What Does the Opening Chapter of the Mayor of Casterbridge Reveal to Us About the Characters, Issues to Come in the Novel and Hardy's Style?
come in the novel and Hardy's style?
In the first chapter of the Mayor of Casterbridge, the main characters are introduced to us from the outset (a young family with a small child approaching the village of Weydon-Priors,) with the opening line informing the reader immediately of fundamental characters in the story. Thomas Hardy then immediately moves on to establish the protagonist, prior to conveying images of the village setting to the reader. Thus, Hardy suggests to the reader that the main attention of the novel will be on this man only and the way in which the setting and other characters influence him. This immediate attention on Henchard helps to reinforce and illustrate that the sub title of the novel is "The life and death of a man of character." Not only are characters initiated to us in chapter one but we also see themes and issues to come in the novel as well as the disclosure of Hardy's style. A key element of the novel's opening chapter is the shocking and very immoral action of the auctioning of Henchard's wife and daughter, structurally placed at the beginning in order to capture the reader's attention and to heighten the action's atrocity as it is the first key event described in detail. By placing this action at the start, it brings in the idea of morality and how this is closely related to the protagonist.
In Chapter One, there are numerous disclosures to the reader about the character of Henchard through what Hardy intimates, how Michael Henchard acts and the in-depth descriptions of his physical appearance. Hardy portrays Michael as an individual, which engenders a contrast between the community of Weydon Priors and the protagonist. Hardy creates a sense of aloofness between Weydon Priors and Michael Henchard by denoting him as "the man" when presenting him against the setting of the large village, which makes the two seem very distanced suggesting, that he is an outsider. Hardy's presentation of the character from an
In the first chapter of the Mayor of Casterbridge, the main characters are introduced to us from the outset (a young family with a small child approaching the village of Weydon-Priors,) with the opening line informing the reader immediately of fundamental characters in the story. Thomas Hardy then immediately moves on to establish the protagonist, prior to conveying images of the village setting to the reader. Thus, Hardy suggests to the reader that the main attention of the novel will be on this man only and the way in which the setting and other characters influence him. This immediate attention on Henchard helps to reinforce and illustrate that the sub title of the novel is "The life and death of a man of character." Not only are characters initiated to us in chapter one but we also see themes and issues to come in the novel as well as the disclosure of Hardy's style. A key element of the novel's opening chapter is the shocking and very immoral action of the auctioning of Henchard's wife and daughter, structurally placed at the beginning in order to capture the reader's attention and to heighten the action's atrocity as it is the first key event described in detail. By placing this action at the start, it brings in the idea of morality and how this is closely related to the protagonist.
In Chapter One, there are numerous disclosures to the reader about the character of Henchard through what Hardy intimates, how Michael Henchard acts and the in-depth descriptions of his physical appearance. Hardy portrays Michael as an individual, which engenders a contrast between the community of Weydon Priors and the protagonist. Hardy creates a sense of aloofness between Weydon Priors and Michael Henchard by denoting him as "the man" when presenting him against the setting of the large village, which makes the two seem very distanced suggesting, that he is an outsider. Hardy's presentation of the character from an