The Mayor of Casterbridge by Thomas Hardy. Henchard - Well -Meaning Villain or Tragic Hero?
Henchard - Well -Meaning Villain or Tragic Hero? In the novel 'The Mayor of Casterbridge' by Thomas Hardy, the main character Michael Henchard earns the contempt of many readers due to his strict, arrogant and sometimes cruel and callous nature. But is it right to hold this against him? Does he really deserve all he got? Or should we perhaps feel some sympathy towards him? After all, the disastrous incidents he endures in this book are surely not worthy of anyone, simply due to the fact they may have a negative attitude at times? In some ways, Henchard could be thought of as a 'well-meaning villain,' one who has no principal morals but no particular desire to be heartless or hurtful either. There are some incidents in the story that would suggest a villainous side to Henchard, especially at the beginning and in the closing stages of the book, where his alcoholism gets the better of him and he becomes hotheaded and violent. Instances such as the sale of his wife Susan and baby daughter Elizabeth-Jane to Richard Newson, a complete stranger, at Weydon-Priors Fair, and his drink-inspired fight with Donald Farfrae - who was once his friend - in the granary convey this idea. However, Henchard also has many negative features that are simply part of his personality, which he finds difficult to curb even when he is sober. He is naturally quick to form opinions and agree or object to
Show how two authors, writing in two different centuries, deal with a similar theme - Thomas Hardy and Eudora Welty.
Yoni Jay Old Mrs Chundle - Thomas Hardy A Visit of Charity - Eudora Welty Both stories mentioned above are dealing with the same theme. The central topic running through them is "charity and the elderly". The two titles, despite being relevant to their respective stories, are misleading, in the way that after reading the heading one would think that in "A Visit Of Charity" the characters and the actual plot is more charitable than "Old Mrs Chundle", in fact this is not the case. After reading both short stories one will conclude that in "Old Mrs Chundle" true and honest charity is performed as opposed to the "charity" performed in the second story which in all truth and honesty is only performed to enhance the characters' own ranking with the Campfire Girls. The way "society", in our story represented by the curate and Marian, treated the respective old ladies is very indicative of the time in which both stories were written. Thomas Hardy lived in England; he was born in 1840 and died at the age of 88 years old in 1928. He lived in Victorian England, when there was contrast between the upper and the lower classes, namely between the wealthy and the poor. Despite this people were more courteous to one another than in modern day era. Eudora Welty, on the other hand was born in 1909 some sixty years after Hardy was born. Welty was born in Jacksonville, Mississippi in the
How is Thomas Hardy related to his story 'Tess of the D'Urbervilles?'
How is Thomas Hardy related to his story 'Tess of the D'Urbervilles?' Thomas Hardy was considered a fatalist. Fatalism is a view of life which insists that all action everywhere is controlled by nature of things or by a power superior to things. It grants the existence of Fate, a great impersonal, primitive force, existing from all eternity, absolutely independent of human wills, superior even to any god whom humanity may have invented. The power of Fate is embracing and is more difficult to understand than the gods themselves. The scientific parallel of fatalism is determinism. It acknowledges, just as fatalism, that man's struggle against the Will behind things, is of no avail, but does decree that the laws of cause and effect must not suspend operation. Determinism seeks to explain conditions which fatalism is content to describe. The use of fatalism for furthering the plot was a technique used by many Victorian authors, but with Thomas Hardy it became something more than a mere device. Due to his fatalistic outlook of life, Hardy presents the character of Tess as having a variety of forces working against her efforts to control her destiny. Fate approaches Tess in a great variety of forms. Fate is present through chance and coincidence, and the manifestations of nature, time, and woman. The fundamental basis of Thomas Hardy's fatalism is seen embodied in his
Far from the madding crowd
Far from the madding crowd In the early chapters of the book we discover positive and negative sides of Bathshebas character. Firstly when Bathsheba at first comes in she is wearing red, this shows evil or danger. She argues with the tollgate because she doesn't want to pay, this shows what kind of character she is. Bathsheba gets annoyed that Gabriel paid the money for her, she wanted to get her own way and not pay. When they first speak Gabriel calls her vein, she does not reply which signifies that it could be true. Fortunes change around with Bathsheba, and Gabriel. He loses all of his sheep and becomes unemployed. While at the same time Bathsheba's fortunes get better when she inherits a farm off her uncle. However they meet again when Gabriel saves Bathsheba's hey Rick's, when Boldwood gets all the workmen drunk and a storm starts. Bathsheba is good at running the farm as she shows no sign of lack of control, this shows her independence. She becomes sexually attracted to Boldwood and he becomes attracted to her. From this Bathsheba sends him a valentines card. She did not think, she doesn't even know Boldwood and she sends him a card, his reaction might repel to what she thinks. And so it does, he thinks that she is interested and starts thinking emotionally. Fanny Robin is compared to Bathsheba. They were both poor and beautiful. But as from general knowledge of
Far From the Madding Crowd
Far From the Madding Crowd by Suraj Shah (This coursework was awarded an A grade - 20/25) At the end of the novel 'Far From the Madding Crowd' Bathsheba marries Oak for various reasons. I will be discussing these reasons in the following paragraphs. One of the obvious reasons would be that Oak is the only one left due to Troy's death and Boldwood's imprisonment. On the other hand, she could have chosen not to marry Oak and remain single for her remaining years. However, she did marry him because of other reasons, which is what will be discussed in the rest of this essay. Bathsheba didn't want to marry Boldwood due to his personality, way of life and his motives. If we were to consider these aspects of Boldwood we would be able to understand why she didn't want to marry him. Boldwood is a wealthy gentleman farmer and a bachelor of forty. He was a Puritan where he believed that there should be no fun every Sunday, but to just sit and read the bible. However, this is what it was like for him all the time where in his house 'the atmosphere was that of a Puritan Sunday lasting all the week.' This character is completely in contrast to that of Bathsheba's because she wants to have excitement all the time. She tells Oak this when he makes a proposal to her: 'I want somebody to tame me, I am too independent, and you would never be able to, I know.' Boldwood's life does not offer
Far from the madding crowd
English coursework Pre-1914 prose study Far from the madding crowd My initial thoughts on dealing with a substantial Victorian text such as 'Far from the madding crowd' were mixed. I was aware that even the basics such as sentence structure would be very different they ways of modern literature. This book was written about a different world, with different words to accompany it. One must expect that this book will demand a greater level of concentration and ongoing sustained effort. Although my first thoughts were varied, I looked forward to reading something of this calibre. The title suggests a 'want for retreat' possibly away from the industrialisation taking over Victorian England. This book is the first 'Wessex' novel, a series of books about fictional places. I feel that these names were given to create a partly mythical, vision of rural England, bringing back ideas from before the time of urbanisation, possibly showing the authors longing for a return to the world he grew up in. As a romantic novel, it contains even more of a complex relationship than a love triangle, a love square! Hardy takes to using pathetic fallacy to put across his ideas which he can relate to nature to avoid offence in Victorian England. Other rural writers may use it to express themselves using ideas connected with the world they know, which is nature. Chapter XIV concentrates on the
Far From the Madding Crowd
Far From the Madding Crowd Roles of women in the Victorian times were very limited compared to now. They were expected to be house wives, and never expected to have an opinion or point of view. They were never in control of anything and everything was decided by men. They were usually expected to take care of everything in the house including looking after children. They were very much expected to be women whose life revolved around the domestic sphere of the home and family. However, this role was challenged by Queen Victoria In the novel 'Far From the Madding Crowd' you see Bathsheba and Fanny breaking the norms expected from women in Victorian times. Sometimes these norm-breaking actions would result in a sever consequence depending on how bad the norm-breaking was. However, sometimes these limits which exist were ignored, but no penalty was paid. In chapter 42 Bathsheba opens the coffin in which Fanny and her baby lay. Here you can see an example of a woman crossing the barrier of what was expected from her, but no penalty being paid. She is very insecure as weather to open the coffin or leave it closed. "If I could only look in upon you for one little minute I should know all" She finally does open the coffin and is slightly relieved that her tension and suspense has come to an end. "It was best to know the worst, and I know it now". She is in a lot of pain, because
The mayor of casterbridge
Pre-1914 Prose Thomas Hardy: The Mayor of Casterbridge Demonstrate how, in the first two chapters of The Mayor of Casterbridge, Hardy presents a powerful image of a central character against a vivid background The book is set in the summer of around 1830, we know this because "before the 19th century had reached one-third of its span." As it was set in the 1830's the landscape would have been very different from today. This is demonstrated from the start of the book. Michael and Susan Henchard are "plainly but not ill clad" This tells us that they are not badly off. On the other hand they are covered in a "thick hoar of dust" telling us that the roads are unpaved. This also implies that although the Henchards are not badly off they cannot afford transport indicating that it is still expensive at this time. Henchard is described as "of fine figure, swarthy, and stern in aspect." His clothing is old fashioned "short jacket of brown corduroy" and a "waistcoat with white horn buttons." This "stale familiarity" between Henchard and Susan is an example of another common theme in the novel, which is that of frustrating and imprisoning relationships. This is portrayed as a normal state as she "appeared to receive it as a natural thing." Susan Henchard is carrying a baby called Elizabeth-Jane. As the Henchards continue they come across a Turnip-Hoer implying that the residents
the mayor of casterbridge
Pre-1914 Prose Thomas Hardy: The Mayor of Casterbridge Demonstrate how, in the first two chapters of The Mayor of Casterbridge, Hardy presents a powerful image of a central character against a vivid background of early 19th Century rural England. The book is set in the summer of around 1830, we know this because "before the 19th century had reached one-third of its span." As it was set in the 1830's the landscape would have been very different from today. This is demonstrated from the start of the book. Michael and Susan Henchard are "plainly but not ill clad" This tells us that they are not badly off. On the other hand they are covered in a "thick hoar of dust" telling us that the roads are unpaved. This also implies that although the Henchards are not badly off they cannot afford transport indicating that it is still expensive at this time. Henchard is described as "of fine figure, swarthy, and stern in aspect." His clothing is old fashioned "short jacket of brown corduroy" and a "waistcoat with white horn buttons." He is described as a "skilled countryman" and a "general labourer." symbolises that this could be any man, or could relate to the reader in some way and makes the reader look at this character from a different angle as if we might know him rather than seeing him as Henchard. Until the 6th page, 3rd paragraph, Michael is referred to as, amongst other things,
Tess of the d'urbervilles
Explore the ways in which Thomas Hardy uses setting to help portray Tess' feelings. In 1891 Thomas Hardy published the novel 'Tess of the D'Urbervilles' which is a story based on the life and times of a farm girl named Tess. Tess is a 17 year old girl of lower class whose family horse dies in an accident and her family are struggling for money so Tess goes to visit distant relatives to ask to borrow money to help support her family. While with her relatives she meets her cousin Alec. She leaves the D'Urbervilles home pregnant with Alec's baby and goes back to live with her parents. She gives birth to a baby boy and names him Sorrow who later becomes ill and dies. Three years later Tess falls in love with a man called Angel, they get married however Tess confesses to what happened with Alec and Angel leaves her. Tess meets Alec who is a supposed changed man and he has become a preacher. Tess tells him about Sorrow and he convinces Tess that Angel is never coming back and she goes back to live with him. After a few months living with Alec, Angel returns to find Tess and tell her he still loves her. Tess murders Alec and runs after Angel and they run away together, however not long after they are caught and Tess is hanged for the murder of Alec. The story starts off by introducing Tess who's living in Marlott with her family and going to market with her horse. They have an