| This study of three novels by George Eliot and three by Thomas Hardy, set in a single provincial village or town, shows how supporting characters contribute to the novel's depiction of the main characters and their rural communities. In these novels most of the supporting characters who complement the main characters, along with background figures who often appear in groups and function as chorus, are rural natives representing ordinary provincial mentality and communal values, and providing commentary on the complex protagonists struggling to establish or maintain their places in the community. Eliot's Adam Bede and Silas Marner portray early nineteenth-century villages, with strong supporting characters such as the Poysers and Winthrops demonstrating the solid virtues of family and community life. Although Silas Marner reveals more of the limitations of rural attitudes and conventions, in both novels the tragic plot lines and crimes of the gentry are overshadowed by celebrations of communal harmony in the weddings at the end. In The Mill on the Floss the Tullivers feel an unalterable loyalty to their lifelong family home, but they are destroyed by bankruptcy and scandal in the repressive and materialistic society of the provincial market town, represented by their Dodson relatives. Hardy's Wessex novels place increasing emphasis on the inherent weaknesses and hardships of traditional rural life. In his light-hearted comedy, Under the Greenwood Tree, Fancy's return to Mellstock leads to the loss of the ancient choir, but the displaced musicians and their congenial families celebrate her integration into their idyllic community when she marries a virtuous young tradesman. Michael Henchard's tragic alienation from family and community in The Mayor of Casterbridge is observed by groups of weak and degenerate workers. The Woodlanders presents Hardy's last gloomy view of debility and decay within a single old-fashioned community, as the virtuous but passive villagers cannot resist corrupt outside influences and Grace Melbury's unhappy marriage takes her away from her childhood home. These novels' different portrayals of the rural communities and characters provide insight into the authors' developing views of the individual and society. |
