![]() Have an opinion on anything you’ve read in the Guardian today? Please email us your letter and it will be considered for publication in our letters section. Instead, the monument memorialises Vice Admiral Thomas Hardy, a commander at the Battle of Trafalgar the one, in other words, whom Nelson, in his dying moments, wanted to kiss. ![]() For a Hardy novel, that is an unusually happy ending, and it is one without judgment on her as a woman or as a lowly-born illegitimate child – unusual for Victorian Britain. She retains a sense of wonder that, for one whose broken childhood had taught her “happiness was but the occasional episode in a general drama of pain”, her adult life has become one of “unbroken tranquillity”. Elizabeth-Jane, now happily married and comfortable, is “forced to class herself among the fortunate”. But, there is a wealth of content to explore in his masterful poetry. Henchard’s journey from disreputable drunk to “man of character” is inextricably linked to his growing appreciation/love of Elizabeth-Jane.īy the end, Henchard is dead. Thomas Hardy is remembered today for novels such as Jude the Obscure and Tess of the d’Urbervilles. Throughout the novel, we are reminded of her thoughtfulness and intelligence. ![]() We see Casterbridge through Elizabeth-Jane’s eyes. ![]() Through her and the other women in the novel, Hardy critiques the male worldview. In The Mayor of Casterbridge, he created a strong woman in Henchard’s illegitimate stepdaughter, Elizabeth-Jane, who I believe is the real protagonist. ![]()
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