Critical commentary Flashcards

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1
Q

Holtsberry- the novel

A

The Mayor of Casterbridge is a ‘fascinating portrait of human weakness and emotions’

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2
Q

Asquith- the novel

A

Hardy locates the moral message of his story: life is made for suffering, we must endure it, and, like the sparrow, make the most of the limited opportunities for happiness.’

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3
Q

Daleski- the novel- marriage

A

‘Unlike the Victorian novel convention which famously ends in marriage the novel begins with a failed marriage.’

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4
Q

Tomalin- the novel

A

built on the territory in which Hardy worked best-country people play out their lives between custom and education, work and ideas, and love of place and experience of change

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5
Q

Patterson- Casterbridge

A

a ‘primitive hierarchic society’

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6
Q

McGlamery- Casterbridge

A

‘Casterbridge fortunes are inextricably bound to agricultural ones.’

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7
Q

Patterson- the past

A

‘rooted in the demoralization of the present by the corruption of the past’-

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8
Q

Ebbatson- the past

A

‘As in Greek tragedy, the past returns to haunt the protagonist in various shapes of Susan, the furmity-woman and Newson’

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9
Q

Showalter- paternity

A

‘Paternity is a central subject of the book, far more important than conjugal love.

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10
Q

Warren- Henchard

A

‘The protagonist is energetic in his destruction of others, so it is appropriate that he punishes himself with equal ferocity’

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11
Q

Shaw- Elizabeth Jane

A

Elizabeth-Jane emerges as a singular female character whose presence is valued at the conclusion of a narrative that is directly informed by her perspective

Elizabeth Jane functions as a spectator

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12
Q

Millgate- Elizabeth Jane

A

EJ gradually establishes herself for the reader as much the most acute and reliable intelligence within the novel, the one whose judgments are most to be trusted.

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13
Q

Shaw- Lucetta

A

‘Lucetta’s newfound wealth and desire to abscond her scandalous past are the factors that fuel her obsession with outward appearances.’

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14
Q

Asquith- Henchard as a victim

A

It merely suits his (Henchard’s) own egotism to reinvent himself as a victim.”-

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15
Q

Asquith- Henchard

A

Henchard is guilty of “possessing too forceful a character in a world that rewards acceptance and moderation, a fact to which his egocentricity makes him blind.

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16
Q

Wilson- Henchard

A

“Michael Henchard begins and ends the novel away from Casterbridge and in virtual anonymity - his origins unexplained - his death a self-willed annihilation”-

17
Q

Miles- the elderly

A

Old women can be ‘without gender’-

18
Q

Guerared- Henchard

A

‘The isolated, damned and self-destructive individualist’

19
Q

Woolf- Henchard

A

‘Henchard’s struggle was with the decrees of fate and not with the laws of man.’-

20
Q

Millgate- Elizabeth Jane and the reader

A

‘Elizabeth-Jane becomes the reader’s representative within the novel’s world.’-

21
Q

Miller- Henchard

A

driven by ‘a passionate desire for full possession of some other person.’

22
Q

Tomalin- Henchard

A

‘depressive, black-tempered, self-destructive but also lovable as a child is lovable.

23
Q

Carrol- Henchard

A

“Michael Henchard has personality traits and motivational dispositions that are more typical of antagonists than of protagonists.

24
Q

Showalter- Henchard

A

“Henchard undergoes a transformation from a romantic male individualism to a more complete humanity. By becoming less male, Henchard becomes more fully human, and he thus becomes a tragic hero.”-

25
Q

Ebbatson- the will

A

‘Henchard, a man of strong speech, fades into the silence of writing in his will’-

26
Q

Ebbatson- rivalry

A

‘Rivalry in trade extends subtly through rivalry in love into direct physical confrontation’-

27
Q

Ebbatson- Lucettas return

A

‘Lucetta’s return presents an opportunity for companionship, but she is also lost to his rival

28
Q

Howe- the wife sale

A

The wife sale represents ‘male fantasy, a second chance at life.’

29
Q

Showalter- the wife sale

A

Henchard via the wife sale ‘divorces his own feminine self, his own need for passion, tenderness and loyalty.

30
Q

Ebbatson- Lucetta’s value

A

‘Henchard reinvents his affection for Lucetta whose value has been enhanced by Donald’s competition for her hand’

31
Q

Showalter- hayloft fight

A

Henchard has ‘crossed over to the long-repressed feminine side’ of himself after his fight in the hayloft