Thomas Hardy

Ab by the author doubting Thomas courageous was born in 1840 in Dorset, a rural county in the south-west of England. His father was a stonemason and the family were non well off. venturesome showed an early interest in account binds, however, and when he was sixteen, he began training as an architect in Dorchester. In 1862, he went to pee-pee in London, where he was able to compare city feeling with the customs and seasonless ship jakesal of the country village where he grew up. He began writing in his economize time.In 1870, he met and fell in love with Emma Gifford, solely they could not render to marry. His fourth novel, Far From the Madding Crowd, published in 1874, was a humongous success. This leaded him to function a full-time writer and to marry. brassy wrote several more novels, among them The mayor of Casterbridge, published in 1886. He and Emma lived in Dorset, merely they spent better of every year in London, where they mixed with literary mess and Hard y was much admired. Although Hardys books were very popular, when Jude the Obscure appeared in 1896, people hated it.They survey it was an attack on marriage, and ound it shocking and im incorrupt. Hardy turned to poetry and never wrote an former(a)wise novel. He died in 1928. Some biographers portray him as snobbish, remember and hateful towards women. former(a)s believe he was a sensitive man who cared deeply slightly the human condition. Summary Young, poor Michael Henchard feels trapped by his married woman and child and one night witnesss drunk at a lovely and sells them to a grotesquer called Newson. Horrified by what he has make, he swears not to touch alcohol for 20 dollar bill years. Eighteen years later(prenominal) he is the mayor of Casterbridge and a successtul billetman.Believing Newson is dead, is wife, Susan, and daughter, Elizabeth-Jane, arrive in c Pearson Education dowryicular(a) 2008 Casterbridge to reckon Henchard because she has no money. He marrie s her again and they pay off a misfortunate happy life together. Farfrae, a green man with modern line ideas, arrives at the same time and make outs Henchards farm manager. Susan dies, and Henchard learns that Elizabeth-Jane is in reality Newsons daughter. Henchard falls out with Farfrae, who sets up a gibe business, and soon outdoes him. A woman from Henchards early(prenominal), Lucetta, comes to Casterbridge. Henchard at present unavoidablenesss to marry her, but she and Farfrae fall in love.Henchards business fails and he loses his signal so he starts drinking again. Lucetta dies of shock aft(prenominal) the local people posit fun of her and Henchard in public. He sees that he will presently lose his daughter as well as everything else. He leaves Casterbridge on foot. He is penniless and has lost his family Just as at the beginning of the story. ElizabethJane dust loyal to Henchard, but he dies before she can find him. Chapter 1 Henchard, a farm worker aged twenty , has a family, no commercial enterprise and no home. He gets drunk and sells his wife and child for five guineas to a sailor named Newson t a dependable.Devastated at what he has done, he looks for them without success. Henchard makes a solemn promise not to touch alcohol for twenty years. Chapter 2 Susan, widowed and poor, and her eighteenyear-old daughter, Elizabeth- Jane arrive in Casterbridge to find Henchard. She is relieved to find he is direct the Mayor and a businessman who needs a corn whiskey manager for his growing business. Chapter 3 Henchard employs Farfrae, a handsome innovative Scotsman as corn manager and the business improves. He a standardized meets Susan and devises a political program so that the townspeopleshipspeople do not find their marriage strange.He draws close together(predicate) to Farfrae and tells him about his past including a woman in Jersey he promised to marry. Chapter 4 Henchard marries Susan, but she is reluctant to name her daughters last name changed. He and Farfrae disagree publicly over a worker. Henchard is Jealous and organises a rival entertainment day to Farfraes, but it fails. Farfrae leaves him and sets up a rival business. Susan dies but leaves a letter with the truth about her daughter. Chapter 5 Hencnard tells Elizabeth-Jane what happened at the fair twenty years ago but reads in Susans letter that she is really Newsons daughter.He begins to treat her coldly, and even encourages Farfrae to see her. ElizabethJane meets a woman at her mothers excise who is friendly and offers her to pct her house. The Mayor of Casterbridge T all(prenominal)ers notes of 5 Chapter 6 Lucetta, the woman from Jersey, has transmittable property in Casterbridge and has employed Elizabeth-Jane as a house continueer. Henchard tries to see her but they fail to meet. Farfrae calls in to see Elizabeth-Jane, who is out. He likes Lucetta and she loses interest in Henchard. Chapter 7 Henchard goes bankrupt because of the weather and his own impatience while Farfraes business ucceeds.Henchard realises he and Farfrae compete for Lucettas love, so he threatens her with making their past public so that she accepts his proposal of marriage. Chapter 8 Henchard agrees to postpone their wedding if Lucetta helps him buy some time to repay a debt to Grower. She cant because she has mysteryly married Farfrae and Grower acted as witness. Chapter 9 Henchard claims the letters from his safe, and reads them out to Farfrae without disclosing the sender. He promises Lucetta to give tham put up to her and asks Jopp to chuck up the sponge them.Chapter 10 Jopp asks Lucetta to help him become her usbands manager but she refuses. In a pub, he reads out the letters to two women and they plan a skimmity-ride in town to scorn Lucetta and Henchard. Chapter 1 1 A member of the majestic family visits the town but Henchard is not allowed to greet him. Hurt, Henchard fghts Farfrae in a vitamin B but cannot bring himself to kill him . Chapter 12 Henchard is back in town to see the ride. Farfrae does not see the ride because he is lured a mood from town but Lucetta dies of the shock. Chapter 13 Henchard and Elizabeth-Jane live together happily.Elizabeth-Jane and Farfrae re refreshing their relationship and get married Newson returns and te s daughter the truth, which makes her very happy. Henchard leaves the town. Chapter 14 Elizabeth-Jane marries Farfrae and tries to find her father to take care of him but he dies before she can find him. The original text The novel first appeared serially, in twenty instalments, in 1886 in The Graphic, an English periodical and simultaneously in the linked States. The book appeared as soon as the serial publication was pass with flying colors but it differs a lot from the serial novel. It has been adapted for TV as a miniseries.Background and themes Where the story came from Hardy claims the story as inspired by three actual events the sale of a wife by her maintain reporte d in a local newspaper, the uncertain harvests and the visit of Prince Albert, butt Victorias husband, to Dorchester, the town upon which Casterbridge is based, in 1849. Fight with self The main theme of the book is Henchards fight against two things his own character and chance. As he fghts with himself, his actions and decisions come upon other peoples lives, usually badly. He often allows negative feelings to overwhelm him at the beginning when things seem so bad he sells his wife.He is lways honest in business, but not always kind he is often desirous and quick to anger, but he is capable of peachy love and great loneliness. His complex character creates uncertainty in the reader should we feel dispirited for him or does he deserve everything that happens to him? Chance Chance acts an historic part throughout the story the chance appearance of Newson in the tent when Henchard is stressful to sell his wife the rain that spoils Henchards fair the August weather that ruins Henchards business the chance meeting between Farfrae and Lucetta when they fall in love.Hardy believes that although Henchard is a a remedy character, he is never fully in control of his life. Alcohol in addition has a role here. Henchards life improves when he stops drinking as he devotes himself to work, builds a successful business and eventually becomes mayor. Once ne starts again, ne loses his pride and his Judgement. Traditional versus modern The two men fit contrasting ways of life in the country. Henchard is traditional and old-fashioned. Farfrae is young and modern. Hardy was always fascinated by country customs and ways.He often includes strange country rituals like the skimmity-ride in his novels. They make useful plot devices and allow him to paint pictures of colourful but less important characters. He also uses them to reveal the conservative side of society, which can be very barbarian to people who fall outside its strict rules of moral behaviour. Lucetta dies b ecause of the skimmity Joke. This breaking of the moral code becomes a very important theme in Hardys later novels, which shocked the interpret public and ended Hardys novel-writing career. hold forthion activities Before reading 1 free radical work Students work in multitudes.Each group chooses an important soulfulness in their local community, e. g. factory owner, the mayor, the chief of police, a magistrate. They and then decide on a terrible secret in the past of their character. They discourse the details of the secret without other students overhearing. The mob then questions each group in turn to try and find out what the secret is. Groups have to answer as truthfully as they can. 2 lease carefully Read the Introduction on pages Evii. Make a map of the events of Thomas Hardys life. Use these dates 1840 1871 1886 1895 1913 1914 1928 Example 1840 Thomas Hardy is born in Dorset.Chapter 1 While reading bridge work (atter page 4) Michael is ottering his wite or a little money at the fair. involve students in pairs to make a list of the things they could say to persuade Michael to keep quiet. 4 establish (page 6) Michael makes a formal promise not to drink alcohol for twenty years. deal students to discuss the following How hard will this be for Michael? commit you ever made a promise that was hard to keep? aft(prenominal) reading 9 Pair work Henchard wants to persuade Farfrae to stay and work with him. How can he do this? subscribe students in pairs to write pop up reasons why Farfrae should stay in Casterbridge.Then they prepare a short wrangle and give it to the rest of the class. Finally, have a class vote for the some convincing speech. 10 hold forth Ask students to discuss the following How do you think people in Casterbridge would react if they knew that the mayor had sold his wife twenty years before? How has this changed in present days? atomic number 18 citizens decisions influenced by the private life of their authorities? Cha pters 3-4 11 argue Ask students to discuss the following What about Farfrae has attracted Henchard? Why would he be provoke in him? Guess Tell students that eighteen years have passed after Henchards promise not to drink for twenty years. Ask students to guess what has become of Henchards life. allow for he ever find his family again? 12 frame (after Chapter 3) After he learns about Lucetta and Henchard, Farfrae advises him to write a letter to the young woman explaining to her why he is no longer available to keep his word and marry her. He even helps him do so. Ask students in pairs to write the letter from Henchard to Lucetta. 13 piece flow (page 21) Ask students to gain they are ordinary townspeople at Henchard and Susans wedding.They are very move by the wedding. Ask them to role play the colloquy in pairs. 4 Guess (page 23) Farfrae and Elizabeth-Jane receive notes for a secret meeting in a barn. Neither of them has written the note for the other. Ask students to guess who may have wanted them to meet and therefore written the notes. What motive might that person have? 15 handle (page 24) Henchard and Farfrae argue over how to treat a worker. Ask students to discuss how different their approaches to counselling are. How can they be draw? If they were a worker, who would they p diagnose as a manager? voice play Susan leaves the fair with the sailor. How do they feel? What do they say to each other as they alk along the road? Ask students to role play the talk between them. Chapter 2 7 Discuss (page 9) Ask students to discuss how Susans life might have been different if she had not left with the sailor eighteen years before. Would her life have been better? 8 Role play (after reading loudly the first paragraph on page 15) Casterbridge was a very quiet town in Hardys day. Communications with big cities like London and Portsmouth were slow and difficult. So when Farfrae arrives, a visitor from Scotland, it is a big event.Farfrae is in the bar at the King of Prussia. One student is Farfrae. Other students are customers. What do they ask him? Ask them to role play the conversation in small groups. 16 Group work Put students in small groups. Ask them to discuss how these sets of relationships change in this section of the book Susan and Henchard Hencnard and Fartrae Elizabeth-Jane and Fartrae Elizabeth-Jane and Henchard. After their discussions, groups report back to the class. Chapters 5-6 17 Discuss Ask students to discuss these questions with a partner. (a) Who is the Woman in black? b) The next chapter is called Love at First Sight. Which two characters will fall n love at first sight? 18 Group work (page 33) Henchard has Just been told that he will not be offered the position of mayor again. Farfrae has been chosen instead. Ask students in groups to discuss which candidate would be a better mayor and to give reasons for their choice. Then they share their ideas with the class. 19 Role play (page 35) Elizabeth-Jane is se ssion by her mothers grave, reading. A woman she has never met before approaches and they start talking. She tells her about her life before and after Casterbridge.Ask students in pairs to role play this conversation. move them the woman ends up hiring her as a housekeeper. 20 Discuss (page 40) Will the new planting machine be good for the people of Casterbridge or bad? Ask students to take a minute and write arguments for and against new machinery. Then they share their ideas with other students. 27 Group work wealth (or the absence of it) plays an important role in the novel. For example, Hencnards interest in Lucetta grows now that she is wealthy and independent. Ask students to work in groups. Assign each group a character (Henchard, Susan, Lucetta, Elizabeth-Jane, Farfrae).Students discuss how money nd wealth have changed their character. Are they better off with money? Are they happier? Then they share their views. 21 Discuss Elizabeth-Jane wonders why Lucetta did not trust h er with the truth. Ask students in pairs or small groups to try to respond to this question. Then they compare their views with other students. Chapters 7-8 22 Guess Ask students to discuss who the title of the chapter may refer to, when it comes to love. Who are the women involved? 23 Group work (page 44) Ask students in small groups to list the mistakes or miscalculations Henchard made as regards his business.What did he do wrong? What shouldnt he have done? What should he have done instead? Encourage them to give reasons for their answers. Then they share their lists with the rest of the class. Do they have similar ideas? 24 Discuss Invite students to read aloud the incident on page 45 between the two drivers. Discuss with students how this incident reflects the wider situation between Henchard and Farfrae. Record ideas on the board. 25 Discuss (page 47) Ask students to discuss the following questions How does Henchard force Lucetta to agree to marry him? Was she right in accepti ng the proposal?Did she have any other way out? How will Farfrae feel about this? 26 Discuss (page 53) Ask students to discuss the following questions in pairs or small groups What emotions does Henchard feel when he learns of Lucettas marriage to Farfrae? Will he keep quiet about their past relationship? Then they snare their ideas wit n the rest ot the class. Chapters 9-10 28 Guess Ask students to guess how Henchard might react to Lucettas rejection. 29 Pair work (page 55) Ask students in pairs to discuss the following questions How do Henchards and Farfraes management styles differ?What kind of manager would you like to have if you were an employee? 30 Role play (page 59) Elizabeth-Jane stops Farfrae in the street and warns him about Henchards feelings but he does not take her seriously. Ask students to role play this conversation. 31 Discuss (page 66) Mrs Cuxsom and Nance Mockridge plan the skimmity-ride after they listen to Jopp read out the letters. They want to teach Mrs Farf rae a lesson using an old tradition. Ask students to discuss the following How would people in your country shame others today? 2 Group work Students compare events in the lives f Henchard and Farfrae by making a good/bad list for each of the two men. Divide the class into four groups. Each group takes and completes one section of the list. Groups report back to the class, writing their ideas in list form on the board. As a follow-up, students write a paragraph comparing the fortunes of the two men. Chapters 11-12 33 Discuss Farfrae has Just been offered the position of mayor. Ask students to discuss these questions Do you think he will agree? Why/why not? 34 Role play Ask students to imagine that they are standing in the crowd together watching the royal visit.