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ID 330
Title Transcription
テ ノ アイロニー : エセルバータ ノ テ ロン
Title Alternative
Irony of the 'Hand' : A Study of The Hand of Ethelberta
Author
Content Type
Departmental Bulletin Paper
Description
The Hand of Ethelberta (1876) has generally been criticized as a failure and an execrable work of Thomas Hardy's. Regardless of its low estimation, however, the ironical title seems to give us a key to a fuller appreciation of the novel. A tentative reevaluation of the work is intended in this paper. Young widow Mrs Petherwin, i. e. Ethelberta, is in fact a daughter among the ten chidren of Chickerel, a servant. The ambitious Ethelberta is to choose a good husband among the four suitors. The 'hand' of Ethelberta is of course a symbol of the acceptance of marriage. Ironically enough it is not the 'hand' of 'Mrs Petherwin' of the high society. The servant's daughter Ethelberta has become Mrs Petherwin by marriage and she manages to be that strictly hiding her real origin. Her performance as an excellent story-teller at a theatre to get livelihood to maintain her family overlaps her performance as Mrs Petherwin in the upper society. The proud and aspirant Ethelberta uses her 'hand' most tactfully to have a good husband of property. She finally gives her 'hand' to Lord Mountclere and becomes lady Mountclere. After marriage, however, she is not meek nor submissive to her husband, but oppresses him and controls his estate. The comical reverse change of the husband/wife relation seems to mirror, as one critic suggests, the subversive change of the structure of the society at that time. If Hardy's ambition to be a good 'hand' at a serial at the time of the composition is displaced on to Ethelberta, the 'hand' of Ethelberta may be in reality his 'hand' to have a subversive influence in the reading society of the day.
Journal Title
言語文化研究
ISSN
13405632
NCID
AN10436724
Publisher
徳島大学総合科学部
Volume
1
Start Page
19
End Page
30
Sort Key
19
Published Date
1994-02-18
Remark
公開日:2010年1月24日で登録したコンテンツは、国立情報学研究所において電子化したものです。
EDB ID
FullText File
language
jpn
departments
Liberal Arts and Sciences