From Slapstick to Sentimentality: ‘Bridget’ and Sexuality
摘要
Irish servants’ bodies often provided a canvas on which to illustrate contemporary concerns and desires, although their intimate lives were perceived differently over time and geographic space. This chapter begins by examining the construction of domestic workers as sexually charged figures during the late nineteenth century. It discusses the Victorian tendency to connect physical dirt and moral disorder, highlighting how servants provided a rhetorical counterpoint to the perceived purity of bourgeois women. The chapter then considers comic representations of servants’ interactions with men, especially working-class suitors. From there, the discussion turns to the perspective of Irish reformers and social commentators who voiced concerns about the safety of single Irish female immigrants. The final section of the chapter focuses on romantic portrayals of Irish servants in the US during the inter-war years, arguing that these more sentimental plots reflected not only the increased social status enjoyed by Irish-American women but also the growth of a conservative discourse aimed at promoting traditional ideals of womanhood.