Chance and Choice in Thomas Hardy's "Panthera"

249 CHANCE AND CHOICE IN THOMAS HARDY'S "1/NTEERA" By Frank R. Giordano, Jr. (University of Delaware) Thomas Hardy's creative works reveal that he retained his interest in the imaginative and mythical aspects of Christianity lone after he lost faith in its theological and ethical teachings. This continuing interest is evidenced by the many allusions to Scriptual characters and events that appear in his novels and poems. Many of the pieces in the Collected Poems of Thomas Hardy are simply the author's re-mythologizations of Christian myths or legends. "Fanthera," "The Wood Fire (A Fragment)," "An Evening in Galilee," and "In the Servants' Quarters" are the most obvious examples of poems in which Hardy begins by invoking a fundamental Christian myth, but proceeds to develop in his own way some particular aspects of the traditional story. In "Fanthera" he explores with great sympathy and subtlety the development of the Roman soldier's character, especially after he learns that he is the father of Christ. Fanthera·s pathetic fate results from the reunion with Mary on Calvarla and his own decision to avoid speaking to her and claiming his son. In this richly ironic poem, as in many of Hardy's best known works, the catastrophe is precipitated by an unhappy conjunction of Chance and Choice. "Fanthera" is Hardy's dramatization of the Jewish TalmudIc legend concerning Jesus' birth to Miriam as a result of her adulterous affair with Panthera. 1 The criticism and scholarship on the poem is sparse, emphasizing on the one hand Hardy's "offensive" treatment of the birth of Christ; and on the other hand, the poem's affinities with the work of Browning. This essay attempts to identify In "Panthera" the distinctive note of Hardy's own greatness as a writer by focusing on the central point of the poem: the complex irony involved in Panthera's misunderstanding of the man he believes to be his son. Throughout I shall assume that Hardy, in choosing to treat materials as he does. Is simply a poet taking advantage of his privileged license to modify a fascinating legend. There Is nothing hostile or blasphemous about Hardy's treatment of any element of Christ's life and death.-' An accurate reading of the poem, in fact, requires that Christ and his history be seen as part of the background against which Panthera, the central figure, appears. Moreover, this "background," with the fullness of its importance for posterity, was unavailable during Panthera's lifetime . It is precisely this lack of information that accounts for the poem's fine dramatic irony. For the Roman soldier charged with keeping order "amid a folk / Restless, contentless, and Irascible ,·· Christ is a criminal, a malefactor Inciting his followers to sedition. The poem's power is generated by a combination of factors brought into conflict. First, there is the irrational element of Chance 250 involving the unfortunate convergence that reunites Panthera with Mary and Christ on Calvarla. Then there is the complex matter of Choice: after an absence of over thirty years, should Panthera feel any responsibility for or duty to the man he believes is his son and the woman he believes bore his child? Should he risk the personal disgrace and civil disorder that might result from acknowledging them, or should he obey his professional instincts and perform his duty of securing order in the community? Obviously the decision is severely complicated by Chance, as it is after Christ is on the cross that Panthera discovers who he is. Surely the suddenness of his discovery and the obvious lack of time for thought and action Influence him. Panthera, of course, makes the wrong decision, in the sense that it is inconsistent with his character as it is projected in the poem. Nevertheless, though he chooses to remain aloof and permit Christ's crucifixion, he reveals that the differences In his character and Christ's are more apparent than real, the different courses of their careers more a matter of historical accident than opposing natures or temperaments. And, for all the ambiguity attached to Christ's paternity, Hardy's treatment of the legend implies that the man of ardent blood Is...