: The Lliterature of the Modern Nation . Lintage /ooks% 'HHC.