image from http://www.putthatshitonthelist.com
Critics have argued the most influential woman in Henchard's life is the furmity woman. Throughout the novel the furmity woman keeps reappearing in Henchard's life. Critics believe her reoccurance is interesting in that as a minor female character she leads Henchard toward his fate more directly than either Elizabeth Jane or Lucetta.
Which woman do you believe has the greatest influence on Henchard's fate? His wife? His lover? His daughter?
I would actually have to agree that, so far, at least, the furmity woman has had the greatest influence on Henchard's fate. From what I have read, she has appeared in the book twice, and she changed Henchard's life drastically both times. The first time Henchard encounters the furmity woman is at the fair in the first few pages of the book. He buys some clumpy wheat furmity from her and accepts her offer to spike it with rum to make it taste better. Well, let's just say she put a little more rum in that furmity than Henchard could handle. He became so drunk that he began marching around the fair asking why it wasn't possible for him to sell his wife and baby girl for money. When an auctioneer told him that, in fact, it was possible, Henchard ended up selling Susan and Elizabeth Jane to a sailor for 5 pounds and 5 schillings. When he awoke the next morning, he realized the mistake that he had made. The second time the furmity woman appears in the novel is 18 years later, when Susan and Henchard have grown old and Elizabeth Jane is a beautiful 18 year old girl. Susan and Elizabeth Jane find the furmity woman at the fair and ask her if she remembers the drunken incident and auction from 18 years prior. She said that she doesn't really recall the actual incident, but she does remember a man (Henchard) telling her that if a woman and her daughter ever ask her where he is, that she should reply with "Casterbridge." I find it quite amazing that she actually remembered after all of these years, but that's not the point. So then, Susan and Elizabeth Jane go to Casterbridge and find Henchard, where he is a wealthy businessman, a church officer, and a the Mayor. They also observe that he doesn't drink any hard liquor, ale, or wine. If the furmity woman had not pointed out where Susan and Elizabeth Jane could find Henchard, the rest of the novel and consequently, the fate of not only Henchard, but all of the novel's characters, would be a mystery. So far, the furmity woman has had, in my opinion, the most dramatic effect on the lives of each character in this novel.
ReplyDeleteTo continue off of this, the furmity woman appears for a third time in the story to again direct his fate. She appears in court where Henchard is sitting in the chair, listening to the woman's case. To strengthen her case for the court, she tells the story about Henchard selling his wife eighteen years ago, and she said that there was no reason that he could sit where he was and judge her when he had clearly done wrong too. Henchard recognizes that his credibility has been lowered and agrees that he can not have a say in this case. In addition, many of the towns people had gathered to this case, so now the people know about his faulted past as well.
DeleteI agree with Erikka and Taylor. The Furmity woman played a key part in Henchard's life. If she hadn't shown up the third time, the town wouldn't have known about his past. He would still have been able to keep at least some of his reputation but now that the town knows, all of that is gone. If Susan and Elizabeth-Jane hadn't seen her when they were looking for Henchard, they probably would have never found him. She had stayed in the same town and remembered (for 18 years) what Henchard told her to tell them if they ever came back looking for him. But none of this would have happened if Susan and Michael hadn't gone into her furmity tent on that day, 18 years ago. The woman kept putting alcohol into Henchard's food which is the whole reason that he sold his wife and daughter.
DeleteSimilar to Taylor, I would have to agree with this statement so far into Mayor of Casterbridge. The Furmity woman keeps appearing in this novel, starting in the beginning where she shows tremendous authority over Henchard's fate. She is the one to keep pouring alcohol into his food, which eventually led to his selling of his daughter and wife. A little later on, she also is the one to tell Elizabeth-Jane and Susan of the whereabouts of Henchard, leading them to him and back into his life. (She is minutely controlling the fate of each of the individual characters so far). Finally, further on in the book, in a very dramatic scene, the Furmity woman exposes Henchard's guilt-ridden past, causing him to declare bankruptcy and become an outcast member of society. I would definitely have to agree with this statement that even though the Furmity woman isn't in the story very much, she holds some of the greatest authority over Henchard and his destiny.
ReplyDelete