1

Summary of The Woodlanders by Thomas Hardy The story takes place in a small woodland village called Little Hintock. Started with Marty South, who has a long and thick beautiful hair, sells her hair to Mrs. Felice Charmone by Mr. Percomb as a barber. She did it after heard Mr. George Melburys conversation with his wife, Mrs Lucy Melbury about they daughter and Giles Winterbourne engagement. Whereas she loves Giles, she said that Giles cannot be her own. Mr. George Melbury, a timber merchant has been socially ambitions for his daughter Grace Melbury, whom he has educated above her class. He has committed her to the rustic Giles Winterbourne, an honest woodsman and Graces childhood sweetheart. Now Mr. George Melbury has a change of heart for his beloved daughter. When Giles Winterbourne meets financial and legal misfortunes, Melbury uses this as an excuse to end his relationship with Grace. He said that if her daughter married with Giles, shell be poor until he died When a clever handsome young man named Dr. Edred Fitzpiers comes to live on Little Hintock and expresses an interest in marrying Grace, but Graces not enthusiastic with Fitzpiers. Mr. Melbury knows that Dr. Edred Fitzpiers is an educated person because he is a doctor. Mr. Melbury always insists Grace to marry with him. Grace still loved Giles, so do Giles, but Grace is an obedient daughter. So, the marriage takes place and she tried to love Dr. Fitzpiers. Fitzpiers begins an affair with a rich widow named Mrs. Felice Charmond, takes to treating Grace coldly. Melbury family knew it and Mr. Melbury really regret married her daughter with him. Meanwhile, Melbury tries to get a divorce for Grace so she can marry Giles, but in vain. Fitzpiers tries to reconcile with his wife after known the truth about Mrs. Charmonds hair, it was Martys, he felts cheated. Hes really regret and ants to be with Grace again. But Grace runs away and turns to Giles for help. Giles, still ill, he had a dangerous illness named typhoid, which passes to one person to another very easily. He allows her to sleep in his cottage during stormy weather, whilst he insists on sleeping outside. As a result, he dies because his weak. Once again, Grace, submitting her destiny to Dr. Fitzpiers, is reunited with him. No one is left to mourn Giles except a courageous peasant girl named Marty South, who all along has been the overlooked but perfect mate for him, and who has always loved him. Intrinsic Elements 1. Theme: Love and wealth 2. PLOT a. Exposition Marty South who has a long and thick beautiful hair, sell her hair to Mrs. Felice Charmond by Mr. Percomb as a barber. She did it after heard Mr. George Melburys conversation with his wife, Mrs Lucy Melbury about they daughter and Giles Winterbourne engagement. Whereas she loves Giles, she said that Giles cannot be her own. b. Rising action Mr. George Melbury ends an engagement between Grace and Giles because Giles meet financial and legal misfortunes that make him lose his house. Dr. Fitzpiers expresses an interest in marrying Grace but Graces not enthusiastic with Fitzpiers. Mr. Melbury thinks that he is educated person because he is a

doctor. Mr. Melbury always insists Grace to marry with him. So, the marriage takes place. Grace still loved Giles, so do he. But she tried to love Dr. Fitzpiers. c. Climax Fitzpiers begins an affair with a rich widow named Mrs. Felice Charmond, takes to treating Grace coldly, and finally deserts her one night after he accidentally reveals his true character to his father-in-law. Mr. Melbury tries to procure a divorce for his daughter so she can marry Giles after all, but in vain. d. Falling action Dr. Fitzpiers tries to reconcile with his wife. Hes really regretted and wants to be with Grace again. But Grace runs away and turns to Giles for help and makes some planning to become together with him. Giles allows her to sleep in his cottage during stormy weather, whilst he insists on sleeping outside. As a result, he dies. e. Denouement Grace is back to her husband, Dr. Fritzpiers and submitting her destiny to him. No one is left to mourn Giles except a courageous peasant girl named Marty South. 3. Setting Time: - In the cold winter evening 1855 - One December morning - In February 1858 Place: - The village of Little Hintock The place lay in a small valley near the edge of the large area of woodland. It is the place where Martys Duth and Giles Winterborne live. - Sherton Abbas There is a market, where the villagers sold the rest of cider. - Hintock House Estate The house where Mrs. Charmond lives - In the wood

Under the bright moonlight, young people play a games to find their soulmate - Bud Mouth Place that Grace Melbury and Fritzpiers get married. - Middleton Abbey Place where Mrs. Charmond lived for a while to refresh her brain. - Shotts Ford Forum When Grace wwas left by her husband and wanted to get away from Little Hintock. - Giles Cottage Place where Giles lived after he lost his house and the place where he died. 4. Characters 1. Major Character Grace Melbury : Melburys daughter. Shes slim, pretty face and brown hair. Shes Well-educated. She is round character. Gilles Winterborne : a woodlander, a handsome young man, a tree-planter and a cider-maker. Had an engagement with Grace but failed to get married. Giles found the paper from the estate lawyer said thats a contract between his father and Martys father, John South about his house and Martys cottage. They could stay there if both of their father still alive and if one of their father is dead. He is flat character. Dr. Edred Fitzpiers : a clever young man. Lived on Little Hintock because long time ago, the doctors family lived in Oakbury Fitzpiers, near from Little Hintock. He is round character. Mrs. Felice Charmond : a rich widow who has returned from abroad to Hintock House. Shes the owner of Hintock Estate. She is round character. Mr. George Melbury : The timber merchant, tall and thin man with a smooth face. He is round character. 1. Minor Character Marty South : a woodlander. She has a beautiful hair; its color was a wonderful red-brown. She loved Giles but never told to him. Mrs. Lucy Melbury : Mr. George Melburys wife. Mr. Percomb : The barber who ask Marty South to sell her hair to Mrs. Felice Charmond. Mrs. Oliver : a Melburys servant.

John Winterbourne : Giles father. He had been dead for some years. John South : Martys father. He has unbalance soul. He was afraid of the elm tree and he said the tree could fall anytime to his room, but after Giles cut down the tree John dies. His death makes his daughter and Giles lost their house. (All of them in Minor Character are flat character) Antagonist Character : Grace Melbury Protagonist Character : Dr. Edred Fitzpiers 4. Moral Messages

Dont interest to somebody from the face, because pretty face can mislead. Dont also interest to the wealth because wealth can destroyed. Be interested to somebody that can make you to smile, because only smile that can make dark days be clear. Love not must happy end, because love must not end.

An Analysis of The Woodlanders The Woodlanders was published in 1887. Thomas Hardy mentioned in the biography that he thought of writing about the woodlanders more than ten years ago. In fact it was after ten years when he could realize his idea. He himsef estimated The Woodlanders as his best novel. Desmond Hawkins praised it as the most professional example of the characteristic Hardy novel. The Woodlanders is one of the six masterpieces of Thomas Hardys Wessex novels. However, it is not so popular or attractive as the other novels. Why is this novel estimated so low among his Wessex novels? One of the reasons is that The Woodlanders was written after The Mayor of Casterbridge . In the Mayor there is one dominant character whose life and death is tragic. Hardy would like to change a style of the novel. As a result, there are five main characters instead of one hero or heroine in the next novel. Although Grace Melbury is a center among five main characters, she is not a dominant character in the novel. Grace is not so strong or impressive as the other heroines. Grace cannot find her place in her hometown and leaves with her unfaithful husband in the end. She is doomed to live an unhappy life. However, her story is not a tragedy like Henchards and Tesss, because of her weak character. Grace belongs to both woodlanders and outsiders. She is suffering from the conflict of the two worlds. Her father, a rich timber merchant, gives her a higher education and tries to raise her social rank. Her marriage is completely controlled by her ambitious father. Grace sometimes shows her hope to marry Giles Winterborne, a rustic man who has lost his cottages under the lifehold system. She is after all persuaded by her father to marry Edred Fitzpiers, an intellectual dilettante and philanderer. Fitzpiers despises the villagers of Little Hintock and runs away to the continent with Mrs. Charmond, a rich landlady of the woodland. Graces position as a deserted wife is not secure in the village. Through suffering, Grace comes to know Giles true love for her, and hopes to remarry him. After Giles dies of the disease, Grace returns to her husband. Thus Grace is torned between Winterborne and Fitzpiers, but she finally chooses to live with Fitzpiers. Her future life might be unhappy, but she chooses not to die but to live a life. Giles Winterborne and Marty South are woodlanders, while Fitzpiers and Mrs. Charmond are outsiders. As the title shows, Giles and Marty plant trees and know the woods very well. They

are the spirits of the trees. The trees in the woods as well as the villagers mourn for the death of Giles, which is just like a pastoral elegy. Martys love for Giles is related like a poem in front of his grave, but Giles has never known her love. Giles and Marty are not rewarded at all. Their virtues are useless, while Oak and Venn are strong enough to regain their loves. When there is no possibility to marry Grace, Giles loses his will to live and gives up the battle for the survival. In this sense, his death is not a tragic one. In The Woodlanders the background of the novel is not so hostile as Egdon Heath. The villagers do not play a role of Greek chorus for the first time in Hardys main works. From the viewpoint of the death of Giles, this novel may be called a pastoral elegy, which is only in the latter part of the novel. Five main characters are not so distinctive. Above all, Grace Melbury is not so attractive. This is because the writer himself is lack of emotional involvement and sympathy with Grace, unlike Tess and Eustacia.

Sir Walter Scott's The Heart of Midlothian (1818) In June, 1818, Scott published The Heart of Midlothian in four volumes to the delight of the general readership and critics alike. There were originally to be two stories in the second series of Tales of My Landlord, but the novel grew under Scott's hands into proportions he had not anticipated. The teller of the tale is supposedly Jedediah Cleishbotham, the old schoolmaster and parish clerk of Gandercleugh, the village which lies exactly between Edinburgh and Glasgow and therefore regards itself as Scotland's "navel." The story goes back to a period before that covered by Waverley (the 1745 Jacobite rising), namely the years following the Act in Union in 1707. The immediate historical background is the English Parliament's levying a tax on malt (beer, the Scottish national beverage) in 1725, which instantly stimulated smuggling or "fair trading" in spirits from Holland, France, and Spain. Wilson's hanging for robbing an exciseman sets in motion the plot of The Heart of Midlothian, since the mob whose depredations open the story is making an eleventh-hour attempt to rescue Wilson. The novel is based loosely on the heroic walk to London by Helen Walker of Irongray in Dumfriesshire, who, in attempting to enlist the support of the Duke of Argyle in obtaining a pardon for her sister on the charge of childmurder, served as the basis for Jeanie Deans. She is, unlike so many heroines of novels of the period, severe, active, and dominating. The climax, winning her sister's life from Queen Caroline, is a vindication of her four-square, practical philosophy and personal determination. When Scott begins the story, we are in the midst of the Porteous Riot at the Tolbooth in Edinburgh. Finally, in Chapter 28 Scott supplies the date of the action: 1737. The commander of the Edinburgh city guard, Captain John Porteous, had ordered his men to fire on a mob at the hanging of Wilson, who was reprieved. Scott utilizes the historical background of the Tolbooth Riot by introducing Effie Deans into the prison while Porteous is dragged out of hiding place and hanged in the Grassmarket by a second group of citizens, led by "Robertson" (an alias for George Staunton in the novel, a reckless young nobleman who is involved with the smugglers and who has been Effie Deans' lover). The Reverend Reuben Butler, Jeanie Deans' sweetheart, is forced by the mob to offer spiritual consolation to Porteous at his execution. Despite Staunton's efforts, however, Effie refuses to leave her prison when offered the opportunity to escape, electing to face justice instead. After the riot, the ensuing conversation reveals the discontent and sense of helplessness that grip the Scots because the seat of government is now London and not Edinburgh. Later, by emphasizing the compassion of the figures at Effie's trial, Scott attacks not the system of government but people such as Porteous who abused their authority. At her trial, because her sister Jeanie refuses to give false evidence which would have resulted in Effie's acquittal, Effie is sentenced to death for the murder of her own infant. Her father, "Douce Davie," is a simple, sincere adherent of Cameronian principles. Jeanie, very much her father's daughter (and not the orphan that Helen Walker was), feels she must follow her conscience by not lying to save Effie, but then determines to win her sister's freedom by walking to London. Jeanie is everything her sister is not: Effie is beautiful, the lover of a dashing nobleman in

disguise, and mother of an illegitimate child. Everybody at the trial reacts objectively to justice: Jeanie refuses to lie in order to remain true to her principles; Effie admits that the Doomster has made a just decision in court. Jeanie Deans undertakes a practical "Pilgrim's Progress," meeting all the challenges of the arduous journey without flinching. Arrived in London, she appeals with simple forthrightness to the Duke and the Queen Caroline. Through the Duke's benevolence, Jeanie is able to marry her fianc, the Presbyterian minister Reuben Butler; her father is retired to a farm on the Duke's estate; and Effie marries her lover, Staunton. The infant she was accused of murdering is, in fact, still alive, sold by Meg Murdockson to a vagrant woman in revenge for Staunton's having seduced her insane daughter, Madge Wildfire. Ironically, at the close of the novel, like Laius in Greek myth Staunton is slain by his own son on the highway. The incidents on the road to London owe something to Henry Fielding's Tom Jones (1749). Although Jeanie's bare feet and tartan attract little attention in her native country, when she crosses the border she meets with rude gibes. Fortunately, she is befriended by her countrywoman, Mrs. Bickerton, the landlady of the Seven Stars inn at York. Thus, Scott plays the characters of the Scots off against those of the English, contrasting their cultural attitudes, their systems of justice, their dialects, and their urban settings. However, as Scot moves up the social scale and away from the common Scot his dialogue becomes less effective. The Duke of Argyle becomes too much the archetypal Love-wit, and god-like protector and intervener, and ideal master rather than a realistic Highland landlord and politician. The supporting comic characters of the foolish Laird of Dumbiedikes and the pedantic Bartoline Saddletree (aptly named for a harness-maker) are memorable. ROBINSON CRUSOE Daniel Defoe Robinson Crusoe is an Englishman from the town of York in the seventeenth century, the youngest son of a merchant of German origin. Encouraged by his father to study law, Crusoe expresses his wish to go to sea instead. His family is against Crusoe going out to sea, and his father explains that it is better to seek a modest, secure life for oneself. Initially, Robinson is committed to obeying his father, but he eventually succumbs to temptation and embarks on a ship bound for London with a friend. When a storm causes the near deaths of Crusoe and his friend, the friend is dissuaded from sea travel, but Crusoe still goes on to set himself up as merchant on a ship leaving London. This trip is financially successful, and Crusoe plans another, leaving his early profits in the care of a friendly widow. The second voyage does not prove as fortunate: the ship is seized by Moorish pirates, and Crusoe is enslaved to a potentate in the North African town of Sallee. While on a fishing expedition, he and a slave boy break free and sail down the African coast. A kindly Portuguese captain picks them up, buys the slave boy from Crusoe, and takes Crusoe to Brazil. In Brazil, Crusoe establishes himself as a plantation owner and soon becomes successful. Eager for slave labor and its economic advantages, he embarks on a slave-gathering expedition to West Africa but ends up shipwrecked off of the coast of Trinidad. Crusoe soon learns he is the sole survivor of the expedition and seeks shelter and food for himself. He returns to the wrecks remains twelve times to salvage guns, powder, food, and other items. Onshore, he finds goats he can graze for meat and builds himself a shelter. He erects a cross that he inscribes with the date of his arrival, September 1, 1659 , and makes a notch every day in order never to lose track of time. He also keeps a journal of his household activities, noting his attempts to make candles, his lucky discovery of sprouting grain, and his construction of a cellar, among other events. In June 1660 , he falls ill and hallucinates that an angel visits, warning him to repent. Drinking tobacco-steeped rum, Crusoe experiences a religious illumination and realizes that God has delivered him from his earlier sins. After recovering, Crusoe makes a survey of the area and discovers he is on an island. He finds a pleasant valley abounding in grapes, where he builds a shady retreat. Crusoe begins to feel more optimistic about being on the island, describing himself as its king. He trains a pet parrot, takes a goat as a pet, and develops skills in basket weaving, bread making, and pottery. He cuts down an enormous cedar tree and builds a huge canoe from its trunk, but he discovers that he cannot move it to the sea. After building a smaller boat, he rows around the island but nearly perishes when swept away by a powerful current. Reaching

shore, he hears his parrot calling his name and is thankful for being saved once again. He spends several years in peace. One day Crusoe is shocked to discover a mans footprint on the beach. He first assumes the footprint is the devils, then decides it must belong to one of the cannibals said to live in the region. Terrified, he arms himself and remains on the lookout for cannibals. He also builds an underground cellar in which to herd his goats at night and devises a way to cook underground. One evening he hears gunshots, and the next day he is able to see a ship wrecked on his coast. It is empty when he arrives on the scene to investigate. Crusoe once again thanks Providence for having been saved. Soon afterward, Crusoe discovers that the shore has been strewn with human carnage, apparently the remains of a cannibal feast. He is alarmed and continues to be vigilant. Later Crusoe catches sight of thirty cannibals heading for shore with their victims. One of the victims is killed. Another one, waiting to be slaughtered, suddenly breaks free and runs toward Crusoes dwelling. Crusoe protects him, killing one of the pursuers and injuring the other, whom the victim finally kills. Well-armed, Crusoe defeats most of the cannibals onshore. The victim vows total submission to Crusoe in gratitude for his liberation. Crusoe names him Friday, to commemorate the day on which his life was saved, and takes him as his servant. Finding Friday cheerful and intelligent, Crusoe teaches him some English words and some elementary Christian concepts. Friday, in turn, explains that the cannibals are divided into distinct nations and that they only eat their enemies. Friday also informs Crusoe that the cannibals saved the men from the shipwreck Crusoe witnessed earlier, and that those men, Spaniards, are living nearby. Friday expresses a longing to return to his people, and Crusoe is upset at the prospect of losing Friday. Crusoe then entertains the idea of making contact with the Spaniards, and Friday admits that he would rather die than lose Crusoe. The two build a boat to visit the cannibals land together. Before they have a chance to leave, they are surprised by the arrival of twenty-one cannibals in canoes. The cannibals are holding three victims, one of whom is in European dress. Friday and Crusoe kill most of the cannibals and release the European, a Spaniard. Friday is overjoyed to discover that another of the rescued victims is his father. The four men return to Crusoes dwelling for food and rest. Crusoe prepares to welcome them into his community permanently. He sends Fridays father and the Spaniard out in a canoe to explore the nearby land. Eight days later, the sight of an approaching English ship alarms Friday. Crusoe is suspicious. Friday and Crusoe watch as eleven men take three captives onshore in a boat. Nine of the men explore the land, leaving two to guard the captives. Friday and Crusoe overpower these men and release the captives, one of whom is the captain of the ship, which has been taken in a mutiny. Shouting to the remaining mutineers from different points, Friday and Crusoe confuse and tire the men by making them run from place to place. Eventually they confront the mutineers, telling them that all may escape with their lives except the ringleader. The men surrender. Crusoe and the captain pretend that the island is an imperial territory and that the governor has spared their lives in order to send them all to England to face justice. Keeping five men as hostages, Crusoe sends the other men out to seize the ship. When the ship is brought in, Crusoe nearly faints. On December 1 9, 1686 , Crusoe boards the ship to return to England. There, he finds his family is deceased except for two sisters. His widow friend has kept Crusoes money safe, and after traveling to Lisbon, Crusoe learns from the Portuguese captain that his plantations in Brazil have been highly profitable. He arranges to sell his Brazilian lands. Wary of sea travel, Crusoe attempts to return to England by land but is threatened by bad weather and wild animals in northern Spain. Finally arriving back in England, Crusoe receives word that the sale of his plantations has been completed and that he has made a considerable fortune. After donating a portion to the widow and his sisters, Crusoe is restless and considers returning to Brazil, but he is dissuaded by the thought that he would have to become Catholic. He marries, and his wife dies. Crusoe finally departs for the East Indies as a trader in 1694. He revisits his island, finding that the Spaniards are governing it well and that it has become a prosperous colony.