Similarities Between A Christmas Carol And The Mayor Of Casterbridge

In A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens, Persuasion by Jane Austen, and The Mayor of Casterbridge by Thomas Hardy, dead minor characters are often overshadowed although they are major catalysts to the story. Minor characters haunt main characters Ebenezer Scrooge, Anne Elliot, and Michael Henchard to help each learn or realize a moral lesson. Fan Scrooge, Lady Elliott, and baby Elizabeth Jane live on through their surrogates Scrooge’s nephew Fred, Mr. Elliot, and the second Elizabeth Jane, to portray an alternate life that each protagonist could have had and help convey one major theme of their respective novel.

In A Christmas Carol, minor characters reveal the life Dickens wants both his readers and his protagonist to live. Fan Scrooge represents

Lady Elliot represents what Anne could be, not what Anne should be. Lady Elliot is “an excellent woman, sensible and amiable; whose judgement and conduct...had never required indulgence afterwards” (2). Lady Elliot “found enough in her duties, her friends, and her children to attach her to life” (2). Anne connects to and admires her mother more than anyone else because she and her mother share similar personality traits. While Lady Elliot does not haunt Anne as often as the other minor characters, she holds an important role in dealing with Anne’s relationships with Mr. Elliot. Anne romanticizes Lady Elliot’s life, allowing her to briefly consider a marriage with Mr. Elliot. Anne loved “the idea of becoming what her mother had been; of having the precious name of ‘Lady Elliot’ first revived in herself of being restored to Kellynch, calling it her home again, her home for ever” (118). Lady Elliot represents the life Anne could live if she chooses Mr. Elliot over Captain Wentworth; Lady Elliot represents the choice between status and love. So while Lady Elliot and Anne enjoy being useful, are both sensible and amiable, and are in charge of the family’s finances and affairs, they differ in one crucial belief: whether status or love triumphs. Anne values love more and chooses

Anne chooses her friends based on personality, not class; Anne describes good company as, “clever, well-informed people, who have a great deal of conversation” (110). Anne explicitly chooses love and friendship over class when she decides to visit her destitute friend, Mrs. Smith, instead of the town’s nobility, the Dalrymples--something the rest of her family never comes to understand. In contrast, Lady Elliot represents status: one of the major themes of Persuasion. Lady Elliot chooses status over love and ends up with a ridiculous, narcissistic husband, causing her to become “not the happiest being in the world” (2). Lady Elliot’s spirit lives on through her surrogate character, Mr. Elliot because, while at first Mr. Elliot is charming and amiable, his classist and conceited nature is revealed. Lady Elliot and Mr. Elliot bring Anne’s value of “love over status” to light; because Lady Elliot and Anne are similar in other respects, Anne’s realization of her mother’s choice-- status over love--confirms her belief that love is more important. While Lady Elliot represents a life Anne could have, Anne makes the right choice in choosing love over status by marrying Captain Wentworth and leads a happier and more enjoyable life because of