The Image of the Big House as a Central Motif in The Real Charlotte Ess

The Image of the Big House as a Central Motif in The Real Charlotte The image of the 'big house' has long been a central motif in Anglo-Irish literature. From Maria Edgeworth's Castle Rackrent (1800), it has been a source of inspiration to many writers. One of the reason s for the surge in "castle rackrents" (a generic term employed by Charles Maturin) through the 19th and early 20th century, is that many writers who used the 'big house' as a backdrop to their work were residents of such houses themselves - writers such as Sommerville and Ross, George Moore and Elizabeth Bowen, were born into the ascendancy and wrote about an era and society with which they were familiar. However modern writers, such as Molly Keane and John Banville, have also found the romantic qualities of the 'big house' alluring and therefore have continued to use the era and setting as a backdrop in their works. The 'big house' genre has resulted in such an outpouring of works of this type of fiction, that one critic remarked: "seems to have flourished in direct proportion to the historical demise of the culture it seeks to display." [1] The Real Charlotte is set in a period, which can be described as the 'Indian Summer' of the Anglo-Irish Ascendancy. An 'Indian Summer' is a period of relative calm before the on set of winter: in this case it is a metaphor describing the life of leisure the Anglo-Irish Ascendancy lived with their grand tea parties, hunting, theatrical performances etc, pursuits and interests which W.B. Yeats associated with 'big house' life in general: "Life [which] overflows without ambitious pains." [2] However, this period of calm is followed by the onslaught of winter, with the Great Famine and the r... ...l Charlotte. Somerville and Ross were daughters of the Anglo-Irish Ascendancy, and as they wrote their novel based on their experiences, perhaps it was only natural that some aspects of The Real Charlotte depict the decay of Big Houses and the Ascendancy class. It is through the development of characterisation and setting, that Somerville and Ross artfully portray the demise of the Big House and it's inhabitants at the hand of ambitious middle classes, and as a result of political evolution. For this reason the novel is historically accurate in showing the decline of the Big House. But despite their historic downfall, the Big Houses of the Anglo-Irish Ascendancy have found a new lease of life in literature as the Big House genre, making reality what W.B Yeats once said: "Whatever flourish and decline These stones remain their monument and mine." [31]