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Comparison of the Characters Henchard and Heathcliff Extract

            The pre twentieth novels "The Mayor of Casterbridge- written by Thomas Hardy and "Wuthering Heights- composed by the author Emily Bronte are based upon the lives of two men who had loved and lost, and the situations and outcomes that resulted from their foolish and wise decisions that they made throughout their lives.
             The first time we are introduced to Michael Henchard and his wife, he is a young man aged twenty-one with a bag on his back and "the latter carrying and child- both with a "shabbiness to their appearance- caused by their elongated journey, which halted in Wessex where they'd planned to stay.
             We are introduced to Heathcliff in the first few chapters of "Wuthering heights- whilst he is arriving at his new abode, his journey taking him from the "streets of Liverpool-. When he is presented to the family his description is given to be a "dirty, ragged, black-haired child- and is thought of as nothing less than a "gypsy brat-.
             So the initial time we meet these two characters many differences and similarities can be noted. Primarily the age differentiation, which in spans excess of ten years! One of many similarities is that both Michael Henchard and Heathcliff are arriving in their new locations from prolonged journeys dressed in ragged clothes, although in Henchard's situation it wasn't due to a lack of material means. A difference though is that Henchard had planned for his life to begin and conclude in his current location whereas Heathcliff hadn't.
             At the opening of "The Mayor of Casterbridge- Michael Henchard's actions are foolish and thoughtless, an example of this is when he consumes excessive amounts of "strongly laced- furmity and sells his wife and child to a sailor whose acquaintance he had only just made. Fifteen years later when he has come into the position of the Mayor of Casterbridge he acts kindly and generously towards other people. This is expressed when he gives a cottage away to his wife and "daughter- and tells them to "look to me fro money-.


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