The Mayor of Casterbridge and Tragedy
“Tragedy” is a word commonly used today to describe numerous novels that focus on different subjects. During the era of Victorian literature, Thomas Hardy was a key figure in creating a new era of tragic writings. One of these tragic novels is The Mayor of Casterbridge, which follows the life of Henchard, the main character, who must face the consequences of his past mistakes. Henchard’s life shows a man go from being a respectable figure in his town to slowly becoming a person of ridicule. Learning from past writers, Hardy incorporates traditional tragic views, while also incorporating new ideas into his novels. This new vision of tragic literature thus creates modern tragic heroes, like Henchard, …show more content…
Jeannette King claims that for writers, tragedy “illustrated the nature of life in general, a pattern of continuous and inevitable – not unexpected – suffering” (2). To writers, life is a continuous tragedy in which everyone will experience at some point during their lifetime. However, other criteria must be met in order for a novel to gain the status of a “tragic novel”. According to Aristotle, “the disastrous working out of the conflict between irreconcilable positions, both of which the audience can sympathies with, even if not equally, creates the tragic effect” (Newton 123). Henchard has to constantly fix the mistakes he makes, which usually results in him being in a more complicated situation than before. Based on this idea, Thomas Hardy’s The Mayor of Casterbridge identifies as a tragic …show more content…
Henchard’s “recognition scene” comes when he is reunited with his estranged wife, Susan, after selling her twenty years ago. Henchard tells Susan,“ ‘You have heard I am in a large way of business here—that I am mayor of the town, and churchwarden…these things, as well as the dread of [Elizabeth-Jane] discovering our disgrace, make it necessary to act with extreme caution’ ”(Hardy 70). Henchard has reinvented his life in the town of Casterbridge, however it becomes jeopardized by his family’s arrival. Henchard is conscious of the fact that his prior mistakes could ruin the life he has established for himself and thus replicate the shame he endured before. King goes on to further identify that, “the structure of tragedy emphasis that ‘our evil actions do not remain isolated in the past, waiting only to be reversed’ ” (97). This statement perfectly summarizes the overall theme of The Mayor of Casterbridge, thus showing that Hardy’s works were influenced by original tragic
“Tragedy” is a word commonly used today to describe numerous novels that focus on different subjects. During the era of Victorian literature, Thomas Hardy was a key figure in creating a new era of tragic writings. One of these tragic novels is The Mayor of Casterbridge, which follows the life of Henchard, the main character, who must face the consequences of his past mistakes. Henchard’s life shows a man go from being a respectable figure in his town to slowly becoming a person of ridicule. Learning from past writers, Hardy incorporates traditional tragic views, while also incorporating new ideas into his novels. This new vision of tragic literature thus creates modern tragic heroes, like Henchard, …show more content…
Jeannette King claims that for writers, tragedy “illustrated the nature of life in general, a pattern of continuous and inevitable – not unexpected – suffering” (2). To writers, life is a continuous tragedy in which everyone will experience at some point during their lifetime. However, other criteria must be met in order for a novel to gain the status of a “tragic novel”. According to Aristotle, “the disastrous working out of the conflict between irreconcilable positions, both of which the audience can sympathies with, even if not equally, creates the tragic effect” (Newton 123). Henchard has to constantly fix the mistakes he makes, which usually results in him being in a more complicated situation than before. Based on this idea, Thomas Hardy’s The Mayor of Casterbridge identifies as a tragic …show more content…
Henchard’s “recognition scene” comes when he is reunited with his estranged wife, Susan, after selling her twenty years ago. Henchard tells Susan,“ ‘You have heard I am in a large way of business here—that I am mayor of the town, and churchwarden…these things, as well as the dread of [Elizabeth-Jane] discovering our disgrace, make it necessary to act with extreme caution’ ”(Hardy 70). Henchard has reinvented his life in the town of Casterbridge, however it becomes jeopardized by his family’s arrival. Henchard is conscious of the fact that his prior mistakes could ruin the life he has established for himself and thus replicate the shame he endured before. King goes on to further identify that, “the structure of tragedy emphasis that ‘our evil actions do not remain isolated in the past, waiting only to be reversed’ ” (97). This statement perfectly summarizes the overall theme of The Mayor of Casterbridge, thus showing that Hardy’s works were influenced by original tragic