[hardy-l] Query relating to 'The Mayor of Casterbridge'

[Will Stevens]

(Personal note: I’m just returning, with much pleasure, to this list
following a change of house and of e-mail address.)

I’ve just finished rereading for the *n*th time ‘The Mayor of Casterbridge’.
(I’ve decided, by the way, that it’s Hardy’s masterpiece – which opinion I
shall probably retain until such time as I reread one of his other mature
novels.) There’s something here which strikes me.

In Hardy’s works, the same places, of course, crop up again and again; but,
on the whole, the same characters don’t. For example, compare Hardy’s Wessex
novels with Trollope’s Barsetshire novels and the contrast is clear.

Now take this passage from ‘The Mayor of Casterbridge’ relating to
Henchard’s bankruptcy examination (Henchard has offered his creditors his
watch and the money in his pockets):

The creditors, farmers almost to a man, looked at the watch, and at the
money, and into the street; when Farmer James Everdene of Weatherbury spoke

"No, no, Henchard," he said warmly. "We don't want that. 'Tis honourable in
ye; but keep it. What do you say, neighbours--do ye agree?"

"Ay, sure: we don't wish it at all," said Grower, another creditor.

"Let him keep it, of course," murmured another in the background--a silent,
reserved young man named Boldwood; and the rest responded unanimously.

Clearly, James Everdene is the uncle of Bathsheba in ‘Far from the Madding
Crowd’, from whom she inherits the farm, and Boldwood – well, we know all
about him and his fate!

My impression is that it’s very unusual for Hardy to have overlapping
characters in his novels, even to this very minor extent. I can’t off hand
think of any other examples in the novels, though there’s the poem, ‘Friend
Beyond’ which starts: ‘William Dewy, Tranter Reuben, Farmer Ledlow late at
plough...’, who are characters in ‘Under the Greenwood Tree’, and I rather
fancy that they may appear in other poems too.

Is my impression correct? If it is, is there anything of significance here?
Why did Hardy introduce into ‘The Mayor of Casterbridge’ this, entirely
unnecessary, backward reference to his earlier work, ‘Far from the Madding
Crowd’? As far as I can see, naming Everdene and Boldwood adds nothing to
the episode - Hardy could just as well have called them Smith and Jones, or
not named them at all.

Of course, it’s clear that the *action* in ‘The Mayor of Casterbridge’ has
to precede the action of ‘Far from the Madding Crowd’, since James Everdene
was still alive and farming  - though (happy thought!) what if Bathsheba
herself turned up as one of Henchard’s creditors? Perhaps Hardy thought that
it would be just one indignity too many to heap on the poor ex-mayor!

Regards to you all,

Will
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