Mayor Of Casterbridge Narcissistic Characteristics

Thesis: Throughout the text of Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen challenges gender and social norms in the Georgian Era through the development of Elizabeth Bennet as she interacts with characters in the novel.

Fitting with the common theme between the two novels of the judgment of others, each heroine falls victim to a horrible misjudgment of the character of another. After discovering that the engagement between her brother and her friend Isabella has been broken, Catherine finds she has grossly misjudged her friend’s character, and thinks, “She was ashamed of Isabella, ashamed of ever having loved her” (Northanger 150). Elizabeth, on the other hand, finds her attachment the Wickham wholly inappropriate after receiving her letter from Mr. Darcy. After digesting the shocking contents of the letter, Elizabeth “grew absolutely ashamed of herself.—Of neither Darcy nor Wickham could she think, without feeling that she had been blind, partial, prejudiced, absurd” (Pride 156). And indeed, as suggested by Elizabeth’s mention of Darcy, this misjudgment goes on to affect each girl’s attachment to her future husband.

Power—one’s influence on society—is coveted by many. What has been sympathy in the past, has become greed for more control, strength, and reverence from others. People have began to focus on being all knowing and dominating, rather than being just a friend. The conquest to gain more power has become a major influence on a person’s actions; however, these actions are usually self destructive, leading to a person’s downfall. Power is what drives people’s actions, and eat people inside and out on their way to this ultimate goal. In the competition for power, only the people who best comprehend their environment and adapt appropriately can ultimately succeed.. The Mayor of Casterbridge follows multiple different characters in a prison-like society. In this society, there is a constant thirst for power, and a fight for this control. Each character tries to quench this desire in a different way, and ultimately many characters fail to reach this ideal situation. The characters in the novel are very driven in their ways that there is a limited change in the fight for power. Many argue that in order to have possession of all this power, one must be familiar about all aspects of society, rather than being distant. In his novel The Mayor of Casterbridge, Thomas Hardy argues this belief. Through the character of Farfrae, the goldfinch, and the isolated death of Henchard, Hardy advocates that innocence results in an expansion of power and self control.

    "Like all true literary classics, Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen is still capable of engaging us, both emotionally and intellectually" (Twayne back flap) through its characters and themes. This essay illustrates how Jane Austen uses the characterization of the major characters and irony to portray the theme of societal frailties and vices because of a flawed humanity. Austen writes about the appearance vs. the reality of the characters, the disinclination to believe other characters, the desire to judge others, and the tendency to take people on first impressions.

Living almost a century apart, Jane Austen and Thomas Hardy each explore similar themes of love through strong female characters. While society strove to keep women’s value directly tied to their marital status, Austen and Hardy wrote the stories of characters who defied these expectations. Bathsheba Everdene of Thomas Hardy’s Far From the Madding Crowd is a fiery young woman who inherits a farm, and Elizabeth Bennet of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice is an educated woman who prides herself on speaking her mind regardless of the consequences. Both women are of marrying age, and both novels feature their romantic exploits. Besides their differing socio-economic and temporal settings, Bathsheba’s and Elizabeth’s behaviors indicate that they are facing similar feelings and conflicts when it comes to issues of love and marriage. Bathsheba goes to greater lengths to defy societal pressures than Elizabeth does, but Bathsheba’s circumstances warrant the effort. The real difference between these characters is the way in which they are written. One could not know how similar Bathsheba’s thoughts and feelings are to Elizabeth’s, because the reader rarely sees through Ms. Everdene’s eyes. Bathsheba Everdene is the greater feminist heroine when taken alongside Elizabeth Bennet; however, Hardy writes her story almost exclusively from the perspective of his male characters, leaving her represented as two-dimensional in comparison to

Lucetta falls ill and dies, and now Farfrae and Elizabeth-Jane are planning on getting married. Even though Farfrae’s now Henchard’s enemy, he’s willing to overlook his own emotions first, and put his daughter’s first. Henchard leaves town of their wedding day, but once Elizabeth-Jane hears that he has left, she immediately goes looking for him and finds him at a friends house, near death. Henchard passes and his daughter takes his will, only to read that “Elizabeth-Jane Farfrae be not told of my death, or made to grieve.” (242) Hardy’s use of diction here is important because Henchard says “Elizabeth-Jane Farfrae” which implies that he has learned to put his past rivalry with Farfrae aside and accept their love. He also feels that he has caused enough pain in her life that she does not deserve any more. He’s somewhat guilty for all the things he has put her through. The will continues to say “that no man remembers me.” and Hardy’s use of tone signifies that Henchard’s not doing this for pity, he’s true in his words (242). This is a huge change in Henchard’s character because, previously, all he wanted was to be accepted and thought highly of by everyone, and now he asks that no one remembers him. After reading her father’s will, Elizabeth-Jane comes to the realization that he has truly had a change of heart and that “the man who wrote them [the words on the will] meant what he said.” (243). Elizabeth-Jane’s tone in this sentence suggest that she forgives him for all the pain he has caused her, and she’s willing to move forward. Through Henchard’s acceptance of her marriage, he’s truly a different person, because before, he would have only thought of how the situation applied to him but now he’s finally thinking of other people. Henchard’s cognizance allowed him to realize that his pride was doing nothing but hurting his relationships with

The secrecy of Henchard's action discloses to the reader that he is disingenuous and has a deviant nature. Henchard is unscrupulous too, "It has been done elsewhere…" here Henchard is referring to the wife sale, this exemplifies his unscrupulousness because he does not see anything wrong with this action as it has happened previously.

In the mid-1800s, Michael Henchard and his wife Susan, who carried their daughter Elizabeth-Jane, were walking down a path seeking a place to lodge for the evening. Stopping at a county fair tent, the family decided to eat furmity, Michael Henchard (who possessed a quick-temper and a drinking problem at the time) decided to slide the cook extra money to spike his meal. After this point, the situation rapidly got out of hand and Michael Henchard sold his wife and child to a sailor for five guineas. This was the shocking first scene in Thomas Hardy’s novel, Mayor of Casterbridge, published in 1886. To proceed with the story and jump ahead almost two decades, Susan and Elizabeth-Jane sought out Henchard (since the sailor was lost at sea and believed to never return) in the town of Casterbridge, where they discovered that he was Mayor. From this point on, the husband and wife reconciled their differences, married again, and started new beginnings together. However, things took a turn for the worse ever since the two women materialized back into Henchard’s life. Throughout the novel, Donald Farfrae, a man Michael requested assistance from, availed in every aspect over Mr. Henchard, causing a expeditious downfall to the latter. Their differences included love, success, popularity, fortune, and authority.

Henchard basically decides that him continuing the search for his wife and daughter is somewhat useless at this point because he still havent found them so he stops looking

In his foremost literary work, The Mayor of Casterbridge, Thomas Hardy uses the very inspiration of Casterbridge’s traditions and setting itself paired with its foremost characters, Michael Henchard and Donald Fafrae, to opine that traditionalism in any sense is an outdated and even self-destructive culture; for this reason, it is the duty of the younger generation to resurrect traditionalistic societies from collapsing.

Leading up to the auction, Susan is distant towards her husband. Susan is simple-minded, but is loyal in any situation she is in. She believes that her sale to Newson at the fair was legally and morally binding which is why she stays with Richard Newson after the auction. After believing that Newson was lost at sea, Susan and Elizabeth Jane Newson return to Wessex in order to reconnect with Henchard, only to find out from the furmity woman that Henchard is now the successful mayor of Casterbridge. When Susan sees the life Henchard has made for himself without her, she wishes not to disrupt his life but knows Elizabeth Jane needs more that what she can offer her. Susan eventually regains a marriage with Henchard and due to knowone knowing the truth about her and Henchards past, the locals in Casterbridge see Susan as a delayed choice in a wife for Henchard. Susan is said to be pale, simple, and fragile with residents calling her “The Ghost” due to her sickly appearance. The people of Casterbridge do not respect Susan as a suitable wife for their mayor and believe Henchard married below him saying things like, “Never seen a man wait so long for so little.” Susan’s purpose in the novel is to be Henchard’s metaphorical redemption at life. After selling Susan and his daughter Elizabeth Jane, Henchard tries to make a better life for himself to undue all the guilt he feels. When he finally reconnects with Susan he tries to give her and Elizabeth Jane everything they could ever wish for to try to make up for the misery he must have caused them. If Susan had not agreed to go with Newson the sailor the day at the fair, Hechard would not have vowed to stop drinking for the next 20 years which ultimately gave him a new perspective and new start at life. The two agree to not tell Elizabeth the truth about their past because if she knew Elizabeth Jane would suffer

In Thomas Hardy’s novel, titled Far From The Madding Crowd, the protagonist, Bathsheba, is surrounded by three different suitors. Gabriel, Boldwood, and Troy each try to win her hand in marriage. The different characteristics of these characters create a dynamic story where marriage and love are both highlighted and critiqued. The majority of this conflict takes place in the fictional area of Wessex, England. Hardy uses this fictional setting, and the surrounding town of Weatherbury, to depict how rural England was slowly going extinct with the rise of modern technology and industry. As a result of this rural setting, many of elements of pastoral literature are seen in the novel. Due to this, the text is often referred to as a pastoral novel. Pastoral novels portray rural country life as free from the complexity and corruption of city life. This idealized approach often uses shepherds and other natural elements in a poetic way to describe both love and freedom. Hardy uses the connotation associated with pastoral literature sarcastically to demonstrate how even in rural life social problems do arise. In the case of this work, the pastoral elements are structured in a way to create parallelism. These parallel episodes compare and contrast different characters through figurative language. The repetition of these motifs reflect and influence characters as well as develop themes. The contrast of fire and water is seen many times throughout the text. In Chapters Six and Thirty

The Setting for Thomas Hardy's The Withered Arm and Other Wessex Tales In the following essay I seek to show evidence of how Thomas Hardy was acutely aware of the social status of people, how village and town life was conducted, how men and women reacted to their own sex and to each other and the part religion played in people's daily lives. Social class is raised a lot in Hardy's pieces. Even though these stories were all written at a different time and then put together, you can see it is a strong theme in the book.

At this point in Henchard’s life, his wife Susan had died, he had lost Lucetta to Farfrae, and he had destroyed the relationship he had with Farfrae. Out of loneliness, he begins to long for Elizabeth-Jane’s. He accepts that he is not Elizabeth-Jane’s biological father, but realizes that he can act like he is because Elizabeth-Jane does not know the truth. Henchard, out of selfish intent, puts on the air that he fits into his original view of his status as a family figure even though he is very far from it.

Discuss the ways in which Hardy has raised awareness of social issues in the readers of The Mayor of Casterbridge.