On coincidences

I noticed 'Two on a Tower' on 15th July, a novel which exemplifies the allegation that Hardy was too dependent on extravagant coincidences to keep his plots on the boil, this last being an unfortunate necessity for the author writing for serialisation.

But thinking about it some more, I am not sure that the use of coincidences is such a bad thing, provided of course the reader is able to suspend disbelief, something with which I have little trouble, being quite happy to take things at face value, a quality which makes me an easy target for conversational traps, but which also makes it easy for me to enjoy books and films. Easy to please.

The up side is that the author is able to conduct interesting thought experiments without having to go to the bother of dreaming up a plausible story in which to insert the thought experiment. It is enough to allow that he probably could have given a bit of time; this particular story might not be very likely but there are stories out there which were which would exhibit the same moral dilemma or whatever. The dilemma and the participants' reaction to it are of interest, well worthy of discussion in the saloon bar over the cup that cheers. The story in which it is inserted is a bit of a side issue.

So in this case, the stars of the story engage in a bigamous marriage as a result of a misunderstanding about the date of death of the lady's first husband. A bigamous marriage which is not criminally culpable as it was the result of an honest and reasonable mistake, but which is nevertheless null & void, irrespective of the subsequent relations between the pair. The moral dilemma being whether they should immediately get married properly, or whether they should reflect on whether, given the then prevailing circumstances, they might do better not to. A serious moral dilemma, certainly amongst the middle classes, the core royalty generating readership, of the day.

And 'Two on a Tower' is quite strong enough to sustain such a discussion.