Quote 1
The
difference between the peacefulness of interior nature and the wilful
hostilities of mankind was very apparent at this place. In contrast
with the harshness of the act just ended within the tent was the
sight of several horses crossing their necks and rubbing each other
lovingly as they waited in patience to be harnessed for the homeward
journey. Outside the fair, in the valleys and woods, all was quiet.
The sun had recently set, and the west heaven was hung with rosy
cloud, which seemed permanent, yet slowly changed. To watch it was
like looking at some grand feat of stagery from a darkened auditorium.
In presence of this scene after the other there was a natural instinct
to abjure man as the blot on an otherwise kindly universe; till
it was remembered that all terrestrial conditions were intermittent,
and that mankind might some night be innocently sleeping when these
quiet objects were raging loud.
In Chapter I, after selling his wife
and daughter to a sailor for five guineas, Michael Henchard steps
out of the furmity-merchant’s tent and considers the world described
above. Here, Hardy employs his talent for description that serves
to make the physical world of the characters real and accessible,
while carrying a symbolic meaning that resonates with the larger
themes of the work as a whole. First, he evokes beautifully the
natural world of Weydon-Priors: the horses, the surrounding woods,
the “rosy cloud[s]” at sunset. With the patient horses that rub
their necks lovingly and stand as a counterpoint to Henchard’s patently
unloving treatment of his wife, the passage departs from strict
realism and veers toward symbolism. By contrasting the human and
natural worlds in this way and determining that “all terrestrial
conditions were intermittent,” that love and hate, kindness and
cruelty are in constant flux, Hardy effectively sets the stage for
his drama.
