History Essay

I am just wondering would someone help me to correct me essay/look over it for me?
It is for a repeat exam so i would be truly grateful.

Discuss the treatment of landlordism in two or more module texts.

This essay will explain the treatment of landlordism in Maria Edgeworth’s novel's Castle Rackrent and also The Absentee. The essays will look at how Maria Edgeworth depicts the landlords at the time of the Rackrents and Colambres. It will also look at the main landlords in Castle Rackerent and The Absentee, Sir Patrick, Sir Murtagh in Castle Rackrent and Lord Colambre, his father Lord Colambre and mother Lady Clonbrony in The Absentee. These characters will be used to depict the treatment of Landlordism as i feel their attitudes were typical at this period. It will show how they acted during their tenure as landlords. The essay will also discuss the decline of the landlord population in Ireland and how this happened.
In the late 18th and early 19th centuries most of the land in Ireland was owned by wealthy landlords. These landlords were mainly Protestant and they made up only 10% of the total population of Ireland. These landlords rented out their land to Catholic tenants at high prices. This resulted in tenants becoming unhappy with landlords as many were unable to pay these high rents and therefore was evicted. There were many reasons for landlords to be fearful of their Catholic tenants and the surrounding Catholic community. They were fearful of attack from a very hostile Catholic majority who surrounded them. The cause of this hostile mentality was due to laws such as the Penal Laws which had deprived Catholic of many basic rights and also due to the poor treatment from landlords.
“Partially effective attempt to constrain religious practice and more heartfelt effort to deprive of landed and political influence.”
However in the novel Castle Rackrent and The Absentee peasant treat does not seem to exist as in did in most parts of the country. There was always the treat do of attack due to the poor way in which both the Rackrents and Clonbrony families treated the Catholic peasants. However as the essay will explain, the treat of the Rackrent family came within the house itself while the Clonbrony treat came from their absenece from their estate. Sir Patrick O’ Shuaghlin who inherited the Rackrent estate from Sir Tallyhoo Rackrent is the first landlord of Castle Rackrent that we learn about. Thady Quirke the narrator of the novel worked at a servant at Rackrent Castle during the Rackrent families’ ownership of the great estate. We see that Sir Patrick as landlord didn’t seem to take much care of the estate. He was more interested in throwing large parties and pleasing his guests. The Absentee starts by introducing Lord Clonbrony and his wife Lady Clonbrony who are in serious dept as they claim all they can from the estate and waste this fortune trying to get into the high society of London. Their son Lord Clonbrony who does not agree with this becomes a key figure in the story.
“On coming into the estate, he gave the finest entertainment ever heard of in the country- not a man could stand after supper but Sir Patrick himself, who could sit out the best man in Ireland, let alone the three kingdoms itself.”
This was common occurrence for landlords to throw large banquets while paying very little attention to their land. “Around their country houses revolved a social whirl of parties, heavy drinking, hunting, shooting, and fishing; picnics for the ladies, croquet for the gentlemen” Although Thady was only young when Sir Patrick was landlord he says how he heard of Sir Patrick being a generous landowner who was friendly to all. However Sir Patrick’s partying life style was causing great harm to the estate as its debts were starting to pile up. When Sir Patrick dropped dead during one of his parties the whole country was in shock as Sir Patrick was loved by rich and poor. “Never did any gentleman live and die more beloved in the country by rich and poor.” Sir Patrick was like many landlords of the late 18th century who seemed to be more interested in holding large gatherings and parties. This in turn affected the estate as Sir Patrick was wasting a lot of money on drink for his social and partying life.
'"If you knew all she endures to look, speak, move, breathe like an Englishwoman, you would pity her,"' said Lady Langdale. This was speaking about Lady Clonbrony showing she had no interest in the estate but rather to fit in the London upper class.
The Absentee showed the little attention the absent Landlords took of their estates in Ireland. Lord Clonbrony and his wife Lady Clonbrony who live in London had agents over their estate in Ireland. It was their son Lord Clonbrony, who always insisted Ireland was his home, who seen that his father had been betrayed and aflicting great power and authority over the local peasantry. The absance of Lord Clonbrony in Ireland over his estate is key in the story. When his son realises that his father is been cheated and the evil agents trying to convence Lord Clonbrony Snr to sign forms which would ruin honest peasents, it became his son Lord Clonbrony Jnr to get back to London in time to stop him from being tricked into signing the form. Lucky Lord Clonbrony got back just in time. The Absentee shows us the lack of interest for the well bneing of the peasents under the control of the landlords. Lord Clonbrony Jnr. who became a hero in the novel does show consideration to the peasants, a little like Sir Patrick did. It was evident his father took no real interest only to extract money to keep his wife, Lady Clonbrony happy.
After the death of Sir Patrick, Sir Murtagh became heir of the estate. When he came to the estate there were many debts. “This Sir Murtagh and my lady said, was all their former landlord Sir Patrick’s fault, who let ’em all get the half year’s rent into arrear”. Sir Murtagh was the opposite of Sir Patrick. When he became landlord he never held any parties or large gatherings. Instead he was a greedy landlord who had a lust for money. His wife Lady Murtagh was the same and they were both interested in money instead of the well being of their estate and happiness of the tenants. There mentalities were typical of landlords during the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Many landlords were only interested in money and this resulted in their tenants becoming unhappy and the decline of their estate. Sir Murtagh was a smart landlord who had a great knowledge of the law. He used this to his advantage as he took property and land of other people. He would also force his tenants to work. Thady said that “As for law, I believe no man, dead or alive, ever loved it so well as Sir Murtagh.” He would use the knowledge to bring suits against other people in other to make money of them or even gain land. “He used to boast that that he had a law-suit for every letter in the alphabet”.
Like Sir Murtagh we see very similar characteristics to Lord Clonbrony and his wife Lady Clonbrony. Altough many would claim that Lord Clonbrony was under complete control of his wife's absessions, he still played a critical role in the decline and depts of his estate. Lord Clonbrony and lady Clonbrony attempts to reach a high part of society in London. Their depths are generally from this wanting to climb the social ladder and simply for the highly endured lifestyle they live in London. The land in Ireland meant nothing to the Clonbrony apart from their son Lord Clonbrony. It was clear that his parents squeezed everything they could from the estate without thinking about the peasantry who deeply depended on it. This was as stated before the main problem with the treatment of landlordism.
Many Landlords in Ireland were like the following landlords (Sir Patrick, Sir Murtagh, Lord Clonbrony and Lady Clonbrony) who wasted their money on parties and high priced lifestyles. In Castle Rackrent they hoped to marry rich wives to claim their money, but when this failed they were left with ruined estates like that of the Rackrents. This also was the case in The Absentee where Lord Clonbrony would only feel he was to marry a woman who was legitimate and an heiress, Grace who was this person at the end of the novel. After the death of Sir Kit, Sir Connolly Rackrent inherits the estate. By now in Castle Rackrent, the decline of the estate is clear as it is heavily in debt. Sir Condy tries to act like Sir Patrick by holding lavish parties which he is unable to afford. In an attempt to raise money Sir Condy borrows money of his tenants. However unable to pay for these, Jason who is Thady’s son buys up Condy’s debts and orders him to pay up or hand over the estate. He can’t pay the money and loses the estate. Sir Condy’s partying lifestyle and inability to see what is happening has lead to him lose the estate. This resulted in the peasants being able to exploit the weakness of the Rackrent estate. The Absentee differed from this. Lord Clonbrony would help his father Lord Clonbrony pay of his depths. The story shows us the way in which the decline of the estate was going only for the influence of Lord Clonbrony's son Lord Clonbrony.
It is clear that Lord Clonbrony, Lady Clonbrony and the Rackrent's had no sense of a community function which would have been quite common in late 18th century and early 19th century Ireland. Landlords had nothing to do with their tenants except collecting the rent. Both families demise was their own fault. There treatment of the peasants, expensive lifestyles and lavish parties resulted in large debts. There obsession with power and money ultimately lead to their demise. The Rackrents, Lord Clonrony and his wife Lady Clonbrony didn’t fulfil their duty as landlords the way they should have and this lead to the large debts which started with Lord Clonbrony and also Sir Patrick who finally ended with the losing of the estate with Sir Condy. It is clear from reading the novels Castle Rackrent and The Absentee that the landlords didn’t treat their duty as landlord with the right responsibility. The decline of the landlord population in Ireland in the 19th century was due to the way landlords treated tenants and because they were unable to pay to keep their estates. We saw that this is exactly what happened in Ireland.
Bibliography

Edgeworth, Maria, Castle Rackrent( Oxford University 1999)

Hoppen, K. Theodore, Ireland since 1800, Conflict and Conformity, Second Edition, [Longman Ltd, Essex UK, 1999]

Tomas O Riordan, Landlordism, 2001, http://multitext.ucc.ie/d/Landlordism, [accessed March 11 2011]

Edgeworth, Maria, The Absentee (The Echo Library 2007)