Henchard turned slightly, and saw that the comer was Jopp, his old foreman by Robert Barnes. Plate 14, Thomas Hardy's The Mayor of Casterbridge, which appeared in the London The Graphic, 3 April 1886: Chapter XXX through XXXIII, p. 373. 17.6 cm high by 22.3 cm wide — 6 ⅝ inches high by 8 ⅞ inches wide. [Click on the image to enlarge it.]
Passage Illustrated: Henchard learns from Jopp of Farfrae's moving into his old house
To this bridge came Henchard, as other unfortunates had come before him, his way thither being by the riverside path on the chilly edge of the town. Here he was standing one windy afternoon when Durnover church clock struck five. While the gusts were bringing the notes to his ears across the damp intervening flat a man passed behind him and greeted Henchard by name. Henchard turned slightly and saw that the comer was Jopp, his old foreman, now employed elsewhere, to whom, though he hated him, he had gone for lodgings because Jopp was the one man in Casterbridge whose observation and opinion the fallen corn-merchant despised to the point of indifference.
Henchard returned him a scarcely perceptible nod, and Jopp stopped.
“He and she are gone into their new house to-day,” said Jopp. [Chapter XXXII, 375; in volume, 270]
Commentary: The Plate signals further Plot Machinations
The chance meeting on the stone footbridge (by reputation, gathering place for the down-and-out, and the scene of many a suicide) in Chapter XXXII results in Joshua Jopp's, his old foreman, who has taken in the dispossessed Henchard as his tenant. He tells Henchard that Farfrae and Lucetta are currently moving in to Henchard's old house in Corn Street. In the sixteenth (17 April) instalment Henchard's relationship with Jopp will result in the vengeful Jopp's gaining temporary custody of Lucetta's correspondence with Henchard. This plot twist that is necessary to the staging of the Skimmington, Lucetta's public shaming, her epileptic fit, miscarriage, and untimely death. With Lucetta out of the way, so to speak, widower Donald Farfrae, solid businessman and member of the Casterbridge establishment, is free to court Elizabeth-Jane Newson. Thus, this seemingly insignificant conversation on the bridge prepares readers for a series of momentous events, precipitated in part by the fact that Henchard's oath of teetotalism taken twenty years before now expires.
For characters who count among Casterbridge's "down-and-out," both Henchard and his former manager, Joshua Jopp, look surprisingly respectable in this illustration. In particular, the instigator of the Skimmington and foremost member of the disreputable drinkers at Peter's Finger in Mixen Lane has a cane, tidy leggings, and respectable top-hat. And Henchard, despite his fall from the first ranks of Casterbridge society, still wears a respectable hat (rather than a workman;'s cap) and a tailcoat. Although he is pivotal to the Skimmington and Lucetta's being publicly disgraced, this is Jopp's only appearance in the narrative-pictorial sequence.
Scanned image and text by Philip V. Allingham. [You may use this image without prior permission for any scholarly or educational purpose as long as you (1) credit the person who scanned the image and (2) link your document to this URL in a web document or cite the Victorian Web in a print one.]
Bibliography
Allingham, Philip V. "A Consideration of Robert Barnes' Illustrations for Thomas Hardy's The Mayor of Casterbridge as Serialised in the London Graphic: 2 January-15 May, 1886." Victorian Periodicals Review 28, 1 (Spring 1995): pp. 27-39
Hardy, Thomas. The Mayor of Casterbridge. The Graphic 33 (1886).
Hardy, Thomas. The Mayor of Casterbridge: A Story of a Man of Character. London: Osgood McIlvaine, 1895.
Jackson, Arlene. "The Mayor of Casterbridge: Realism and Metaphor."Illustration and the Novels of Thomas Hardy. Totowa, NJ: Rowman and Littlefield, 1981. Pp. 96-104.
Created 28 July 2001
Last modified 24 March 2024