It was about ten o’clock, and market-day, when Elizabeth paced up the High Street, in no great hurry; for to herself her position was only that of a poor relation deputed to hunt up a rich one. The front doors of the private houses were mostly left open at this warm autumn time, no thought of umbrella stealers disturbing the minds of the placid burgesses. Hence, through the long, straight, entrance passages thus unclosed could be seen, as through tunnels, the mossy gardens at the back, glowing with nasturtiums, fuchsias, scarlet geraniums, “bloody warriors,” snapdragons, and dahlias, this floral blaze being backed by crusted grey stone-work remaining from a yet remoter Casterbridge than the venerable one visible in the street. The old-fashioned fronts of these houses, which had older than old-fashioned backs, rose sheer from the pavement, into which the bow windows protruded like bastions, necessitating a pleasing chassez-dechassez movement to the time-pressed pedestrian at every few yards. He was bound also to evolve other Terpsichorean figures in respect of door-steps, scrapers, cellar-hatches, church buttresses, and the overhanging angles of walls which, originally unobtrusive, had become bow-legged and knock-kneed.
In rereading the novel this seemingly incidental scene describing Elizabeth Jane’s progress through Casterbridge to announce herself to her ‘distant’ relative Henchard caught my attention. The viewpoint is curious. It seems far too steeped in the history of the town and its architecture to be that of the new visitor Elizabeth jane. Yet we are not wholly separated from her consciousness here as the lack of ‘hurry’ makes us join in her observational ‘ambling’ along this high street to meet Henchard properly for the first time.
And this sense of relaxed attentiveness mimics that of Elizabeth Jane who has something new to meet and deal with. ( And Hardy is always ALWAYS fascinated by the very incongruity of so many meetings…)
Perhaps the reference to the ‘private’ nature of the homes is crucial for it adds emphasis and privilege to their identity and lends authenticity to the evolving picture of the town. It may also suggest that Elizabeth’s consciousness is being combined with that of the omniscient narrator as the economic value and power suggested by the designation ‘private’ would be in keeping with the burgeoning curiosity of the impoverished Elizabeth jane.
The ‘tunnels’ that lead to the ‘blaze’ of flowers lend a wondrousness and even magical perspective to the gaze of Elizabeth as she enjoys glimpses of other worlds that evoke worlds that seem richly colourful and festive.
Elizabeth Jane is an ideal observer. She ‘reads’ the world here almost as if she were Hardy’s narrator. This fusion is striking and delivers a world as it ‘really ‘ is. This reality is important as so many other characters seek to observe in order to attain power or to enjoy some sexual frisson…EJ observes and ironises herself as observer having a keenly aware acceptance of her own superfluity in life. Other characters treat her an object; she is used and dropped when it suits them. EJ by contrast is more forgiving and humane and this is linked to her acute intelligence which is emotional as much as intellectual even though she contains her emotional expressivity.
In this passage her awareness of the hidden spaces of the ‘private’ realms of Casterbridge is also set against time itself and even or especially identity. For in peering into the private spaces of Casterbridge EJ is also looking into the ways in which appearance and identity are related. Hence the emphasis on both the inside and teh outside of each home and the gap between one world and the the other. This recogntion though casually bestowed on the reader is nevertheless recognised as a means of responding to the rest of the narrative.
The ‘dance’ that any passerby has to particapte in as they progress through Casterbridge’s ‘life’ is both realistic detail as well as ironic metaphor. We, like EJ are drenched in the promise and newness of this ironically old and persistently ‘past place. Identity and external detail ‘meet’ in this extract, so that we are aware of the pyschological power of the observer’s role. ( more to come) (NB think of Woolf’s use of the ‘tunnelling process’ in mrs Dalloway?)