The Mayor of Casterbridge: context links

Helpful material on:

Biographical background of Thomas Hardy

• Tess of the d’Urbervilles
  • Timeline
  • Biographical background
    • Early Life
    • Becoming a novelist
    • Fame as a novelist
    • Later life and out put

Social / political context of The Mayor of Casterbridge

• Tess of the d’Urbervilles
  • Social / political context
    • Agricultural and social conditions (Social change in the nineteenth century / Agriculture)
• The world of Victorian writers 1837 -1901
  • Making sense of the tangible world
    • Characteristics of Victorian Britain
    • Travel, transport and communication
    • Education in Victorian England

Religious / philosophical context of The Mayor of Casterbridge

• Tess of the d’Urbervilles
  • Religious / philosophical context
    • The influence of Christianity
    • Church and chapel
    • Challenges to established religious belief
• The world of Victorian writers 1837 -1901
  • Making sense of the intangible world
    • Determinism and free will
• Impact of the Bible
  • Big ideas from the Bible
    • Atonement and sacrifice
    • Forgiveness, mercy and grace
    • Lost, seeking, finding, rescue
    • Penitence, repentance, penance
    • Ten Commandments, The

Literary context of The Mayor of Casterbridge

• Tess of the d’Urbervilles
  • About the text
    • Hardy’s Wessex
• Features of Victorian literature
  • The role of fiction
    • Moral improvement
  • The impact of society
    • Literacy and serialisation

Further study on The Mayor of Casterbridge

• Tess of the d’Urbervilles
  • Resources and further reading
    • Websites
    • Books
• Critical approaches to literature
  • Close reading (new criticism)
  • Contextual reading
  • New approaches since the 1970s
• Tips for successful study
  • Engaging with texts
    • Engaging with prose
  • How to…
    • Plan an essay
    • Approach passage based questions
    • Write a good English exam answer
      
       

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