Fwd: [hardy-l] Satirical President

[Rosemarie Morgan]

I obviously expressed myself poorly. In nearly all cases of social protest 
it is the "system"(or individuals representing a social malady such as the 
beating  of the horse, or the caging of  wild birds, in *Jude*) which drew 
Hardy's concern. I didn't mean to imply that he *could* not attack capital 
punishment -- (although "attack"is not quite his style anyway --more like 
ridicule or some form of subversion) although mocking it/subverting it (the 
brutality of the system) may have worried The Graphic publishers who 
refused to print the "baptism" scene.

Being exceedingly sensitive to suffering, reflected in his note-taking, 
ie., the little boy hanged for stealing, and what he felt to be the outrage 
of institutions acting inhumanely (the workhouse staff in FFMC), it would 
have been difficult if not impossible for him, I would think, to pass over 
the hanging of Tess without subverting the legal system in some way or another.

As to his note on Martha Brown (thanks, Judith, for the name), it is so 
vividly detailed in his brief description that it seems evident to many 
Hardy scholars that it remained imprinted his memory for all time.

Absurdism is another literary resort. This occurs more often in TH's poetry 
-- the sheer absurdity of certain social conventions and practices. This 
struck me anew in reading Carolyn's apt remarks about satire; there is 
undoubtedly an air of ridicule in his Aeschylean phrase.

Cheers
Rosemarie


>>And indeed Hardy did see an execution, that of Martha Elizabeth Brown, 
>>who murdered her abusive husband.
>>Best
>>Judith
>>