One of the best known and most critically
acclaimed of Hardy’s "Novels of Character and Environment" and indeed
of all his
novels, The Mayor of Casterbridge is the story of
Michel Henchard. Henchard is a country labourer who in the first
chapters of the book gets drunk while he and his wife are travelling
and stopping at a fair and promptly sells both her and his child to a
sailor calle Newson. Although this was not unheard of in the early
nineteenth century among the poor it had certainly died out by Hardy’s
time. Time passes in which Henchard manages to accumulate wealth and
respect, even becoming mayor of the town of Casterbridge. Suddenly his
wife reappears with her
daughter Elizabeth-Jane who Henchard wrongly
supposes is his. His tragedy begins to set in as he meets Farfrae who
represents the modern, cynical age of new farming methods. Farfrae is
not so much his enemy as his inintended rival and gradually takes over
Henchard’s life and loves including Lucetta. Worse is to come as Newson
arrives to take his step-daughter and Farfrae takes over the final
parts of Henchard’s former life. His great pride irrevocably tarnished,
Henchard dies wretchedly on the outskirts of town. The greatest point
of interest in the novel is the development of Henchard’s character
from initial contentedness through bitter attempts to hold onto what he
considers ‘his’ to total desparation.