[Hardy-l] Father Time

[Pauline Guerin]

I agree with Jacky actually.  Father Time is a strange character, but I
think that he is indeed character and metaphor.  The idea of the tragic mask
surely foreshadows the tragedy which occurs, a tragedy which in fact he
instigates.  I think he also represents the lack of Christianity; the lack
of wedding vows children born out of wedlock; divorce etc.  The fact that he
is not christened himself is (for the age) slightly disturbing; as though
being a true Christian serves as protection against tragedy.  Of course he
does die 'in damnation' because he commits suicide, a crime, it's a double
whammy, because he is essentially the product of a 'crime' - a bastard.

I believe he is essentially a metaphor for the tragedies that society would
suffer through secularisation.  As though his part in the book is a warning
to all.

Of course the idea, which Jacky discusses, of Father Time being present, but
yet not present, to me makes sense; religion too is present, but is not
always tangible; God is not tangible, but an idea which exists in our minds.
We feel safer with it, and yet what is it?

And, of course, time itself is not tangible either, and yet the passing of
time can have devastating consequences, as indeed does the 'passing' of
Father Time!

Gosh I enjoyed that!

Regards

Pauline





Pauline Guerin MA



I find him strange, will, in that he is never referred to by a name only as
Jude's boy or Arabella's boy or as Father Time, a metaphoric figure. He is
described as 'Age masquerading as juvenility' or as 'the tragic mask of
Melpomene', as if he were a 'thing', an object such as a mask is, with all
the symbolic implications that masks have; and if a person has no name it
may be interpreted that he has no existence. Furthermore, he is almost
ignored even by the narrator him/herself.
Jude, Sue, Arabella speak 'of ' him but rarely to him. It is as
if even his name is a metaphorical reference not an indication of true being
at all.
. I realise I sound
to be thrashing around in the dark somewhat here and I just wondered if
other people have similar - or even completely different - perceptions.
Jacky
hardy-l