the life and death of the mayor of casterbridge

How do the others in the tent react to his pronouncements? Susan herself? What grievance does Michael express? What prompts him to wish to sell his wife? What illegal business does the furmity woman conduct, and with what consequences?

How is the mistress of the furmity tent described? (“a haggish creature of about fifty”) Furmity itself? (“antiquated slop”) What effect is created by such descriptions? (distancing) How is the fair described? Why does Susan suggest that her husband should seek refreshment at a furmity tent? Is the outcome ironic? What ominous news do the travelers learn of the present state of Weydon? (falling into decay) How would you describe the novelist’s style?

What emotions/view of life’s possibilities does the narrator attribute to her? Who or what is responsible for her lack of hope? (civilization) What do you make of such abstractions? What do we learn of Henchard’s wife? (“Virtually she walked the highway alone, save for the child she bore”) What do these descriptions seem to indicate will be the narrator’s role throughout? (“in the plant of each foot there was, further, a dogged and cynical indifference personal to himself”) How is Henchard first described, in person and dress? What is his occupation? What does the narrator infer from his physical movements?

Is it clear from the opening chapters who will be the protagonist of the novel? If Henchard is not the sole protagonist, how does the shift in focus affect the reader's judgments? If not, why do you think Hardy gives a misleading, or at least, irrelevant account of what is to follow?Īgainst what criticisms of his book does Hardy defend himself? Do these seem important to you? Does Donald Farfrae seem authentically Scottish, and if not, does it matter? Are all of these of equal importance? Does this recital give any indication of the themes which dominate the book? In his preface Hardy claims that the novel’s plot arises from three events, the sale of a wife, uncertain harvests, and the visit of a royal personage. What expectations may be set up by the novel’s subtitle, “the life and death of a man of character”? What will the notion of “a man of character” come to mean? Questions for Thomas Hardy, The Mayor of Casterbridge (1886)

The life and death of the mayor of casterbridge