Page:Life of Thomas Hardy - Brennecke.pdf/291

 as the undisguised villain in the great tragedy of nations. This aspect of his character is the first to come to mind, and presents a direct parallel to the treatment of Xerxes in The Persians. Both are imperialists and militarists par excellence, and they go the way of all militarists in an age of budding democracy. They arouse no pity and little sympathy as their careers are unfolded, except when we get premonitory hints of the doom in store for them. At the end, however, they present truly tragic figures of fallen greatness, and commiseration is no longer withheld. Viewed in this light, Bonaparte ceases to be the pure villain and becomes, like Agamemnon, the tragic hero of the drama and the champion of his own hopeless cause against the unfeeling and resistless hand of Destiny. This impression is the one with which we are left as Napoleon makes his final appearance after Waterloo. On the other hand, instances of villainy and blackheartedness are not wanting in the poem. It is only necessary to call to mind his desertion of the remnant of the army retreating out of Russia, treated in what is perhaps the most gruesome scene in the work, and his brutal treatment of Josephine.

If Napoleon as villain and hero resembles Xerxes and Agamemnon, there is still another aspect in which he is more like the Titan Prometheus, who was gifted with foresight beyond gods and men. He often spoke of his star, and this recognition of himself as a child of Destiny makes him peculiarly fitted for a living exponent of Hardy's ideas. Both Prometheus and Bonaparte realize and advocate the claims of a higher unalterable Law against the prevailing notion of an omnipotent and be-