Staging a Stereotype: Richard Brinsley Sheridan (1751–1816) and the Drunken Irishman

This article has arisen from Katie Snow’s second case study for the Drinking Culture project, which examines representations of Irish orators as drunken geniuses. Published in volume 41 of Eighteenth-Century Ireland, ‘Staging a Stereotype: Richard Brinsley Sheridan (1751-1816) and the Drunken Irishman,’ it argues that Sheridan’s habitual drinking, and its perceived role in his celebrated wit, was used to portray him as distinctly Irish despite persistent ambivalence surrounding his national identity elsewhere. Drawing on a range of sources, including satirical prints, biographical accounts, letters, and newspaper excerpts, it situates his particularly theatrical cultural reputation as a drunkard within the broader political narratives surrounding eighteenth- and nineteenth-century stereotypes of the drunken Irishman. Making a case for deepening the connection between Sheridan’s health history and national identity, it demonstrates how medical ideas about drunkenness were intertwined with political discourse during the period.

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