"During the Irish Revival at the turn of the 20th century, Boucicault's plays were condemned as the vehicle of the "Stage Irishman," a caricature of the natives of the country that made the Irish the laughing stocks of English audiences, who drew the comforting conclusion that such people were unworthy of self-government" (Cody & Sprinchorn, 181).
Considering that some of the earliest stage Irishman representations presented people in Ireland as being savages or immoral individuals, Boucicault apparently wanted people to change their opinion regarding Irishmen by resorting to using comedy in his plays as a means of having his audiences understand that Irishmen are actually different from other nations. He intended spectators to comprehend that some of the particular characteristics in his people contained (among other traits) noble features. Boucicault gradually got audiences to laugh alongside of his Irish characters instead of laughing at them. Matters concerning the stage Irishman changed significantly as the world started to learn more about Irishmen and as people in Ireland developed a nationalist character.
The international public gradually developed a connection with the stage Irishman in the nineteenth century, as more and more plays started to show Irish individuals holding some of the most recognized features that audiences enjoyed seeing in characters. As a response to the fact that the public demanded the stage Irishman to be present in the plays that it attended, playwrights turned their focus on introducing Irish stereotypes in a series of writings, adapting them to other elements that audiences were fond of during the period with the purpose of creating the perfect recipe.
Using a stage Irishman concept as a means to fuel playwrights such as "The Irish Tutor or New Lights" present Irishmen who are virtually unable to get in control and fail...
Given that English audiences were one of the main sources of income for playwrights in Ireland, it was difficult for them to detach their works by putting into public view matters that spectators were not necessarily fond of.
The stage Irishman sold and everyone knew it. Even in Boucicault's case, the writer felt obliged to act in accordance to the public's demands and in spite of his efforts to put Irishmen in his plays in a good light, it was mandatory for him to introduce several Irishman stereotypes in order for audiences to actually enjoy his plays to the fullest.
The Irishmen in Brougham's were definitely inspired from the stage Irishman concepts. However, the Irish characters in the playwright's works expressed a unique feature, one that was related to an Irishman's ability to adapt rapidly to any circumstances. Brougham's stage Irishman appeared to be different from the standard stage Irishman most probably as a result of the fact that the playwright got accustomed to writing in accordance to American principles.
Brougham continued, to a certain degree, to use the general image of the stage Irishmen, but did so by presenting them in positions that benefited Irishmen as a whole. His characters took on daring missions and emerged victoriously, proving that they were actually capable of becoming prosperous and going against a series of Irishman stereotypes.
Playwrights apparently dealt with the Irish characters in their writings depending on the audiences that they targeted. American playwrights were related to successful and less discriminating stories whereas English playwrights reflected the discomfort expressed by Englishmen in regard to people living in Ireland.
Works cited:
Cody, H. Gabrielle and Sprinchorn Evert. "The Columbia encyclopedia of modern
drama, Volume 1." (Columbia University Press, 2007)
Flynn, "Joyce Sites and Sights: The Iconology of the Subterranean in Late Nineteenth-Century Irish-American Drama," MELUS 18.1 (1993)
Vernon, Grenville Yankee Doodle-Doo: A Collection of Songs of the Early American Stage (New York: Payson & Clarke, 1927)
