РефератыИностранный языкMaMayor Of Casterbridge By Hardy Analysis Essay

Mayor Of Casterbridge By Hardy Analysis Essay

, Research Paper


Hardy’s The Mayor of Casterbridge does an excellent job of displaying


Casterbridge’s realistic Western England setting through the architectural


buildings, the behavior of the townspeople, and the speech used throughout the


novel. All of these aspects combined provide a particular environment Hardy


called "Wessex" which infuses the work with reality and a life. The


love which Hardy had, for architecture, is displayed throughout this novel with


the descriptions of the surrounding countryside, the buildings, the commerce,


the roads, and the amusements that make up the environment of Casterbridge. The


town of Casterbridge in Wessex, an ancient name for the West Saxon kingdom of


the Middle Ages, is no longer used geographically. It comprises of Doreshire and


parts of other western England countries. The country and the town meet at a


mathematical line. The town is shut in by a square wall of trees, like a plot of


garden grounded by a box-edging. When overlooking Casterbridge, there are


towers, gables, chimneys, and casements standing tall and strong to show the


development of the buildings. The chief hotel in Casterbridge-namely, the Kings


Arms, is a spacious bow-window projected into the street over the main portico.


The homes of Casterbridge consist of timber homes with overhanging stories,


whose small-paned lattices were screened by dimity curtains on a drawing-string.


There were other houses of brick-nogging, which derived their chief support from


those adjoining. The roofs consisted of slate patched with tiles, and


occasionally there was a roof of thatch. Detail to buildings of Casterbridge


gives readers a visual insight to the composition to the social classes of the


town. Leading onto the townspeople who keep Casterbridge alive and productive.


Social classes of the townspeople determine each individuals behavior and how


others treat each individual based on social class or status. The characters may


seem odd to some audiences, yet these characters are at all times real. They are


based on people Hardy had grown up with, people whose tragic histories had


unearthed during his early architectural apprenticeship, people he had heard


about in legends and ballads. The agricultural and pastoral character of the


people upon whom the town depended for

its existence was shown by the class of


objects displayed in the shop windows. The lower-class was classified as


mischievous knaves by Hardy for he personally, along with others of status, was


not very fond of them. There is one obvious example in the story which displays


the greed and importance of show, of the upper class. In Casterbridge’s best


hotel when the Mayor was having a big dinner party, the blinds were left


unclosed so the whole interior of this room could be surveyed from the top of a


flight of stone steps to the road-wagon office opposite, for which reason a knot


of idlers had gathered there to watch what they couldn’t have. The higher


classes took what lavishing capabilities they had and frolicked in them for all


below to envy and want. Although the behavior and mannerism of the townspeople


is blunt, it is realistic and influenced by real life situations through the


mind of the author. A less obvious yet realistic part of the setting which can


normally be over-looked but is emphasized throughout this novel is the speech,


or dialect of the characters and townspeople. Social class is very obviously


shown through the speech of every individual. Higher class residents of


Casterbridge often spoke much more vulgar terms. They have their own folk


dialect which modernly is referred to as slang throughout regions influential on


the environment of the speaker. Speech is also an issue with age and maturity


which is excellently presented throughout the entire course of the novel in


Elizabeth-Jane. Hardy shows the gradual change that takes place in her speech


through the years. In the first portion of the novel when Elizabeth-Jane is


young, she has a sense of playfulness and good times. But as she grows older and


her sorrow increases. Elizabeth-Jane turns more to study and reflection. Towards


the end of the novel, Elizabeth-Jane is a full grown woman who has her life


established and knows where she stands in social status. She is melancholy and


kind. A matronly woman whose speech seems highly studied and affected. Hardy


does an excellent job of taking the little things society tends to overlook and


accenting them to show how realistic each individual is in the town of


Casterbridge. The townspeople, the buildings, and the speech of every individual


throughout the novel.

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