In Thomas Hardy’s novel, The Mayor of Casterbridge: The Life and Death of a Man of Character Michael Henchard’s mistreatment of those around his seem to categorize him as an immoral man; however, his perseverance and desire to make amends reconcile him to the reader and make him seem more human.
The first and possible most immoral decision Henchard makes involves his wife Susan. Within the first few chapters of this novel, Michael Henchard, in a drunken state, auctions his wife and child off to a passing sailor for five guineas. This action has an immediate impact on the reader: not only is Henchard selling two human beings, he is selling the entirety of his immediate family. By introducing a character by having him commit such a heinous act, Hardy sets readers up to immediately dislike Henchard and label him as unethical. However, even with this unscrupulous act, Henchard’s subsequent actions help to soften the reader’s view of him. Upon waking the next morning and realizing his actions,
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After ruining Miss Templeman’s reputation, Henchard tries to make amends by marrying her. However, rather than being kind, Henchard proposes to Lucetta by threatening her until she accepts him. In this situation, Henchard is displaying his hostile nature and his complete disregard for the feelings of others. In spite of this hostility, the reader does recognize that Henchard is doing his best to make amends. Later on when Lucetta thoroughly refuses him, Henchard tries to return the evidence of their affair to her; however, instead their letters get revealed and Lucetta is again ridiculed. Despite Henchard’s best efforts to make things right, his actions continue to fall short. In this way, Henchard has a distinctly human quality about him. Even when he tries his hardest, his continuous mistakes allow the reader to relate to him and sympathize with him on a certain
In the penultimate chapter of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Blithedale Romance, Coverdale offers a “moral” at the end of the narrative that specifically addresses Hollingsworth’s philanthropic and personal failures:
She secretly dates the knight and becomes fascinated by his charms. She falls head over hills in love with the knight. The husband suspects the wife of being unfaithful in the marriage. So, he becomes jealous and obsessive, which eventually leads him to monitor her every movement. Due to the fact, she is observed attentively; she is unable to date her secret lover.
Stillinger, Jack, Deidre Lynch, Stephen Greenblatt, and M H. Abrams. The Norton Anthology of English Literature: Volume D. New York, N.Y: W.W. Norton & Co, 2006. Print.
With so many distortions, many readers may not appreciate Brontë's book. She takes common elements and greatly exaggerates them. She turns love into obsessive passion, contempt into lifelong vindictive hatred, and peaceful death into the equivalent of burning in hell. In doing so, she not only loaded the book with emotions, but vividly illustrated the outcome if one were to possess these emotions.
Hindley’s obstructive actions, imposed on Heathcliff’s life, expand an internal anger that arouses as Heathcliff’s time at Wuthering Heights draws to a close. The negligent and condemnatory conditions advanced by Hindley transform Heathcliff’s futuristic outcome and supply him with motives to carry out vengeance on multiple personalities involved in the plot. Heathcliff’s troubled social environment renders it difficult to determine the ethical legitimacy behind his decisions, contributing to the moral ambiguity of his
What role does gossip have in society? What significance does it have in the formation of both disputes and disclosures? Gossip is commonly believed to be a cause of conflict between individuals in society; however, one can assert that it can also be beneficial via means of influence. In being influenced, people can harness the gossip for their benefit. Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility approaches gossip in a way that shows how it can both resolve and initiate conflicts within the novel’s plot. By exemplifying gossip from this approach, Austen’s novel encapsulates it’s both detrimental and beneficial uses. Gossip exacerbates emerging conflicts because of the both positive or negative influences it has on characters’ perceptions of each other. I will argue that the novel uses conflict-causing and conflict-resolving properties of gossip as a device for moving and turning the plot, demonstrating that to understand the novel, we have to also understand that social conversations, even the most idle and frivolous ones, are what push the plot; the things that are most important in Austen’s world — reputation, marriage, social relationships — are extremely vulnerable to influence by gossip. In this essay, I will analyze three moments of gossip that exemplify consequences of conflict-causing, conflict-resolving, and both, respectively.
...llow reason. He unravels his hubristic nature in the end of the eighth chapter of the second part. He imagines “that the right man could save her, even now,” and he believes he is that man for soon after the dinner event, he visits Marian Forrester, but he is feels thwarted when he finds her with Ivy Peters (166, 169). He vainly believes he is a hero.
Few plot elements inspire such an emotional reaction in readers as does hypocrisy. Not only do readers feel genuine anger at the actions of the hypocritical character, but they also feel deep sympathy for the Hester Prynnes of the stories they read. This tandem of anger and sympathy is a powerful tool for an author to use to draw readers into his or her tale, because creating an emotional response in one’s audience is the best way to make them identify with the story. The response of the readers to these situations is a fascinating one. Perhaps the reader remembers a time when s/he was the victim of a two-faced action. Perhaps stories about hypocrisy evoke a sense of moral outrage or awaken a sense of justice in the reader. Perhaps the reader is simply fascinated with having a secret that s/he is unable to tell. For whatever reason, authors have carefully woven threads of hypocrisy into the fabric of their stories since the very dawn of literature. Some of the best examples of this skill (as indeed of many others) come from the writings of William Shakespeare. Shakespeare’s astute observations of human nature coupled with his amazing word craftsmanship have created some of the most memorable hypocrite characters in all of literature. From the twisted, jealous, hatred of Iago in Othello to the lusty self-righteousness of Angelo in Measure for Measure, we can glean a sense of Shakespeare’s masterful manipulation of hypocrisy to create a tempting tale. Iago and Angelo are true hypocrites.
She believes that their distaste for Tartuffe stems from his ability to condemn their sins and point out their moral flaws. At Dorines’ intimation that Madame only spends her time so harshly criticizing the world around her due to her fear of abandonment, Madame Pernelle takes her leave, reminding them that they should count themselves fortunate to have such a holy and blessed man such as Tartuffe present among them. Upon her departure, the remaining family puzzles at how their grandmother, as well as their father, could be so blind to Tartuffe’s insincerity, recounting the many instances in which Tartuffe deceived Orgon and Madame Pernelle with his charms. As Cleante leaves to rest, Damis asks her if she would inquire as to the status of Mariane’s marriage to Valere because, should they not wed, Damis would then not be able to marry Valere’s
The presentation of childhood is a theme that runs through two generations with the novel beginning to reveal the childhood of Catherine and Hindley Earnshaw, and with the arrival of the young Liverpudlian orphan, Heathcliff. In chapter four, Brontë presents Heathcliff’s bulling and abuse at the hands of Hindley as he grows increasingly jealous of Heathcliff for Mr. Earnshaw, his father, has favoured Heathcliff over his own son, “my arm, which is black to the shoulder” the pejorative modifier ‘black’ portrays dark and gothic associations but also shows the extent of the abuse that Heathcliff as a child suffered from his adopted brother. It is this abuse in childhood that shapes Heathcliff’s attitudes towards Hindley and his sadistic nature, as seen in chapter 17, “in rousing his rage a pitch above his malignity” there is hyperbole and melodrama as the cruelty that stemmed from his abuse in childhood has been passed onto Isabella in adulthood.
Arthur Dimmesdale presented himself as an uncorrupted man by his social status. Inside he felt unworthy and corrupt form the sin he has committed. The town’s people looked up to Dimmesdale as a man who could commit no grand sin. “People say that the Reverend Master Dimmesdale, her godly pastor, takes it very seriously to heart that such a scandal should have come upon his congregation.” (48). Little did they know that the scandal that Dimmesdale took to hear was the fornication that happened between Dimmesdale and adulteress Hester Prynne. His sinful ways was affecting his health greatly. “Some declared, that, if Mr. Dimmesdale were really going to die, it was cause enough, that the world was not worthy to be any longer trodden by his feet.” (106). The town’s people respected him so much so that they figured it was the world that is corrupt and not Dimmesdale.
There is more than one villain in Pride and Prejudice, but the figurehead of evil turns out to be George Wickham. His looks and appeal are used to lie and manipulate, and he does not express any remorse for his actions; instead, he feigns ignorance. Wickham portrays the most evil of antagonists: the ones whose book covers do not match their content. The growth, or rather deterioration, of Wickham’s character plays a large role in the meaning of the novel, in that it presents the prejudices and pridefulness that society can hold towards someone.
Hardy originated from a working class family. The son of a master mason, Hardy was slightly above that of his agricultural peers. Hardy’s examination of transition between classes is usually similar to that of D.H. Lawrence, that if you step outside your circle you will die. The ambitious lives of the characters within Hardy’s novels like Jude and Tess usually end fatally; as they attempt to break away from the constraints of their class, thus, depicting Hardy’s view upon the transition between classes. Hardy valued lower class morals and traditions, it is apparent through reading Tess that her struggles are evidently permeated through the social sufferings of the working class. A central theme running throughout Hardy’s novels is the decline of old families. It is said Hardy himself traced the Dorset Hardy’s lineage and found once they were of great i...
The Mayor of Casterbridge by Thomas Hardy is a novel about the rising and plummeting of a complex man named Michael Henchard. Michael Henchard does not just have one characteristic or just one personality for that matter. His personality can be described as thoughtful and strong-minded but also as ruthless, stubborn and cold. Henchard's impulsiveness, aggressive attitude, childishness and selfish nature made failure and misery inevitable in his life. The essence of his character is the root of his demise and misery.
A multitude of feelings and sentiments can move a man to action, but in Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights, love and revenge are the only two passions powerful enough to compel the primary actors. There is consensus, in the academic community,1 that the primary antagonist in the novel, Heathcliff is largely motivated by a wanton lust for vengeance, and it is obvious from even a cursory reading that Edgar Linton, one of the protagonists, is mostly compelled by a his seemingly endless love for his wife, and it even seems as if this is reflected in the very nature of the characters themselves. For example, Heathcliff is described as “Black-eye[d]” [Brontë,1], “Dark skinned” [Brontë, 3] and a “dirty boy” [Brontë, 32]; obviously, black has sinister connotations, and darkness or uncleanliness in relation to the soul is a common metaphor for evil. On the converse, Edgar Linton is described as blue eyed with a perfect forehead [Brontë, 34] and “soft featured… [with] a figure almost too graceful” [Brontë, 40], which has almost angelic connotations. When these features and the actions of their possessors are taken into account, it becomes clear that Edgar and Heathcliff are not merely motivated by love and revenge as most academics suggest, but rather these two men were intended by Brontë to be love and hate incarnate.