Thomas Hardy’s The Mayor of Casterbridge brings to light the harsh reality of Victorian society’s treatment of women. This aspect of the novel may be illustrated by discussing the main female characters of the novel, namely Susan Henchard, Lucetta Templeman, and Elizabeth-Jane Newson. Henchard’s auctioning off his wife to theContinue Reading
In The Mayor of Casterbridge there are two very strong forces working – sometimes together, sometimes regardless of each other. On the one hand this is predestination, defined by the characters own feature which are peculiar to each character; on the other hand this is chance which is external forContinue Reading
Is Henchard a tragic character? Why or why not? Does he possess a tragic flaw that leads to his downfall? If so, what is it? In Thomas Hardy’s novel, The Mayor of Casterbridge, the main protagonist, Michael Henchard displays the typical traits of a tragic hero. He is presented with certain admirable qualitiesContinue Reading
Mayor of Casterbridge is a tragedy of the most moving type. It fulfills the Aristotelian requirement of the depiction of the downfall and death of the hero because of some tragic flaw in his character. It also conforms to the pattern of the Greek classical tragedy in the cruel workingsContinue Reading
Thomas Hardy (1840–1928) was a major English novelist and poet of the Victorian and early modernist eras. Born in Dorset, England, Hardy was deeply influenced by rural life, which provided the backdrop for much of his fiction. Though he began his career as an architect, he turned to writing andContinue Reading
The pastoral elegy is a poem about both death and idyllic rural life. Often, the pastoral elegy features shepherds. The genre is actually a subgroup of pastoral poetry, as the elegy takes the pastoral elements and relates them to expressing the poet’s grief at a loss. This form of poetryContinue Reading
Thomas Gray (1716–1771) was one of the most important English poets of the 18th century, best known for his elegiac and reflective verse. Born in London, he was educated at Eton College and later at Peterhouse, Cambridge. Though he lived a quiet and scholarly life, his literary output left aContinue Reading
David Garrick, the writer of this prologue, was one of the most famous actor and producer of his time. He wrote this prologue as a satire, where the character “Mr. Woodward” would be in mourning, because comedy is dying, and that Dr. Goldsmith might prove the doctor, and She Stoops toContinue Reading
She Stoops to Conquer opens with a prologue in which an actor mourns the death of the classical low comedy at the altar of sentimental, “mawkish” comedy. He hopes that Dr. Goldsmith can remedy this problem through the play about to be presented. Act I is full of set-up forContinue Reading
Oliver Goldsmith (1728–1774) was an Anglo-Irish writer, poet, and playwright best known for his works The Vicar of Wakefield, She Stoops to Conquer, and the poem The Deserted Village. Born in Ireland, Goldsmith studied at Trinity College, Dublin, and later attempted careers in medicine and theology before finding his trueContinue Reading
