The Mayor of Casterbridge by Thomas Hardy

It is one of Hardy's most tightly-knit novels, even though it makes frequent use of coincidences that hardly fit into its normal structural pattern, such as are found in the arbitrary appearances and disappearances of various characters.

One of the chief features of this tragic novel is its deft plot- construction. Moreover, the tragedy in it is caused not only by mere external factors or circumstances, but also by the conflicts and tensions going on in the mind of the hero. However, the tragic content in the novel differs from that found in the works of several other writers of tragedy in that it transcends the local and the individual, and assumes a cosmic significance, and in that it depicts the sufferings of the hero only as symbolic of the suffering of all human beings in similar circumstances. Chance or Coincidence also have a significant part to play in this novel, such as in Henchard's handing over the parcel containing Lucetta's letters to Joshua Jopp for being delivered to her. Fulfilling the Aristotelian requirement of the depiction of the downfall and death of the hero because of some tragic flaw in his character as well as the cruel workings of Fate, it conforms to the pattern of the Greek classical tragedy. According to Earnest Baker, it embodies 'a great and simple tragedy complicated with hackneyed and unnecessary corroboration'. The novel is a tragedy of the most moving type. With Fate and Chance playing their sadistic game, the end of such a life can hardly be expected to be joyful. 'in his own judgment to add events to the narrative somewhat freely', The Mayor of Casterbridge remains a magnificent book, a highly finished work of novelistic art.Īs its full title, The Life and Death of the Mayor of Casterbridge: A Story of a Man of Character, indicates, the novel is concerned with the depiction of the ups and downs, rise and fall, joys and sorrows, and triumph and defeat in the struggle some life of its central character, Michael Henchard, in which happiness appears as a rare oasis in the vast and dreary desert of sorrow and misfortune.

Despite certain weaknesses that have crept into it because of its being initially published as a weekly serial, which caused Hardy, as he himself tells us. Walter Allen regards this novel as Hardy's 'simplest and most successful tragic novel'. Lionel Johnson admits that he knows 'few histories more poignant than this none which more perfectly fulfil the great demands of Aristotle upon the composers of the dramatic plot and the conceivers of dramatic character'.

The Mayor of Casterbridge by Thomas Hardy