The Romantic Reconceptualization of the Gypsy: From Menace to Malleability

Following the hanging of a number of young gypsies at Northampton in 1780, we can trace a slow but notable shift in the English cultural understanding of the itinerant people. While late‐eighteenth‐century literary texts perpetuate longstanding conceptions of the gypsies as criminals and dangers, early nineteenth‐century works construct new images of the gypsies that emphasize their benign alternative lifestyle. These new conceptions of the gypsies specifically address England's concerns with the nomads as supposed threats to youthful native heterosexuality and organized labor practices. Throughout the nineteenth century, the English nation would develop sophisticated plans to incorporate the Roma into its citizenry and workforce; the early nineteenth‐century texts I consider here document the emerging cultural shift that would help to support such large‐scale social projects.