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Literary Devices
Definition of Allusion
In literature, an allusion is an unexplained reference to someone or something outside of the text. Writers commonly allude to other literary works, famous individuals, historical events, or philosophical ideas... read full definition
In literature, an allusion is an unexplained reference to someone or something outside of the text. Writers commonly allude to other literary works, famous individuals... read full definition
In literature, an allusion is an unexplained reference to someone or something outside of the text. Writers commonly allude to... read full definition
Part 2
Explanation and Analysis—Shakespeare:
Hardy includes several allusions to Shakespeare in the story, including two notable mentions in reference to Phyllis and Matthäus’s relationship. The first comes as the two get to know each other during Matthäus’s visits to Phyllis’s garden, as seen in the following passage:
In short this acquaintance, unguardedly made, and rash enough on her part, developed and ripened. Like Desdemona, she pitied him, and learnt his history.
When the narrator states that Phyllis is “like Desdemona,” he is referencing a character in Shakespeare’s Othello. In Othello, Desdemona falls in love with titular character—who is also a soldier—and, as Othello himself states, “‘She lov’d me for the dangers I had pass’d, / And I lov’d her that she did pity them.” Here, the narrator makes it clear that part of the reason Phyllis comes to love Matthäus is because she pities him for being forced to face the challenging life of a soldier away from home.
The narrator also includes an allusion to Shakespeare at the conclusion of Phyllis and Matthäus’s relationship. After Phyllis tells Matthäus that she must stay and marry Humphrey, she thinks about going after him, and the narrator compares her to Cleopatra:
For one moment she was sufficiently excited to be on the point of rushing forward and linking her fate with his. But she could not. The courage which at the critical instant failed Cleopatra of Egypt could scarcely be expected of Phyllis Grove.
The narrator here is specifically referencing Cleopatra as depicted in Shakespeare’s play Antony and Cleopatra. In the play, Cleopatra flees during a key battle rather than standing by her lover’s side, leading him to run after her and lose to his opponent. Like Cleopatra, Phyllis is unable to muster the courage to stay with (and remain loyal to) the man she loves.
Related Themes:
Part 4
Explanation and Analysis—The Assyrians’ Camp:
After Phyllis tells Matthäus that she cannot run away with him, she watches him (and his friend Christoph) walk away while feeling immense grief. In this moment, the narrator includes a biblical allusion, as seen in the following passage:
She could see no more; they had hastened on in the direction of the town and harbour, four miles ahead. With a feeling akin to despair she turned and slowly pursued her way homeward.
Tattoo sounded in the camp; but there was no camp for her now. It was as dead as the camp of the Assyrians after the passage of the Destroying Angel.
When the narrator describes how Phyllis experiences the nearby military camp as being “as dead as the camp of the Assyrians after the passage of the Destroying Angel,” he is referencing a story in the Old Testament (2 Kings 19:35) in which thousands of Assyrians are killed in an act of divine annihilation.
This moment is notable as the members of the military camp have, of course, not been annihilated. As the narrator states, Phyllis hears the “tattoo” (or a military signal that it’s time for soldiers to return to their quarters), signaling that life in the camp continues on without Matthäus and Christoph. Phyllis only experiences the camp as desolate and empty because she herself feels a huge loss in Matthäus’s absence.
Related Themes:
Explanation and Analysis—Shakespeare:
Hardy includes several allusions to Shakespeare in the story, including two notable mentions in reference to Phyllis and Matthäus’s relationship. The first comes as the two get to know each other during Matthäus’s visits to Phyllis’s garden, as seen in the following passage:
In short this acquaintance, unguardedly made, and rash enough on her part, developed and ripened. Like Desdemona, she pitied him, and learnt his history.
When the narrator states that Phyllis is “like Desdemona,” he is referencing a character in Shakespeare’s Othello. In Othello, Desdemona falls in love with titular character—who is also a soldier—and, as Othello himself states, “‘She lov’d me for the dangers I had pass’d, / And I lov’d her that she did pity them.” Here, the narrator makes it clear that part of the reason Phyllis comes to love Matthäus is because she pities him for being forced to face the challenging life of a soldier away from home.
The narrator also includes an allusion to Shakespeare at the conclusion of Phyllis and Matthäus’s relationship. After Phyllis tells Matthäus that she must stay and marry Humphrey, she thinks about going after him, and the narrator compares her to Cleopatra:
For one moment she was sufficiently excited to be on the point of rushing forward and linking her fate with his. But she could not. The courage which at the critical instant failed Cleopatra of Egypt could scarcely be expected of Phyllis Grove.
The narrator here is specifically referencing Cleopatra as depicted in Shakespeare’s play Antony and Cleopatra. In the play, Cleopatra flees during a key battle rather than standing by her lover’s side, leading him to run after her and lose to his opponent. Like Cleopatra, Phyllis is unable to muster the courage to stay with (and remain loyal to) the man she loves.
Related Themes:
