madiha akhtar
05-24-2005, 06:07 PM
From the very beginning it is to be seen clearly that GRACE MELBURY is not the "heroine" of the novel, though she is the female protagonist of the novel.She is not the woman of heroic achievements and qualities like MARTY SOUTH- a lonely maid. <br> At the very initial stages when Grace is being introduced by Hardy in "THE WOODLANDERS", we see her dwindling between two poles, two world, two choices-whether to accept Giles or not. She never openly professed her true love for Giles Winterbourne. before her marriage with Dr. Fitzpiers.<br> After the multifarious sacrifices of Giles, her affections naturally turn to him but only for a short period of eight months. When her husband comes back and exhibits his feelings of regret in front of her, she turns to him. Grace's father Melbury thinks:<br> " But let her bear in mind that the woman walks and laughs somewhere at this very moment whose neck he'll be coling next year as he does hers to-night; and as he did Felice Charmond last year, and Suke Damson's the year afore!...."<br> Only Marty is a genuine "heroine" with a profound courage and a superior calibre. As the play ends:<br> " Now, my own, own love,....If ever I forget your name let me forget home and heaven!....But no, no, my love, I never can forget'ee for you was a good man, and did good things!"