In many of Hardy's novels the main character is female, struggling with her fate in a society which views women as second-class citizens (see notes on Victorians). Hardy's views on women were not sympathetic to the Victorian values of his time. However, in Mayor of Casterbridge the main character is male, not female, yet Hardy's views on the struggles of Victorian women are still apparent to readers. Which woman do you believe has the greatest influence on Henchard's fate -- his wife, his lover, or his daughter?
Friday, October 16, 2009
Furmity Woman
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Well, in one of the most dramatic scenes of the novel, the furmity woman opens up the truth about Henchard's past. She exposes the fact that he auctioned off his wife and child. This knowledge being out in the open soon leads to him declaring bankruptcy and becoming almost an outcast of society. All because of his guilt ridden past...
ReplyDeleteAlso, the furmity woman was the one to lace his oatmeal with liquor, which in turn led him to selling his family in the first place.
The furmity woman also tells Susan and Elizabeth-Jane that she recalls Michael Henchard traveling to Casterbridge. This leads to Susan taking off after him, and coming back into his life.
She isn't a main character, but by coincidence maybe she keeps turning up in Henchard's life, and has incredible power over his fate.
I believe all three of these women of course play a role in Henchard’s fate. However, I do believe they are mere ponds in a game of chess. I would agree with the critics of the furmity woman being an influential woman due to her reappearing in Henchard’s life and finally revealing Henchard’s shameful night twenty-one years ago when he sold his wife and child. However, I also believe that Mr. Newson ultimately has the greatest influence on Henchard’s fate. One of the obvious reasons being that he was the one man who took Michael seriously the night he auctioned off his family. And once again when he returned not two, but three times to Casterbridge in search of his daughter Elizabeth-Jane, then revealing the truth buried beneath Michael’s lies.
ReplyDeleteI do still agree though that the furmity woman has more power over Henchard than his lover or his daughter. The woman ultimately has more power because she knows of the night when Michael sold his family. She then appears in the novel to reveal to Michael’s former family that he is indeed in Casterbridge and then again appears to reveal his night of mischief to the councilman as a way to distract them from her own crime. Basically, knowledge is the key to this poor woman having more power over Henchard than Lucetta and EJ because both of them only know of bits and pieces of the puzzle.
I would agree with Miranda and Liz about the furmity woman having the greatest influence on Henchards fate. The book commenced with what I think to be the decision that had the biggest affect on Henchards life, his decision to sell his wife and daughter. Henchard only made this decision because he was a boisterous obnoxious drunk, and the furmity woman was the one who slipped him the alcohol. With out the woman there to pour rum in his furmity, Henchard would not have made that rash decision. This experience changed Henchard and he turned his life around because of it.
ReplyDeleteWhen Susan came back looking for Henchard the furmity woman led her right back to him, playing another role in his fate of reuniting with his family. This ended up causing a whole mess of problems later on.
The furmity woman appears once again for the last time, revealing Henchards' past. In doing this his reputation and name are ruined. He is a poor outcast, that has lost everything.
In all of these appearance the furmity woman has a huge impact on Henchards life without any intentions in doing so. If anything I think the furmity woman was merely trying to further herself along. In the first appearance she makes more money by putting alcohol in the men's furmity because they pay more for it and in the last appearance she is trying to escape her own punishment.
I believe that the furmity woman did have the greatest impact on Henchard's life. Not only because she influenced him to sell his family, but because she is also the reason he quit drinking for 18 years. If Henchard had not sold his family, he still would have been a belligerent alcoholic and probably would have ended up harming his family in worse ways. Even though he lost his family in the end, he got to live a wonderful, happy, sober life for longer than he would have without the furmity woman. If Henchard had kept drinking he probably would have harmed his health and ended up dying a poor, unhappy man. Most people view her as a bad influence on his life, but I think she has helped him out in many ways. Everyone dies in the end, so at least he got to experience happiness within his sober years.
ReplyDeleteI agree with everyone here that the furmity woman plays the biggest role in Henchard's life, even though the other three women play minor roles. The furmity woman was the catalyst for both of Henchard's downfalls. She spiked his furmity, which led him to selling his family, as well as testafying in court and revealing Henchard's past to society. To me, the furmity woman is the personification of Henchard's guilt, and that it is "on the backburner" untilit pops up again, for Henchard could only keep it a secret for so long. Once she reappeared, so did Henchard's problems, and his guilt/problems.
ReplyDeleteI agree with everyone else in that the Furmity woman had the greatest impact on Henchard’s life. Even though she didn’t know the first thing about him, not even his name, she knew his deepest darkest secret and held the key to the eventual unveiling of the truth at the end of the novel. People nowadays can sometimes find it easier to confide in someone that they hardly know rather than their best friend, and I think human nature was the same back then as well. Even though Henchard didn’t consciously confide in the furmity woman, he still went back to her to send anyone who came looking for him to Casterbridge. He essentially put the fate of his own future into the hands of a stranger, a proprietress to a frigging oatmeal tent.
ReplyDeleteFurthermore, like Grace, I feel that the furmity woman actually saved Henchard from a life of drunken remorse by allowing him to escape from his realities for 18 years. Knowing that one can’t live in denial forever, Hardy wrote Henchard’s family back into his life as if to slap his character in the face and say, “Hey, remember me? Your past?” This novel is full of reoccurrences, and the furmity woman is not only a strong character in Henchard’s life, but also strong example of this very claim.
very informative
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