An Essay on Modernism vs. Traditionalism in The Mayor of Casterbridge
During the first half of the 19th century English society was making the difficult transition from a pre-industrial Britain to modern' Victorian times. In agriculture, most of the transition took place around 1846 with the repeal of the corn laws. This allowed foreign grain to be imported into England for the first time. Consequently, the entire structure and methods of agriculture in Britain were greatly altered. Much of the action in Thomas Hardy's novel The Mayor of Casterbridge takes place during the years surrounding 1846. These were the years in which traditionalists took their last stand before being defeated in the name of progress. The contrasts between Henchard, a man relying on the traditional way of life and Farfrae, a man intrigued by modern ideas, illustrate the inevitability that progress and modernization will overcome tradition.
The conflict of tradition versus modernization is shown......
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Approximate Word Count: 1802
Approximate Pages: 7 (260 words per double-spaced page) |