homas Hardy (2 June 1840 - 11 January 1928) was an English writer and poet who is most well known for his contributions to the naturalism movement. Hardy's work also had traces of the Romantic and Enlightenment periods which had preceded him, even though his protagonists are often depicted as tragic characters who are struggling with their social status and their lot in life. In Far From the Madding Crowd, Hardy's tale is one in which the characters' lives and destinies are shaped by chance and forces outside their control. ...
Read More
homas Hardy (2 June 1840 - 11 January 1928) was an English writer and poet who is most well known for his contributions to the naturalism movement. Hardy's work also had traces of the Romantic and Enlightenment periods which had preceded him, even though his protagonists are often depicted as tragic characters who are struggling with their social status and their lot in life. In Far From the Madding Crowd, Hardy's tale is one in which the characters' lives and destinies are shaped by chance and forces outside their control. Hardy was mostly a natural poet who only wrote novels as a means to make a living, yet he produced classic novels such as Far from the Madding Crowd and Tess of the d'Urbervilles. Many of his novels took place in the semi-fictional county of Wessex, which Hardy based heavily off of his hometown Dorchester.
Read Less
?The Mayor of Casterbridge? was Hardy?s tenth published novel and, as most critics say, his first masterpiece. Set in and around Casterbridge (Hardy?s name for Dorchester) the story of Michael Henchard is one of the most tragic that Hardy ever wrote. The novel follows the story of Michael Henchard, a hay trusser, who under the influence of alcohol sells his wife Susan and their daughter Elizabeth ?Jane to a sailor named Newson, for five guineas. Several years later, following the death of Newson, Susan arrives at Casterbridge with Elizabeth-Jane to seek her legal husband. Not knowing what to expect, Susan is astonished to find that Henchard is now the mayor of Casterbridge, and a very respectable person. After the sell of his wife and daughter Henchard took a twenty-one year vow not to drink. Thinking that he has been given a second chance to make things right, Henchard remarries Susan and because Elizabeth ?Jane believes that Newson is her father, Henchard adopts her as his own daughter. But the errors of his past cannot be so easily repaired and as no man can avoid his destiny, Henchard is forced to pay his dues although the price may seem too high. What many people don?t know is that Hardy was actually an architect and his novels apart from being amazing psychological analyses of the nineteenth century society, they also give us extremely valuable information regarding the way things looked back then. Another thing that you should keep in mind when reading this book is that it is actually inspired from reality. There are records that state that back in the sixteen hundreds, a man actually sold his wife at the fair in Stockport (a small town near Manchester) and although we do not know what happened after that, Hardy sure did a great job at filling the blanks!