Critical commentary Flashcards
Holtsberry- the novel
The Mayor of Casterbridge is a ‘fascinating portrait of human weakness and emotions’
Asquith- the novel
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.’
Daleski- the novel- marriage
‘Unlike the Victorian novel convention which famously ends in marriage the novel begins with a failed marriage.’
Tomalin- the novel
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
Patterson- Casterbridge
a ‘primitive hierarchic society’
McGlamery- Casterbridge
‘Casterbridge fortunes are inextricably bound to agricultural ones.’
Patterson- the past
‘rooted in the demoralization of the present by the corruption of the past’-
Ebbatson- the past
‘As in Greek tragedy, the past returns to haunt the protagonist in various shapes of Susan, the furmity-woman and Newson’
Showalter- paternity
‘Paternity is a central subject of the book, far more important than conjugal love.
Warren- Henchard
‘The protagonist is energetic in his destruction of others, so it is appropriate that he punishes himself with equal ferocity’
Shaw- Elizabeth Jane
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
Millgate- Elizabeth Jane
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.
Shaw- Lucetta
‘Lucetta’s newfound wealth and desire to abscond her scandalous past are the factors that fuel her obsession with outward appearances.’
Asquith- Henchard as a victim
It merely suits his (Henchard’s) own egotism to reinvent himself as a victim.”-
Asquith- Henchard
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.
Wilson- Henchard
“Michael Henchard begins and ends the novel away from Casterbridge and in virtual anonymity - his origins unexplained - his death a self-willed annihilation”-
Miles- the elderly
Old women can be ‘without gender’-
Guerared- Henchard
‘The isolated, damned and self-destructive individualist’
Woolf- Henchard
‘Henchard’s struggle was with the decrees of fate and not with the laws of man.’-
Millgate- Elizabeth Jane and the reader
‘Elizabeth-Jane becomes the reader’s representative within the novel’s world.’-
Miller- Henchard
driven by ‘a passionate desire for full possession of some other person.’
Tomalin- Henchard
‘depressive, black-tempered, self-destructive but also lovable as a child is lovable.
Carrol- Henchard
“Michael Henchard has personality traits and motivational dispositions that are more typical of antagonists than of protagonists.
Showalter- Henchard
“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.”-
Ebbatson- the will
‘Henchard, a man of strong speech, fades into the silence of writing in his will’-
Ebbatson- rivalry
‘Rivalry in trade extends subtly through rivalry in love into direct physical confrontation’-
Ebbatson- Lucettas return
‘Lucetta’s return presents an opportunity for companionship, but she is also lost to his rival
Howe- the wife sale
The wife sale represents ‘male fantasy, a second chance at life.’
Showalter- the wife sale
Henchard via the wife sale ‘divorces his own feminine self, his own need for passion, tenderness and loyalty.
Ebbatson- Lucetta’s value
‘Henchard reinvents his affection for Lucetta whose value has been enhanced by Donald’s competition for her hand’
Showalter- hayloft fight
Henchard has ‘crossed over to the long-repressed feminine side’ of himself after his fight in the hayloft
