"Now," said Henchard between gasps, "Your life is in my hands." by Robert Barnes. Plate 17, Thomas Hardy's The Mayor of Casterbridge, which appeared in the London The Graphic, 24 April 1886: Chapter XXXVII through XXXVIII, p. 449. 17.5 cm high by 22.1 cm wide — 6 ⅝ inches high by 8 ⅜ inches wide. [Click on the image to enlarge it.]
Passage Illustrated: Henchard attempts to punish Farfrae as the author of his misfortunes
By a whirl Henchard brought Donald dangerously near the precipice; seeing his position the Scotchman for the first time locked himself to his adversary, and all the efforts of that infuriated Prince of Darkness — as he might have been called from his appearance just now — were inadequate to lift or loosen Farfrae for a time. By an extraordinary effort he succeeded at last, though not until they had got far back again from the fatal door. In doing so Henchard contrived to turn Farfrae a complete somersault. Had Henchard’s other arm been free it would have been all over with Farfrae then. But again he regained his feet, wrenching Henchard’s arm considerably, and causing him sharp pain, as could be seen from the twitching of his face. He instantly delivered the younger man an annihilating turn by the left fore-hip, as it used to be expressed, and following up his advantage thrust him towards the door, never loosening his hold till Farfrae’s fair head was hanging over the window-sill, and his arm dangling down outside the wall.
Henchard planted the first toe forward, Farfrae crossing him with his; and thus far the struggle had very much the appearance of the ordinary wrestling of those parts. Several minutes were passed by them in this attitude, the pair rocking and writhing like trees in a gale, both preserving an absolute silence. By this time their breathing could be heard. Then Farfrae tried to get hold of the other side of Henchard’s collar, which was resisted by the larger man exerting all his force in a wrenching movement, and this part of the struggle ended by his forcing Farfrae down on his knees by sheer pressure of one of his muscular arms. Hampered as he was, however, he could not keep him there, and Farfrae finding his feet again the struggle proceeded as before.
By a whirl Henchard brought Donald dangerously near the precipice; seeing his position the Scotchman for the first time locked himself to his adversary, and all the efforts of that infuriated Prince of Darkness — as he might have been called from his appearance just now — were inadequate to lift or loosen Farfrae for a time. By an extraordinary effort he succeeded at last, though not until they had got far back again from the fatal door. In doing so Henchard contrived to turn Farfrae a complete somersault. Had Henchard’s other arm been free it would have been all over with Farfrae then. But again he regained his feet, wrenching Henchard’s arm considerably, and causing him sharp pain, as could be seen from the twitching of his face. He instantly delivered the younger man an annihilating turn by the left fore-hip, as it used to be expressed, and following up his advantage thrust him towards the door, never loosening his hold till Farfrae’s fair head was hanging over the window-sill, and his arm dangling down outside the wall.
“Now,” said Henchard between his gasps, “this is the end of what you began this morning. Your life is in my hands.”
“Then take it, take it!” said Farfrae. “Ye’ve wished to long enough!” [Chapter XXXVIII, serial, 450; volume, pp. 330-331]
Commentary: The Aftermath of Henchard's Public "Snubbing" with the Royal Personage
Feeling disrespected and socially rejected after he has tried to engage with the visiting "Royal Personage" (probably the Prince Consort, Albert), Henchard is determined to confront Farfrae privately about the public snubbing and being hustled away from the royal carriage. He leaves a message at the Corn Street mansion asking to meet Farfrae that evening at the granaries. Here, forty feet above the ground, the action of the present illustration plays out in the loft.
Henchard challenges Farfrae to a fight; one of them will fall 40 feet from the loft. He has tied one arm behind him so as top take "no advantage" of Farfrae. They have a wrestling match; Henchard brings Farfrae near the precipice. After more struggle Henchard dangles Farfrae's head outside the window. He draws back at the last minute and Farfrae descends safely to the floor. [Wright, "Chapter 38," 213].
Whereas Henchard has been hustled out of the way, Farfrae has shaken the Royal hand, and Lucetta is delighted by rumours that her husband may receive a knighthood. Henchard is even further aggrieved when he overhears a conversation in which Lucetta denies that he ever assisted Donald, and that Henchard was ever "anything more than a common journeyman." With just a month to run, the serial appears to be leading to a homicide, as the large-scale illustration depicts an enraged Henchard about to throw a terrified Farfrae to the ground. Although Barnes focuses on the facial expressions of the combatants, he is careful to depict their clothing (which underscores their different social stations) and details of the setting: the substantial chimney in the background, spilled wheat grains in the foreground, and the large hook for lowering loads of hay to the ground and to move burlap bags of grain. What Barnes does not depict is a "window-sill" since the doors of the granary are open, and the adversaries are wrestling on the floor of the loft.
This is the only illustration in Barnes's twenty-part narrative-pictorial sequence in which Farfrae and Henchard appear together. They will each appear just one more time: Henchard in a commanding position in the last illustration, "I have done wrong in coming to 'ee . . . I'll neve, never trouble 'ee again, Elizabeth Jane.", and Farfrae in a secondary position in the penultimate illustration, "Elizabeth, my child, come and hearken to what we are talking about and not bide staring out o' window as if ye didn't hear." The whole program begins and ends with Michael Henchard, who makes nine appearances; however, although Farfrae arrives in the fourth number (January 23rd), he appears in a total of eight plates. In contrast, perhaps because Barnes conceives of the novel as a romance, Elizabeth-Jane appears in eleven of his illustrations.
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.
Wright, Sarah Bird. "The Mayor of Casterbridge. Thomas Hardy A to Z: The Essential Reference to His Life and Work. New York: Facts On File, 2002. Pp. 207-216.
Created 28 July 2001
Last modified 24 March 2024