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The Existential Themes in the Mayor of Casterbridge

Author: JiangJing
Tutor: WangSongLin
School: Jiangxi Normal University
Course: English Language and Literature
Keywords: Alienation Estrangement Despair Search for Self-Realization
CLC:
Type: Master's thesis
Year: 2008
Downloads: 221
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Abstract


Thomas Hardy not only depicts the actual life of Wessex which he was familiar with in his works, also takes it as the starting-point for exploring the condition of human existence as a whole. He associates the personal experience of the protagonists in his novels with the fate of the human beings to investigate the main issues of the existence of the human beings. Based on the research fruits home and abroad, this thesis tentatively provides an interpretation of his novel The Mayor of Casterbridge from the perspective of existentialism. Although Hardy isn’t an existential writer in the strict sense, his novels reveals the thoughts of existentialism and focuses on the value of the individual through the living experience in the deep sense.Apart from introduction and conclusion,this thesis consists of four chapters.In Chapter one, it mainly states the general principles of existentialism.The three key themes of existential literature are defined, such as alienation, despair and estrangement, search for self-realization. Besides, it analyzes the process of how Hardy forms his deep understanding towards the predictment of the human beings. Chapter two, by analyzing the text from two aspects, i.e. the relation between man and nature, man and society, discusses how Hardy skillfully constructs the completely alienated world in this novel: Casterbridge. Chapter Three focuses on the issues of the estrangement and despair among characters in Casterbridge, such as the cash-nexus marriage of Henchard and Susan, the estrangement of Farfrae from the others due to the interests, the tragic fate of Lucetta who is trapped in the traditional custom. Chapter Four illuminates the theme of the impossibility of self-realization in the alienated society. The two bridges in Casterbridge symbolize the two kinds of attitude towards existence. One represents the kind of persons who are willing to accept and conciliate with the alienated world; the other refers to the people who try to search for the self-realization and challenge the world. Even death is also the way of realizing the value of being the self. Although the protagonist Henchard fails in the end, the spirit of his struggling while facing the predicament deserves eulogizing. This novel reveals the pain of lives and the spirit of endurance. It extols the meaning of the struggle of self-realization in the alienated world.

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