Stage Irish
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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Stage Irish or Paddywhackery is a stereotyped portrayal of Irish people once common in plays. The term refers to an exaggerated or caricatured portrayal of supposed Irish characteristics in speech and behaviour. The stage Irishman was generally "garrulous, boastful, unreliable, hard-drinking, belligerent (though cowardly) and chronically impecunious." This caricature includes many cultural outlets, including the stage, Punch cartoons and English language cliché, such as the terms "Paddywagon" and "hooligan." Collectively, this phenomenon is called "Paddywhackery."
The early stage Irish persona arose in England in the context of the war between the Jacobites and Whig supporters of William of Orange at the end of the 17th century. Later, the stage Irish persona become more comic and less threatening. Irish writers also used the persona in a satirical way.
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