Mooretoons

It’s okay, Molly. We all get confused sometimes. Perhaps not that confused, however.

The stereotype of the Irish maid as a fussy, somewhat ridiculous character, goes back to at least the Victorian era. I was reading Life After Life by Kate Atkinson around the time I started developing ideas for Otherworldly Goods; two of her characters are maids: Mrs. Glover is the domineering cook who berates Bridget, the young and naive maid who is often ditsy, sentimental, and used for comic relief (except when she is subjected to tragic events. Uh, spoilers?). That got me thinking about the stereotype. You see it in Downton Abbey, especially Daisy, the kitchen maid who eventually gets promoted to assistant cook; the show is sympathetic to her, but still uses her for laughs. The stock character permeates drawing room comedy and upper class Victorian/Edwardian drama. As this chapter in Irish Stereotypes in Vaudeville explains, the stereotype arose from middle class (mostly WASP) frustration with working class Irish women who had not yet received the training necessary to deal with cultural and technological expectations of a modern domestic servant. 

So why bring her into the Otherworld of Fetch? It’s silly and amuses me, I guess. I’m playing a lot with Irish and Scottish tropes, folklore, and mythology; and class politics are obviously a theme in this story. Molly seemed like a natural fit. Will I “subvert the trope”? Damned if I know. Given that we’re in the Unseelie Court, we might see a darker side to Molly, as suggested by this fascinating study of the vengeful Irish maid in early American movies. (Note: that link is a preview of a journal article hidden behind a firewall. Your local public library might have JStor access.) Or Molly might just leave the chamber pots alone. Make Fetch clean them out.

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