Illustrated headpiece with title by H. Burgess<set=iso-8859-1" /> <link href="../../../style2.css" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" /> </head> <div id="whole-page"> <div id="head"> <img src="../../../icons2/vntop.gif"/> <p class="bc"> [<a href="../../../index.html">Victorian Web Home</a> —> <a href="../../index.html">Visual Arts</a> —> <a href="../index.html">Illustration</a> —> <a href="index.html">Illustrations for Hardy's Short Fiction</a> ]</p> </div> <div id="main"> <div id="leftcontent"> <img src="46.jpg"/> </div> <div id="rightcontent"> <p class="artwork">She waited till the vehicle had driven off, starting as she saw the departing shapes of the outside passengers [on the coach] against the starlit sky.</p> <p class="artist">H. Burgess</p> <p class="artdate">1896</p> <p class="medium">Lithograph</p> <p class="size">18.3 cm. by 11.9 cm.</p> <p class="place">Thomas Hardy's "A Committeeman of 'The Terror'." <span class="book">The Illustrated London News</span> (22 November 1896): 8.</p> <p class="photographer"> Scanned image, caption, and commentary by <a href="../../../misc/pvabio.html">Philip V. Allingham</a>; html and formatting by George P. Landow </p> <p class="permission">[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 tothis URL.]</p> </div> <div id="footer"> <p class="lq">The story reaches a climax with the remarkable scene in which both attempt to leave the "old-fashioned watering-place'" [Weymouth, as identified by Hardy for the sake of illustration] in which the action is set, by boarding what turns out to be exactly the same carriage bound for London, a circumstance that is recognised only subliminally by the heroine when her resolve fails half-way through the journey . . . . (Gilmartin and Mengham 120)</p> <p>Ironically, despite Hardy's detailed "portrayal of the typography of Budmouth" (Brady 187) and the security arrangements made in conjunction with the king's visit, including what was playing at the local theatre, the illustrator provides no sense of the geographical setting and focuses instead upon the two chief characters, but without much psychological analysis.</p> <p>Since the final illustration directly depicts the immediate aftermath of her decision to turn back, it should foreground the emotional impact of this most agonizing moral choice on Mademoiselle V—. It does not. The artist has chosen instead to frame the alienated heroine in the period setting of departing stagecoach and inn, preparing the reader for the ironic conclusion. Knowing that their feelings for each other "may be transient only" (8) and will not withstand their political and religious differences, Monsieur B— decides that he must free her from her promise to marry him, but he fails to broach the subject, relying instead upon a letter. Ironically, she perceives his determination to leave as evidence of his superior moral conviction, when in truth his failure to address her in person on the subject has led to a breakdown in communication. "She waited till the vehicle had driven off, starting as she saw the departing shapes of the outside passengers against the starlit sky" (8) depicts the final moment in which she saw him, although only after reading his letter does she realize that he was that "figure among the outside passengers against the starlit sky [which had] caused her a momentary start" (8). The plate is realistically a dark one, so that the street, the coach, and Mademoiselle V— herself are rendered as dark blocks in outline, their particulars obscured. Significantly, Burgess does not want readers to see her face except in profile, under the bonnet, so that again the readers cannot assess her feelings. The picturesque quality of the scene, with its departing coach and conflicted lover standing under the sign of the White Hart, is undermined by the very darkness intended to impart verisimilitude.</p> <h2>References</h2> <p class="bibl">Brady, Kristin. <span class="book">The Short Stories of Thomas Hardy</span>. London and Basingstoke: Macmillan, 1982.</p> <p class="bibl">Cassis, A. F. "A Note on the Structure of Thomas Hardy's Short Stories." <span class="book">Colby Library Quarterly</span> 10 (1974): 287-296.</p> <p class="bibl">Gilmartin, Sophie, and Rod Mengham. <span class="book">Thomas Hardy's Shorter Fiction: A Critical Study</span>. Edinburgh: Edinburgh U. P., 2007.</p> <p class="bibl">Hardy, Thomas. "A Committee-man of 'The Terror'," il H. Burgess. <span class="book">The Illustrated London News</span>, Christmas Number. 22 November, 1896: pp. 3-8.</p> <p class="bibl">Johnson, Trevor. "Illustrated Versions of Hardy's Works: A Checklist 1872-1992." <span class="book">Thomas Hardy Journal</span> 9, 3 (October, 1993): 32-46.</p> <p class="bibl">Page, Norman. "Hardy Short Stories: A Reconsideration." <span class="book">Studies in Short Fiction</span> 11, 1 (Winter, 1974): 75-84.</p> <p class="bibl">Quinn, Marie A. "Thomas Hardy and the Short Story." <span class="book">Budmouth Essays on Thomas Hardy: Papers Presented at the 1975 Summer School</span> (Dorchester: Thomas Hardy Society, 1976), pp. 74-85.</p> <p class="bibl">Ray, Martin. <span class="book">Thomas Hardy: A Textual Study of the Short Stories</span>. Aldershot: Ashgate, 1997.</p> <hr> <a href ="../../../index.html"> <img src="../../../icons2/victorian2.gif" alt="Victorian Web"/></a> <a href="../index.html"> <img src="../../../icons2/illustration2.gif" alt="Victorian Illustration"/></a> <a href="../../../authors/hardy/index.html"/> <img src="../../../icons2/authors/hardy2.jpg" alt="Thomas Hardy"/></a> <p class="date">Last modified 19 April 2010</p> </div> </div> <script src="http://www.google-analytics.com/urchin.js" type="text/javascript"> </script> <script type="text/javascript"> _uacct = "UA-1636363-2"; urchinTracker(); </script> </body> </html>