Year of Wonders

It is easy to underestimate the role of Michael Mompellion in the events that took place in Eyam in 1666.

Six propositions

Proposition 1

Mompellion is the instigator of the key actionsin the novel, which includes the final decision ofAnna to leave Eyam.

This makes him central to the action and theunfolding of events during 1666.

Proposition 1: elaboration• Preaches to quarantine Eyam– Had consulted Thomas Stanley– Thus a carefully considered decision– Had agonised over it: ‘had been thin lipped and taut as a

bowstring as if struggling to control a terrible rage.”• The great burning when all villagers had to shed their

possessions: villagers were ‘frowning’ and ‘shaking heads’– Decision based on the death of Urith Gordon

• Decides and announces end of quarantine– 2nd Sunday in August 1666– The tragic moment

Proposition 2Michael Mompellion is a complex character – moreso than Anna and Elinor. He is a man ofcontradictions. This makes him more interestingthan either Anna or Elinor. He is at once a lovinghusband, a caring priest, charismatic, physicallystrong, courageous, articulate and persuasive; buthe is also ‘blind’, arrogant, proud and ultimatelycynical. But then all the characters are ‘flawedpeople’.

Proposition 2: elaboration• Caring : takes in Elinor; stays with George Viccars and others

throughout sickness; calms Anna when children eill; forgives Brand his theft; helps Maggie Cantwell

• Charismatic: his voice focussed attention on what he said; ‘silken whispers’/’comforting’; gallant knight on Anteros.

• Physically strong: lifts Viccars corpse ‘as if it were nothing’.• Courageous: confronts Col Bradford; confronts lynch mob;

confronts Josiah Bont after Christopher Unwin’s grave is dug before he dies.

• Intelligent and intellectual: his sermons are carefully thought through.

• BUT:

Proposition 2: elaboration (cont)

• ‘Blind’ to some things: fails to fully understand the developing relationship between Anna and Elinor.

• Arrogant and proud: his treatment of Elinor throughout their marriage (despite loving her); ‘I thought I spoke for God. Fool. My whole life … based on a lie.’

• Capable of profound anger: Jane Martin

Proposition 3

Mompellion’s suffering is magnified because ofThe tragic and perhaps ironic fate of losing hiswife, not to the plague, but to Aphra Bont whogoes mad because of what the imprisonmentduring the plague does to her and her husband.

Proposition 3 - Elaboration

• Ironically, it is Mompellion’s unwitting act inseparating the skull of Faith Bont from herCorpse that sends Aphra into the frenzy that killsElinor.• When the plague is over, there being nodeaths in two weeks, Elinor is murdered.• Is he responsible for her death? Is he naïve?

Proposition 4

There is something tragic about how his lifeunfolds.

He is a victim of his own arrogance and pride: hewatches the villagers he came to serve sufferbecause of the demands he makes on them

Propsition 4: Elaboration

• He watches villagers die knowing some may have survived had they been allowed to leave Eyam

• Sees villagers turn in on themselves: Jane Martin, Kate Talbot, John Gordon, Martin Miller, Randoll Daniel, Aphra Bont, Josiah Bont.

• ‘Wavers between rage and self-reproach … (becomes) more difficult to gather up words for sermons.’

• This becomes more articulate after the death of Elinor.

Proposition 5Mompellion’s rise and fall is perhaps the most interesting aspectof the novel. His faith in God and his love for his people ledhim to argue that the villagers of Eyam self-impose aquarantine; he is betrayed by his faith and the people he choseto serve.

Proposition 5: Elaboration

• His fall is the greatest: “I thought I spoke for God … all I have done, all I have said, all I have felt, has been based upon a lie.” (282)

• Loss of his parish; loss of his wife; loss of faith – ‘And now it seems there is no God and I was wrong.’

• Because of ‘me’, many are dead and faith is lost.• The man who had worked tirelessly to help his

villagers, will not rise to save Mrs Bradford – that isleft to Anna.

Proposition 6

We empathise with Mompellion and want tooverlook his faults because it is his lot as apreacher to tend to the dying, which he doeswith stamina and unflinching determination,while Anna and Elinor tend to the living.

He realises his flaws and while he fails to helpMrs Bradford, he does offer help to Anna.