『캐스터브리지 읍장』연구 : 헨처드의 성격과 파멸의 관계 = A Study of The Mayor of Casterbridge : Especially on Henchard's character and down-fall

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

The purpose of this study is to clarify Michael Henchard's character and the cause of his down-fall. In the Mayor, Hardy brings his naturalism and humanism together in a truly tragic vision. Hardy as naturalist recognizes that man is driven by internal and external forces of natural law that are often beyond his control, both his worthiest and his more selfish aspirations doomed to failure. Hardy as humanist, on the other hand, upholds man's dignity, sees his aspirations as valuable, his struggles as grand and heroic, even if doomed. Hardy as humanist values those who aim high finds meaning in their failure
Hardy has chosen Michael Henchard as his central character. He is a traditional passionate, divided figure, torn between reason and impulse. The central action of this novel is the chronicle of the gradual fall of this hero. The theme of this novel is the traditional moral pattern of sin and retribution.
And this pattern is one of aspiration and defeat. Michael Henchard, the hero, falls not because he is proudly and sinfully defying a universal moral order but rather because the internal and external forces of an amoral natural law oppose his attempts to win love and act justly. Henchard is rather a doomed heroic figure who attempts to impose human values against insuperable internal and external forces of natural law.
Henchard's career is a series of failures. He cannot adjust to himself, cannot fully control his natural impulses, and so ends in self-destruction.