The Setting and Symbols in the Mayor of Casterbridge

Keywords:

setting atmosphere mood symbol character coincidences

Abstract:

Modern critics consider Hardy a great writer and they consider The Mayor of Casterbridge one of HardyЎЇs two great novels. Of all the WessexЎЇs novels, however, this is the least typical. Although it makes much less use of the physical environment than do the others, we still cannot ignore the frequently use of symbols and setting in the novel. In my essay, IÐŽ®ll analyze the function of the symbols and the setting in The Mayor of Casterbridge.

THE SETTING AND SYMBOLS IN

THE MAYOR OF CASTERBRIDGE

The setting place of this novel is Casterbridge (England), a fictional town based on the city of Dorchester. Unlike the other Wessex novels, the action does not revolve from place to place, but instead; everything is centered on the town, which characters leaving or entering Caseterbridge. as they are mentioned in the tale. At this extent, the town does have some features, which are important to the novel.

Definitely, it would not at all surprising us that Hardy gives a perfect description of the Wessex countryside, the detailed accounts of the daily goings in Casterbridge, even the dialects of the natives. By doing so, Hardy made us feel that ÐŽoweÐŽ± ----the readers, are living in Casterbridge, weЎЇre undergoing all the events with the tragic hero ---Henchard. I think the settings here act as the symbolic reflections of impressions and get readers more involved in the novel.

For instance, in the first few chapters, Hardy goes out of his way to describe the very atmosphere of Casterbridge, its Roman ruins, its market place, its inns, itsÐŽ± grizzled churchÐŽ±, its High Street with its timber houses, its old gardens full of ÐŽ±bloody warriorsÐŽ± and snapdragons, its disputable Mixen-Lane, its two bridges towards whichÐŽ± gravitated all failures of the townÐŽ±. All these remind us that Casterbridge is dull and forbidden, full of age-old traditions and very much dependent upon agriculture for its subsistence. No wonder that Henchard has the stubborn, hardy, rude and instinctive sprit of the old-time country. With this kind of impression in our mind, we even can foresee the struggles between Henchard and Farfrae. With different living backgrounds, or to be more specific, the different living settings, when they clash, it is not only a disagreement between two men, but a conflict between age and youth, tradition and innovation, and emotion and reason. Henchard, for example, is the mayor of the Casterbridge that has remained untouched by modernism. He runs the town by traditional customs. He manages his books in his head, conducts his business by word of mouth, and employs the aid of weather prophet---already obsolete in many parts of the country at that time, in order to determine the success of a harvest. But when Farfrae arrives, he brings with him a new system of organization that changes CasterbridgeЎЇs grain business, making it more efficient and more depending on the technology.

Besides this, Hardy uses the setting to present the mood of his story. For instance, in Chapterўы,Henchard and Susan meet in a gloomy, ancient ruin. By choosing the Ring as the setting, Hardy intends to tell us that their marriage will not be successful. For Henchard thought his wife was a burden to him even eighteen years ago, only because the feeling of guilty, he determines to make demands for the past by remarrying her. So Henchard chooses the Ring as their meeting place, for he does not want others to know his past. Susan, too, seems to feel that everything is not as simple as Henchard would like to have it. Even Hardy himself makes a point of telling us that the true lovers do not go to the Ring.

Another point I want to emphases is the fact that Hardy is a poet as well as a novelist (John, Holloway, 197). Hardy himself preferred poetry to fiction. This has important results for his novels, as he tended to think in poetic term. And he use poetic devices- symbolism quite often in his novels. (Ken, Sobol, 106). Hardy tends to use the objects, characters, colors to represent abstract ideas or concepts. Such as:

The Caged Goldfinch----In order to express his deep love to his daughter, Henchard visits Elizabeth Jane on her wedding day, carrying the gift of a caged goldfinch. He leaves the bird in a corner while he speaks to his stepdaughter and forgets it when she coldly dismisses him. Days later, maid discovers the starved bird, which prompts Elizabeth Jane to search for Henchard, whom she finds dead in Abel WhittleЎЇs cottage. When Whittle reports that HenchardÐŽ± didnЎЇt gain strength, for you see, maЎЇam, he couldnЎЇt eat.ÐŽ± He unknowingly ties HenchardЎЇs fate to the birdЎЇs: both lived and died in prison, been starved of love. The goldfinchЎЇs was quite literal, while HenchardЎЇs was the inescapable prison of his own personality and his past.

Moreover, the use of symbols explains many other seeming coincidences and unbelievable occurrences (Ken, Sobol, 106). They are often meant to reveal something to the reader, rather than the pure fact.

The arriving of the furmity woman, for example, symbolizes HenchardЎЇs guilty