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Myth and Mithraism in Hardy’s The Mayor of Casterbridge
- Author(s):
- Andrew G. Christensen (see profile)
- Date:
- 2019
- Group(s):
- GS Folklore, Myth, and Fairy Tale, LLC Victorian and Early-20th-Century English
- Subject(s):
- Mythology, Fiction, Nineteenth century, English literature, Idols and images
- Item Type:
- Article
- Tag(s):
- 19th-century novel, Novel (genre), Victorian literature, Iconography, 19th century
- Permanent URL:
- http://dx.doi.org/10.17613/qxm0-qn75
- Abstract:
- What T. S. Eliot called the “mythic method,” even in its modern form, was not an invention of Modernism. A significant precursor is Thomas Hardy, whose Mayor of Casterbridge has long been appreciated for its mythological structure and wealth of allusion. Here I suggest a new addition to mythological interpretation of the novel: the Greco-Roman deity Mithras and the iconography of the tauroctony. Extending a Frazerian reading of Michael Henchard and Donald Farfrae as rival “corn kings,” I suggest that each character successively takes on attributes of Mithras. In addition to strengthening the allegorical element of the novel, this reading coordinates the repeating taurine symbolism in the mythical narrative and offers some justification for certain scenes otherwise belied by their melodrama.
- Metadata:
- xml
- Published as:
- Journal article Show details
- Pub. DOI:
- 10.1080/00144940.2019.1581123
- Publisher:
- Informa UK Limited
- Pub. Date:
- 2019-3-21
- Journal:
- The Explicator
- Volume:
- 77
- Issue:
- 1
- Page Range:
- 35 - 38
- ISSN:
- 0014-4940,1939-926X
- Status:
- Published
- Last Updated:
- 4 years ago
- License:
- All Rights Reserved
- Share this:
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