The use of Irony in Thomas Hardy's The Mayor of Casterbridge

How important is the use of irony in Thomas Hardy's poetry and in his

novel The Mayor of Casterbridge?

Hardy's use of irony is clear throughout his work; The Mayor of

Casterbridge1 (referred to from this point on as Casterbridge) clearly

features many ironic twists in the plot, both obvious ones such as

Henchard discovering Elizabeth-Jane's true parentage at such an

inappropriate time, and more subtle uses of irony as when Mrs.

Goodenough only betrays Henchard's past because Susan and

Elizabeth-Jane remind her of it. Irony is also a clear feature in

Hardy's poetry, especially prominent in the poem Hap2, where Hardy

speaks of a 'vengeful god', laughing at him. Hap and Casterbridge were

written twenty years apart demonstrating how irony was a constant

feature of Hardy's work and not used in a brief experimental phase.

Key to the debate on ironies importance in Hardy's work is to ask

whether it is a motivational force behind his writing or is it used

more as a tool for expressing Hardy's views on fate and mankind?

It must be noted though that the use of irony in Hardy's work is often

most prominent when representing his views on the cruelty of fate, and

also for highlighting flaws in his characters' personalities. Trevor

Johnson has described Hardy as believing "Life… was a walk on a

razor-edge, love and happiness were accordingly infinitely precarious

yet infinitely worthwhile"3. There is irony in that to lead a secure

life, free from danger, one also has to live without happiness;

Hardy's The Darkling Thrush can be interpreted in a way reflecting

this belief. The "full-hearted evensong of joy" is something Hardy

cannot appreciate, being "unaware" of the "hope" the thrush sings of.

The poem seems to i...

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...sterbridge but in all his novels.

Irony is not used for its own sake; it is combined with a sense of the

supremacy of fate to give life's irony meaning. Hardy seems to believe

that there is no freedom from fate but in fact freedom within fate and

irony occurs through this.

Freedom, Hardy seems to be saying, is not opposed to nature nor

independent of it. Freedom is within nature.15

Fate is natural and irony is a part of fate; without irony then the

fate in Hardy's novels and poetry would be left empty of meaning and

also of interest. Irony and fate are tangled together in a complex web

where they mutually rely on each other and would disintegrate without

the other for support. Irony's importance is no greater and no less

than the importance of fate in Hardy's novels and it is irony and fate

together that make Hardy's work compelling to read and study.