Hardy's View On Human Destiny And Chance example essay topic

Hardy's view on human destiny and chance based on his novel The Mayor of Casterbridge Present readers might perceive that Thomas Hardy's viewpoint in the novel The Mayor of Casterbridge is severe and depressing. However, most people adored Hardy during his living years. In an era when the Industrial Revolution was bringing dramatic and sometimes disturbing changes to England, he celebrated the nation's roots in its rustic past. In an era when new ideas like Darwin's theory of evolution challenged long established religious beliefs, Hardy showed that even the simplest people have, at all times, dealt with comparable eternal questions: How are humans to live? What determines an individual's destiny? Are humans self-determining beings?

He spoke directly to the concerns of people vacillating on the verge of a new era. Though he dealt with key questions, Hardy was an immensely popular author for the reason that he believed in writing a good story. In addition, he liked writing about common people: their troubles, their success or failures, were in his vision, the most important material for an author. Hardy was conscious of the latest scientific theories that were defying previous beliefs and other intellectual ideas.

Though he wrote about uneducated rural characters in lonely hamlets or villages, he wrote from the point of view of a theorist who questions traditional beliefs. This voice is, undoubtedly, that of a disbeliever. He does not know whether God exists; he does not know if the universe works upon ethics of righteousness. Depressing as his theoretical views may be, Hardy delights the reader with his lively characters and his profound care for the British countryside.

He had a superior ear for local dialects. He had a painter's eye for theatrical views in nature. Incontestably, Hardy speaks straightforwardly and strongly to some need within the populace. In addition, most individuals question destiny and hope that altruism will be rewarded. The Mayor of Casterbridge has faults, numerous of which may hit the reader right away. However, the reader's mind will remain with this brilliant tale and its memorable characters.

People possibly will find themselves saying; 'Yes, this is how life is. ' People might even commence to perceive the everlasting questions that Hardy keeps on laying in their own daily life. The Mayor of Casterbridge is a story of rural life, although it represents a story of the greater world in which individuals have at all times lived and will eternally live in. The only persistent contentment in the book might come at the closing stages, in Farfrae and Elisabeth-Jane's marriage. The lives of the other main characters all finish in sad decease, like Lucetta, Susan, and Mr. Henchard, or carry on in misery like the sailor Newson. Newson has to go back to the sea on his own, leaving his daughter behind in Casterbridge.

There are moments of occasional joy. Nonetheless, they pass rapidly away, such as the return of Henchard's wife and Elizabeth-Jane, his daughter as he assumes. Hardy's message looks like to be that people cannot anticipate experiencing happiness; they are lucky if they could at least stay away from immense pain. Repeatedly, characters in the story attempt to have power over the future.

They try to arrange for their own contentment and for that of others. Just as frequently, destiny comes between a character and her or his finest plans. Hardy is not saying that evil intentions rule destiny. In this work of fiction, chance appears merely not to be concerned with humans. It interferes just as frequently to put a halt to carefully thought plans as to disturb wrong ones. Destiny is more influential than the wishes of persons.

This situation occurs when Henchard buys grain, as a prognosticator tells him that the harvest will be poor. He had the whole thing considered, and it turned out that destiny had another route for him. This is a good example of destiny obliterating Henchard's well-thought plans. According to Hardy, loving passion can be treacherous. A different type of passion, unrestrained anger, can also have unlucky consequences. The restrained feelings are the lone ones that can be trusted, like Abel's gentleness and willingness to help Michael Henchard.

Abel cares about Henchard even if sometimes he is mean to Abel. Abel thinks that Henchard is a good man as he cared previously for Abel's mother. Relationships among people are poor and short when they are spontaneous and impulsive, as Lucetta and Farfrae realize, and is probably an error. Hardy understands that passion is elementary to human temperament, and he portrays passion so fine that the reader cannot help reacting to it in characters resembling Lucetta. Nevertheless, he stresses that people today ought to aim to act in the light of reason.

Temperance is the objective. Repeatedly, Hardy pulls back from his tale to talk in relation to ancient times. He refers regularly to legendary characters in classical mythology, the Bible, or history, possibly to demonstrate that communities in all civilizations have had similar problems and have almost certainly had the identical questions concerning existence. The bridges are an icon of this timelessness; all the way through their seasons and cycles, they remain identical. There are storms, and there are brilliant summer days, although the true nature of the bridges in no way actually alters.

Human existence has also its storms and brilliant days, but its fundamental temperament never changes. According to Hardy, the natural world may possibly have numerous amounts of diverse moods. He uses natural images in a number of ways: to mirror a character's internal emotions, to represent the conflicts of human life and soul, and to illustrate the relative triviality of human beings. A good example is in the passage when Michael Henchard sells his wife at an auction and a sparrow flies in and everyone goes quiet and stares at it until it leaves. The sparrow symbolizes his wife, Susan, in the way of an allegory as her husband repeatedly dismisses her moans as "But he turned a deaf ear to those bird-like chipping" (Hardy 12). Occasionally nature appears to help humankind; now and again, nature seems to turn against humans, for instance, when Michael sells all the grain he bought thinking that it would be a good harvest.

Out of luck, the following day it starts raining, and it turns out to be a poor, not to say appalling, harvest. It is as mystifying as destiny. In this volume, Hardy investigates these and further aspects of the natural world. By making it a dominant presence in this story, Hardy illustrates to people that they need to consider the power of nature.

Is destiny similar to luck? Diverse readers' opinions diverge on this query. Perhaps it is pitiless and intentional doom that Michael Henchard, for instance, has lost all his possessions and dignity. It could be simple unpredictable chance that Mr. Newson chooses to visit on the day that Michael decides to have Elizabeth-Jane to live with him. In other words, destiny gives the impression to regulate actions according to several patterns, which is beyond human control. Chance looks as if it interferes in minor and more unsystematic ways, while humans are trying to proceed on by themselves.

A countless number of readers, though, believe that chance and fate are the identical thing in this story. Things 'just happen,' devoid of motive, and that in itself is the mold of the cosmos.