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The Mayor of Casterbridge
Librarian note: This is an updated edition of the same ISBN found here with the old cover.
A haunting study of guilt and lost love
In a fit of drunken anger, Michael Henchard sells his wife and baby daughter for five guineas at a country fair. Over the course of the following years, he manages to establish himself as a respected and prosperous pillar of the community of Casterbridge, but behind his success there always lurk the shameful secret of his past and a personality prone to self-destructive pride and temper. Subtitled “A Story of a Man of Character,� Hardy’s powerful and sympathetic study of the heroic but deeply flawed Henchard is also an intensely dramatic work, tragically played out against the vivid backdrop of a close-knit Dorsetshire town.
This edition includes an introduction, chronology of Hardy’s life and works, the illustrations for the original serial issue, place names, maps, glossary, full explanatory notes as well as Hardy’s prefaces to the 1895 and 1912 editions.
A haunting study of guilt and lost love
In a fit of drunken anger, Michael Henchard sells his wife and baby daughter for five guineas at a country fair. Over the course of the following years, he manages to establish himself as a respected and prosperous pillar of the community of Casterbridge, but behind his success there always lurk the shameful secret of his past and a personality prone to self-destructive pride and temper. Subtitled “A Story of a Man of Character,� Hardy’s powerful and sympathetic study of the heroic but deeply flawed Henchard is also an intensely dramatic work, tragically played out against the vivid backdrop of a close-knit Dorsetshire town.
This edition includes an introduction, chronology of Hardy’s life and works, the illustrations for the original serial issue, place names, maps, glossary, full explanatory notes as well as Hardy’s prefaces to the 1895 and 1912 editions.
448 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1886
1,723 people are currently reading
41.7k people want to read
About the author
Thomas Hardy
2,245books6,495followersThomas Hardy, OM, was an English author of the naturalist movement, although in several poems he displays elements of the previous romantic and enlightenment periods of literature, such as his fascination with the supernatural. He regarded himself primarily as a poet and composed novels mainly for financial gain.
The bulk of his work, set mainly in the semi-fictional land of Wessex, delineates characters struggling against their passions and circumstances. Hardy's poetry, first published in his 50s, has come to be as well regarded as his novels, especially after The Movement of the 1950s and 1960s.
The term cliffhanger is considered to have originated with Thomas Hardy's serial novel A Pair of Blue Eyes in 1873. In the novel, Hardy chose to leave one of his protagonists, Knight, literally hanging off a cliff staring into the stony eyes of a trilobite embedded in the rock that has been dead for millions of years. This became the archetypal � and literal � cliff-hanger of Victorian prose.
Excerpted from .
The bulk of his work, set mainly in the semi-fictional land of Wessex, delineates characters struggling against their passions and circumstances. Hardy's poetry, first published in his 50s, has come to be as well regarded as his novels, especially after The Movement of the 1950s and 1960s.
The term cliffhanger is considered to have originated with Thomas Hardy's serial novel A Pair of Blue Eyes in 1873. In the novel, Hardy chose to leave one of his protagonists, Knight, literally hanging off a cliff staring into the stony eyes of a trilobite embedded in the rock that has been dead for millions of years. This became the archetypal � and literal � cliff-hanger of Victorian prose.
Excerpted from .
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 3,320 reviews
September 30, 2024
welcome to...THE MAYOR OF SEPTEMBERBRIDGE.
this is the latest installment of project long classics, a series in which i read books over the course of a month as an excuse to make puns and buy penguin clothbounds.
this month, we arrive at a lesser-known hardy, whose claim to (my personal) fame is having the most made-up sounding classic title i have ever seen. just THE [FIGURE] OF [BRITISH SOUNDING PLACE]. it's what movie characters would read in a copyright-conscious book club.
anyway. let's get into it.
CHAPTER 1
unhelpfully, this has 45 chapters, which means that every other day i will have to read 2 of them. mostly i'm choosing that process around today not being one of those days.
i have to say, i did not expect the first character we met in this to be named "mike," a name i primarily associate with my childhood friend's stepdad who thought he invented something called pizza pretzels. but then i also didn't predict the first plot point would involve book-mike selling his wife for 5 pounds, so this might just be full of surprises.
CHAPTER 2
hangxiety must be at a whole other level when you're like, "where are my wife and child? oh, duh, with the sailor i sold them to last night."
CHAPTER 3
like 15 years have passed, sailor-dad is dead, and we join susan and elizabeth-jane in looking for their no-good dirty rotten scoundrel of an original (non-sailor) dad. i genuinely can't imagine why we're bothering, but we're off to casterbridge on a tip from a toothless hag selling porridge. the usual.
CHAPTER 4
here we are told that susan "was by no means the first or last peasant woman who had religiously adhered to her purchaser, as too many rural records show." AM I BEING LED TO BELIEVE THIS TYPE OF THING WAS COMMONPLACE??
CHAPTER 5
well, mike is the mayor. now the only thing we can hope for is that this becomes some sort of political plotline in which elizabeth-jane dedicates her life to bringing about his impeachment, for reasons of he sucks.
CHAPTER 6
not seeing what qualifies mike to be a mayor so far. he gets his best ideas from notes passed to him by waiters.
CHAPTER 7
i'm praying that the scottish guy who passed the mayor the note doesn't become a major character. nothing against the man but for some reason thomas hardy has decided to write out his dialogue phonetically.
CHAPTER 8
it's fun that across cultures and eras, humanity has always gotten drunk and wanted to sing emotional songs in crowded bars in front of their friends. karaoke would flourish in any timeline.
CHAPTER 9
honestly this has been such a great seasonal pick so far. thomas hardy has proven himself a huge fan of early autumn.
CHAPTER 10
if mike has 100 haters i'm one of them. if mike has 1 hater it's me. if mike has no haters i'm dead. no way this guy just passed the wife he sold the amount he sold her for with a note that basically says "here's your money back, meet me in secret, i'm ashamed of you, xoxo mike."
CHAPTER 11
wait...is this a second chance romance?
CHAPTER 12
ANOTHER F*CK-UP BY MIKE. oh my god!
i already was no fan of the guy based on his first instance of ruining the life of an innocent woman. i didn't need the further event of him having brought ruination once more and also recently upon another innocent woman to, like, complicate my feelings or whatever. i am under no impression that this is a good guy. i know plenty of sh*tty mayors.
CHAPTER 13
well. i guess congratulations to mike and susan on their wedding day (the squeakquel).
CHAPTER 14
this is the "Elizabeth-Jane Is Not Like Other Girls" chapter, which i should have seen coming from that manic pixie dream girl ass name.
CHAPTER 15
thomas hardy give mike one (1) redeeming characteristic challenge. this guy is the worst � now i have to read about him making fun of his employees and lashing out at people out of jealousy? susan seems to be up to something lately and i can only hope it's poison.
CHAPTER 16
now farfrae (the frenemy object of mike's jealousy and elizabeth-jane's crush) just got fired for being too popular and good at party planning. mike, know your strengths! if you have them, i mean. i'm not convinced.
CHAPTER 17
it's so funny to be like "i was going to ask you something because i like you so much...except your stepdad hates me and i'm poor and my class is bad. i guess it's a mystery! neither you nor the reader will ever know what my question would've been!" i can venture a guess, farfrae.
then again, elizabeth-jane seems truly dumbfounded, so maybe i'm a genius.
CHAPTER 18
okay. so it turns out the thing susan was up to was harboring a fatal illness. rip.
CHAPTER 19
yet another terrible mike moment i'm expected to see as good, for some reason: elizabeth-jane's mom just died and mike takes that mourning time to be like "hey, by the way, i'm your dad. the only reason your mom married the guy you thought was your dad is she thought i was dead." ACTUALLY MIKE YOU LEFT OUT THE PART WHERE YOU SOLD HER AT A DAMN FESTIVAL!
then e-j is crying, obviously, because her mom is dead and her life is a lie, and mike is like "ok i'll leave you alone" and then immediately comes back in the room to be like "can you take my last name btw? even though your mom didn't want that, and in fact it could be seen as her dying wish?" ignoring, apparently, that he wouldn't actually have known that because susan kept it a secret. then e-j is crying and filling out paperwork at the same time, a combination known as "hell on earth."
this guy pisses me the hell off.
CHAPTER 20
i'll say this, i was not prepared for this plot twist. if you care about spoilers for this 150-year-old book, you a) should not be reading this review and b) should definitely stop reading now. i'll put this in spoiler tags but i might reference it later because it's juicy and i'm only human:
and now mike is just verbally berating e-j all the time. this guy is the WORST.
CHAPTER 21
i want this on the record: i'm predicting the new girl in town is mike's ex girlfriend from a million miles away. i predicted it when she was standing like a style icon at susan's grave forever ago in chapter 19, and i stand by it now.
CHAPTER 22
nailed it. and now, of course, mike is suddenly interested in his ex again because she's conveniently become rich. typical.
do you think my ability to predict the plot points of 19th century classics is an employable skill?
CHAPTER 23
yesterday, i wrote, "like, for example, i'm betting that now farfrae will inconveniently begin trying to court ej, and potentially be thrown off by a new crush on the hottie roommate." and i nailed it again.
we have concluded volume i and begun a love triangle.
CHAPTER 24
it's really more of a love square, except there's no connection point between two of the points due to the fact that they are legally if not biologically father and daughter. so a love U. awww.
CHAPTER 25
if i were lucetta i wouldn't marry mike either. would i develop a debilitating crush on a local farmer that threatened to ruin my reputation when i literally just had to move here because a debilitating crush ruined my reputation? maybe no.
CHAPTER 26
i thought i was a hater, but i've never spent my fortune on corn in an attempt to put my enemy out of business only to immediately have to sell all of it for a ruinous loss and immediately head to the bank to ask them to borrow the hell against my property.
i have a lot to learn from mike.
CHAPTER 27
ah, the old "women can't tell who was at fault in a wagon accident if one of the guys is hot because they get distracted" schtick. a dime a dozen.
mike, a comic book villain, has now forced lucetta to agree to marry him. awesome.
CHAPTER 28
of the two books i've read for this project about criminals making a pact to reform themselves and then becoming mayors and respected businessmen of idyllic towns in europe only to have their past discover them via unrelated judicial trial, this one has a way worse protagonist. jean valjean decimates mike in every demonstrable way.
in other words, casterbridge now knows mike is a wife-seller.
CHAPTER 29
your fiancé who is also your ex-boyfriend saving you from being murdered by a bull and then asking you in return to tell his creditor you're engaged to buy him some time on repayment and then you're like "i can't because actually married my crush last week since i hate you, specifically."
we've all been there.
CHAPTER 30
kind of a slay move by ej to be like "you are so unrespectable that actually i am going to move out of your house. also, my ex lives here now, which contributes as well."
CHAPTER 31
damn, farfrae. not even a couple days after mike's bankruptcy trial and he's moving in to his foreclosed home.
CHAPTER 32
he's got his girlfriend, his house, his furniture, his job...we're a local election and a legal adoption away from farfrae fully single white female-ing mike.
no sooner did i type that than farfrae was revealed to be our next mayoral candidate. i'm too good. if ej can just get over her crush she might have a new dad (her third for those tracking) in a chapter or two.
CHAPTER 33
well, mike broke sobriety. he doesn't have a wife to sell this time around but maybe he'll get creative.
CHAPTER 34
farfrae keeps trying to do nice things for mike and people just keep responding "ok i hear you and everything, but like...this guy hates you. you know that, right? he is airing your sh*t out whenever given the chance, just fyi."
and yet somehow farfrae thinks they're besties.
CHAPTER 35
all it takes is for lucetta to wear an ugly dress early in the morning, thereby reminding mike of how one time he sold a woman, for him to give up his hater ways. i'm built different.
CHAPTER 36
thank god for jopp, a freelance hater involved purely for the love of the game. if he didn't air lucetta's sh*t out the moment he had the opportunity who knows how long this book would be.
CHAPTER 37
some guy of royal note is coming to town for genuinely 30 minutes and, when told he can't be the welcoming committee, mike has essentially the same reaction as a young michael scott had to his mom's second marriage on the office.
CHAPTER 38
FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT!
CHAPTER 39
earlier in this review, i extolled my own virtues as a hater, but in truth i can only aspire to the levels that prompted the townspeople to set up a satirical play on the back of a donkey and setting it off down main street to make fun of lucetta for having dated mike.
CHAPTER 40
old-timey medicine was so whimsical. back in the day, unexpectedly seeing a puppet of yourself could cause a fatal seizure.
rip lucetta.
CHAPTER 41
i can't say i'm surprised that now EJ's dead biological dad / mother's purchaser is actually alive, and i'm not even shocked that mike lied and said EJ was dead out of possessiveness, but i will say i have no idea how we're going to wrap this up.
CHAPTER 42
it appears the answer is "mike will not have to repent for his lie, farfrae will marry EJ as if he didn't just marry somebody else who died in a completely insane way, and their forced reconciliation in the eyes of the law will make up for what we lack in any kind of character development."
CHAPTER 43
okay, mike has run himself out of casterbridge. but that is, in effect, a refusing-to-repent strategy. he didn't sneak an apology or acknowledgment out as he sprinted away. just started using "izzy" as a nickname.
CHAPTER 44
this was a nothing chapter that told us nothing we didn't know already. i can't believe this is how this book is going to end.
CHAPTER 45
no, it's actually more ridiculous than i could have imagined: .
OVERALL
clearly, i had a blast and a half reading this book, and yet it was not very good. no character development, no real characterization even, no plot besides a bunch of loosely gathered plot twists.
if you're asking if this is Worth Reading in the classical sense: no. if you're asking if you should read it and you're a gal looking for a good time: yes of course.
rating: 3
this is the latest installment of project long classics, a series in which i read books over the course of a month as an excuse to make puns and buy penguin clothbounds.
this month, we arrive at a lesser-known hardy, whose claim to (my personal) fame is having the most made-up sounding classic title i have ever seen. just THE [FIGURE] OF [BRITISH SOUNDING PLACE]. it's what movie characters would read in a copyright-conscious book club.
anyway. let's get into it.
CHAPTER 1
unhelpfully, this has 45 chapters, which means that every other day i will have to read 2 of them. mostly i'm choosing that process around today not being one of those days.
i have to say, i did not expect the first character we met in this to be named "mike," a name i primarily associate with my childhood friend's stepdad who thought he invented something called pizza pretzels. but then i also didn't predict the first plot point would involve book-mike selling his wife for 5 pounds, so this might just be full of surprises.
CHAPTER 2
hangxiety must be at a whole other level when you're like, "where are my wife and child? oh, duh, with the sailor i sold them to last night."
CHAPTER 3
like 15 years have passed, sailor-dad is dead, and we join susan and elizabeth-jane in looking for their no-good dirty rotten scoundrel of an original (non-sailor) dad. i genuinely can't imagine why we're bothering, but we're off to casterbridge on a tip from a toothless hag selling porridge. the usual.
CHAPTER 4
here we are told that susan "was by no means the first or last peasant woman who had religiously adhered to her purchaser, as too many rural records show." AM I BEING LED TO BELIEVE THIS TYPE OF THING WAS COMMONPLACE??
CHAPTER 5
well, mike is the mayor. now the only thing we can hope for is that this becomes some sort of political plotline in which elizabeth-jane dedicates her life to bringing about his impeachment, for reasons of he sucks.
CHAPTER 6
not seeing what qualifies mike to be a mayor so far. he gets his best ideas from notes passed to him by waiters.
CHAPTER 7
i'm praying that the scottish guy who passed the mayor the note doesn't become a major character. nothing against the man but for some reason thomas hardy has decided to write out his dialogue phonetically.
CHAPTER 8
it's fun that across cultures and eras, humanity has always gotten drunk and wanted to sing emotional songs in crowded bars in front of their friends. karaoke would flourish in any timeline.
CHAPTER 9
honestly this has been such a great seasonal pick so far. thomas hardy has proven himself a huge fan of early autumn.
CHAPTER 10
if mike has 100 haters i'm one of them. if mike has 1 hater it's me. if mike has no haters i'm dead. no way this guy just passed the wife he sold the amount he sold her for with a note that basically says "here's your money back, meet me in secret, i'm ashamed of you, xoxo mike."
CHAPTER 11
wait...is this a second chance romance?
CHAPTER 12
ANOTHER F*CK-UP BY MIKE. oh my god!
i already was no fan of the guy based on his first instance of ruining the life of an innocent woman. i didn't need the further event of him having brought ruination once more and also recently upon another innocent woman to, like, complicate my feelings or whatever. i am under no impression that this is a good guy. i know plenty of sh*tty mayors.
CHAPTER 13
well. i guess congratulations to mike and susan on their wedding day (the squeakquel).
CHAPTER 14
this is the "Elizabeth-Jane Is Not Like Other Girls" chapter, which i should have seen coming from that manic pixie dream girl ass name.
CHAPTER 15
thomas hardy give mike one (1) redeeming characteristic challenge. this guy is the worst � now i have to read about him making fun of his employees and lashing out at people out of jealousy? susan seems to be up to something lately and i can only hope it's poison.
CHAPTER 16
now farfrae (the frenemy object of mike's jealousy and elizabeth-jane's crush) just got fired for being too popular and good at party planning. mike, know your strengths! if you have them, i mean. i'm not convinced.
CHAPTER 17
it's so funny to be like "i was going to ask you something because i like you so much...except your stepdad hates me and i'm poor and my class is bad. i guess it's a mystery! neither you nor the reader will ever know what my question would've been!" i can venture a guess, farfrae.
then again, elizabeth-jane seems truly dumbfounded, so maybe i'm a genius.
CHAPTER 18
okay. so it turns out the thing susan was up to was harboring a fatal illness. rip.
CHAPTER 19
yet another terrible mike moment i'm expected to see as good, for some reason: elizabeth-jane's mom just died and mike takes that mourning time to be like "hey, by the way, i'm your dad. the only reason your mom married the guy you thought was your dad is she thought i was dead." ACTUALLY MIKE YOU LEFT OUT THE PART WHERE YOU SOLD HER AT A DAMN FESTIVAL!
then e-j is crying, obviously, because her mom is dead and her life is a lie, and mike is like "ok i'll leave you alone" and then immediately comes back in the room to be like "can you take my last name btw? even though your mom didn't want that, and in fact it could be seen as her dying wish?" ignoring, apparently, that he wouldn't actually have known that because susan kept it a secret. then e-j is crying and filling out paperwork at the same time, a combination known as "hell on earth."
this guy pisses me the hell off.
CHAPTER 20
i'll say this, i was not prepared for this plot twist. if you care about spoilers for this 150-year-old book, you a) should not be reading this review and b) should definitely stop reading now. i'll put this in spoiler tags but i might reference it later because it's juicy and i'm only human:
and now mike is just verbally berating e-j all the time. this guy is the WORST.
CHAPTER 21
i want this on the record: i'm predicting the new girl in town is mike's ex girlfriend from a million miles away. i predicted it when she was standing like a style icon at susan's grave forever ago in chapter 19, and i stand by it now.
CHAPTER 22
nailed it. and now, of course, mike is suddenly interested in his ex again because she's conveniently become rich. typical.
do you think my ability to predict the plot points of 19th century classics is an employable skill?
CHAPTER 23
yesterday, i wrote, "like, for example, i'm betting that now farfrae will inconveniently begin trying to court ej, and potentially be thrown off by a new crush on the hottie roommate." and i nailed it again.
we have concluded volume i and begun a love triangle.
CHAPTER 24
it's really more of a love square, except there's no connection point between two of the points due to the fact that they are legally if not biologically father and daughter. so a love U. awww.
CHAPTER 25
if i were lucetta i wouldn't marry mike either. would i develop a debilitating crush on a local farmer that threatened to ruin my reputation when i literally just had to move here because a debilitating crush ruined my reputation? maybe no.
CHAPTER 26
i thought i was a hater, but i've never spent my fortune on corn in an attempt to put my enemy out of business only to immediately have to sell all of it for a ruinous loss and immediately head to the bank to ask them to borrow the hell against my property.
i have a lot to learn from mike.
CHAPTER 27
ah, the old "women can't tell who was at fault in a wagon accident if one of the guys is hot because they get distracted" schtick. a dime a dozen.
mike, a comic book villain, has now forced lucetta to agree to marry him. awesome.
CHAPTER 28
of the two books i've read for this project about criminals making a pact to reform themselves and then becoming mayors and respected businessmen of idyllic towns in europe only to have their past discover them via unrelated judicial trial, this one has a way worse protagonist. jean valjean decimates mike in every demonstrable way.
in other words, casterbridge now knows mike is a wife-seller.
CHAPTER 29
your fiancé who is also your ex-boyfriend saving you from being murdered by a bull and then asking you in return to tell his creditor you're engaged to buy him some time on repayment and then you're like "i can't because actually married my crush last week since i hate you, specifically."
we've all been there.
CHAPTER 30
kind of a slay move by ej to be like "you are so unrespectable that actually i am going to move out of your house. also, my ex lives here now, which contributes as well."
CHAPTER 31
damn, farfrae. not even a couple days after mike's bankruptcy trial and he's moving in to his foreclosed home.
CHAPTER 32
he's got his girlfriend, his house, his furniture, his job...we're a local election and a legal adoption away from farfrae fully single white female-ing mike.
no sooner did i type that than farfrae was revealed to be our next mayoral candidate. i'm too good. if ej can just get over her crush she might have a new dad (her third for those tracking) in a chapter or two.
CHAPTER 33
well, mike broke sobriety. he doesn't have a wife to sell this time around but maybe he'll get creative.
CHAPTER 34
farfrae keeps trying to do nice things for mike and people just keep responding "ok i hear you and everything, but like...this guy hates you. you know that, right? he is airing your sh*t out whenever given the chance, just fyi."
and yet somehow farfrae thinks they're besties.
CHAPTER 35
all it takes is for lucetta to wear an ugly dress early in the morning, thereby reminding mike of how one time he sold a woman, for him to give up his hater ways. i'm built different.
CHAPTER 36
thank god for jopp, a freelance hater involved purely for the love of the game. if he didn't air lucetta's sh*t out the moment he had the opportunity who knows how long this book would be.
CHAPTER 37
some guy of royal note is coming to town for genuinely 30 minutes and, when told he can't be the welcoming committee, mike has essentially the same reaction as a young michael scott had to his mom's second marriage on the office.
CHAPTER 38
FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT!
CHAPTER 39
earlier in this review, i extolled my own virtues as a hater, but in truth i can only aspire to the levels that prompted the townspeople to set up a satirical play on the back of a donkey and setting it off down main street to make fun of lucetta for having dated mike.
CHAPTER 40
old-timey medicine was so whimsical. back in the day, unexpectedly seeing a puppet of yourself could cause a fatal seizure.
rip lucetta.
CHAPTER 41
i can't say i'm surprised that now EJ's dead biological dad / mother's purchaser is actually alive, and i'm not even shocked that mike lied and said EJ was dead out of possessiveness, but i will say i have no idea how we're going to wrap this up.
CHAPTER 42
it appears the answer is "mike will not have to repent for his lie, farfrae will marry EJ as if he didn't just marry somebody else who died in a completely insane way, and their forced reconciliation in the eyes of the law will make up for what we lack in any kind of character development."
CHAPTER 43
okay, mike has run himself out of casterbridge. but that is, in effect, a refusing-to-repent strategy. he didn't sneak an apology or acknowledgment out as he sprinted away. just started using "izzy" as a nickname.
CHAPTER 44
this was a nothing chapter that told us nothing we didn't know already. i can't believe this is how this book is going to end.
CHAPTER 45
no, it's actually more ridiculous than i could have imagined: .
OVERALL
clearly, i had a blast and a half reading this book, and yet it was not very good. no character development, no real characterization even, no plot besides a bunch of loosely gathered plot twists.
if you're asking if this is Worth Reading in the classical sense: no. if you're asking if you should read it and you're a gal looking for a good time: yes of course.
rating: 3
June 23, 2018
this is hardy's most perfectly-constructed novel. there are others that are more appealing, to me, (am i allowed to say that?), but this one is such a perfect cause-and-effect, every-action-has-a-reaction kind of book, that it should really be his most popular and successful, instead of tess, which by comparison, is pure melodrama.
mayor is full of the trappings of melodrama - convenient and inexplicable deaths, characters long out of the picture returning at the least opportune times, overheard conversations and love triangles and deathbed confessions, and yet it is so much more than that - it is the long, drawn-out punishment of a man who makes an impulsive mistake, tries to redeem himself, and finds that when thomas hardy is writing your life, it just isn't going to work out for you, sorry.
this book has more psychological insight than tess, and henchard is a much more complex and nuanced character than any found in tess' world. tess' punishments result from her gender, her innocence, the hypocrisy of society, and a mismanaged letter. henchard is no ingenue.
nor is this like jude, where a basically good but misguided man falls victim to circumstances - michael henchard is an unlikeable character through and through. but the fact that he tries to be a better man, and even pulls it off for a while, should be enough, right? even though he is arrogant and hot-tempered, even though he sold his wife and baby in a drunken impulse? is he not even a candidate for redemption? he regrets his mistakes, and even though he continues to make more, his awareness of his character flaws should be enough to avoid his fate, right?
nope. this is hardyland. hardy doesn't take kindly to people trying to rise above their circumstances, nor does he take kindly to people getting off scot-free from their mistakes, good intentions or not. tess and angel pay, jude and sue pay, and michael henchard will pay.
along with the very hardy-esque theme of "stay put and be good," this book is another shining example of hardy's facility with descriptive prose involving pastoral settings, and the idea of progress, and its effect on the working man.
coincidences abound, but always acting as an agent of fate, which was hardy's god. fate is capricious, but determined, and there is no escaping it.
is why i love thomas hardy.
mayor is full of the trappings of melodrama - convenient and inexplicable deaths, characters long out of the picture returning at the least opportune times, overheard conversations and love triangles and deathbed confessions, and yet it is so much more than that - it is the long, drawn-out punishment of a man who makes an impulsive mistake, tries to redeem himself, and finds that when thomas hardy is writing your life, it just isn't going to work out for you, sorry.
this book has more psychological insight than tess, and henchard is a much more complex and nuanced character than any found in tess' world. tess' punishments result from her gender, her innocence, the hypocrisy of society, and a mismanaged letter. henchard is no ingenue.
nor is this like jude, where a basically good but misguided man falls victim to circumstances - michael henchard is an unlikeable character through and through. but the fact that he tries to be a better man, and even pulls it off for a while, should be enough, right? even though he is arrogant and hot-tempered, even though he sold his wife and baby in a drunken impulse? is he not even a candidate for redemption? he regrets his mistakes, and even though he continues to make more, his awareness of his character flaws should be enough to avoid his fate, right?
nope. this is hardyland. hardy doesn't take kindly to people trying to rise above their circumstances, nor does he take kindly to people getting off scot-free from their mistakes, good intentions or not. tess and angel pay, jude and sue pay, and michael henchard will pay.
along with the very hardy-esque theme of "stay put and be good," this book is another shining example of hardy's facility with descriptive prose involving pastoral settings, and the idea of progress, and its effect on the working man.
coincidences abound, but always acting as an agent of fate, which was hardy's god. fate is capricious, but determined, and there is no escaping it.
is why i love thomas hardy.
January 22, 2020
“Happiness was but the occasional episode in a general drama of pain.�
Hardy sure was a depressing fellow.
As with and , the eponymous mayor of Casterbridge in this book takes one figurative beating after another. Just when you think things might be starting to look up, when it seems he's found his footing and is turning his life around, Hardy says "nuh-uh" and throws another load of shit at him. I know he was challenging social norms and critiquing the bourgeoisie and whatever else, but good god man, give these poor characters a break!
Michael Henchard stands apart a little bit though because - I feel - unlike Tess and Jude, he himself is something of an antagonist in the lives of other goodhearted and modernistic folk. He is actually rather unpleasant and probably deserves a lot of what he gets, which is why it's quite an achievement that Hardy makes me sympathise with him. I wanted him to get better, do better, be better. I didn't like him, of course, but then there are many ways I can be made to feel about characters and “like� is always the least interesting one.
The novel opens eighteen years before the main story. Michael Henchard is unemployed, unhappy and on the road with his wife and daughter when he stops at a fairground tent for some rum-laced furmity. A few bowls later and he is drunk. In a moment of drunken foolishness, he gets angry at his wife and declares to all present that he will sell her to the highest bidder. What starts as a joke is taken too far, and when a passing sailor offers him five guineas, intoxication and pride make him go through with it. His wife, Susan, takes her daughter and leaves - quite gladly - with the sailor.
The next morning, Henchard realises the horror of what he has done and makes a vow not to drink for as long as his age at that moment (21 years).
Eighteen years later, the sailor has been lost at sea and Susan follows the trail of her true husband to the town of Casterbridge, hoping he will take pity on her and her daughter. There she discovers a sober, well-respected Michael Henchard in the mayor's seat. Could this be a second chance for them both?
Could it hell. Sorry, but this is Hardy. He wasn't going to let anyone get away with anything that easily. There's twists around every corner in this book. He really pushes how much we can feel pity for Michael Henchard. Henchard essentially orchestrates his own downfall time and again by behaving selfishly and jealously. I found myself despising him at times, and yet in the end I could only think: Henchard, you poor, poor bastard.
I enjoyed the moral challenges and complexity the book offered. I also really enjoyed the rural setting and the town of Casterbridge. My least favourite part of the book was Elizabeth-Jane, though she got a little more bearable towards the end. Maybe.
I do have one question, though.
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August 19, 2023
The Mayor of Casterbridge: The Life and Death of a Man of Character
and one of my all-time favourite books, with possibly one of the most fascinating book characters.
The Mayor of Casterbridge is the unsympathetic portrayal of a man unable to control his own temperament, doomed by his own insensitivity, cursed by his own pride, and tormented by his own past.
A man who ruthlessly sells his wife and child in a drunken episode and then in the depths of despair and full of remorse promises to refrain from alcohol for 21 years. It is these past transgressions that shape everything in a book where cruelty is outshone by kindness, malice is met with forgiveness and good is often eclipsed by wrongdoing and evil. A story where opposites are in constant flux, and the flawed cast of characters never seem to end the perpetual cycle of suffering.
Malignant, tormenting, and tragic but a masterpiece in storytelling, with superb character development, and an intriguing plot, where morality, fate and redemption play a huge part.
The Plot
During one of his drunken binges and encouraged by his wife to stop drinking away their livelihood, Henchard sells his wife to a sailor for 5 guineas. Remorseful, he stops drinking and goes in search of the wife he cruelly sold, but to no avail. Turning his attention then to wealth, Henchard becomes a successful corn trader and Mayor of the fictious town of Casterbridge.
Almost two decades later, Susan returns with their 18-year-old daughter, when her husband dies and in need of financial support. Meeting Henchard again leads to an arrangement where he remarries Susan so his ‘stepdaughter� can take his respectable name. To claim her as his own would mean reputational ruin and his past secrets exposed, and so he decides against this course of action, with far reaching consequences.
Meanwhile Donald Farfrae arrives in Casterbridge with modern ideas for corn production. However, blighted by a series of bad business decisions, Henchard moves closer to financial ruin while the dashing Farrare weaves his way in the upper circles of Casterbridge’s elite, into the hearts of the women in Henchard’s life and then ultimately replaces Henchard as Mayor.
In an unpredictable twist, another woman who Henchard had promised to marry moves to Casterbridge and befriends his daughter and vies for the attention of his archrival, Farfrae. However, where each of the characters have their own plans, destiny has another.
Review and Comments
All of Thomas Hardy’s books weave threads of fate, social culture, and nature into the fabric of the story so well they equal the role of the key protagonists who themselves are likeable and detestable characters. However, this book does it best in my opinion.
To read the Mayor of Casterbridge is to immerse yourself in the period, the environment, and the surrounding nature, all of which play their part. To read this story is to empathise and to despise the attitudes of people, but all of it felt authentic and was so vividly depicted. Even that the fictitious town of Casterbridge is portrayed as “an old, hoary place o� wickedness� is incredibly symbolic.
Hardy’s ‘melancolic� style also matches the various and shifting moods of the seasons with the everchanging nature of his characters and their lives. However, it is his play on fate that fascinates me with Hardy’s writing.
I have often toyed with the idea that Hardy does not believe in fate, but instead uses it to question our own beliefs about who is ultimately responsible for our destiny? While factors such as social rigidity, Christian values and the role of women influenced the lives of the people in the story. I think Hardy was proclaiming that people should not be shackled to the notion of ‘destiny and fate� but they themselves are responsible for their actions and the treatment of people around them and are the key architects of their own fortunes and misfortunes.
In fact, Henchard’s cruel treatment of his wife, and throughout the story - his daughter and the deception and contempt shown towards Farfrae all came from a man who was egotistical, immoral, and selfish where his own stubbornness shaped his downfall rather than fate. Even when you think the immoral man had found redemption, he fails again by lying to his daughter with the worst sin of all. A character I loathed but also pitied for the hand he played in this heart breaking story of self destruction.
In a very poignant moment, Henchard expresses his wish to be forgotten evident that he had finally come to terms with the wretched life he led and the man he was. This utter damnation of himself expressed in his final will and testament displayed the moral compass and conscience that the reader had wanted, but did not, see during his life.
A true masterpiece in classic literature. I can’t think of any author who betters Hardy and Dickens in characterisation and in the character development throughout a story.
It is Hardy’s somewhat gloomy outlook with quotes like “happiness was but the occasional episode in a general drama of pain.� that has built his reputation and has led readers to look elsewhere for lighter reads. However, I would encourage anyone to embrace this author as someone who is absolutely superb at developing his characters, the evolution of the stories and the lives of the protagonists is just brilliant and the writing style?. Well elegant, tormenting, evocative, and simply stunning.
And the message? Destiny is not tied to some invisible force, but our lives are shaped mainly through our own actions, inactions, from flawed and great decisions and our ability to subdue our own temperament and embrace the people around us. For those things we can’t control - well maybe that’s ‘fate�.
Written in the 19th Century with such relevance today. That is what I call timeless and puts 'class' into classic. Just wonderful.
An easy 5 stars for a story that is tragic and tormenting, but with love, redemption, forgiveness, and tolerance the wonderful themes.
The Mayor of Casterbridge is the unsympathetic portrayal of a man unable to control his own temperament, doomed by his own insensitivity, cursed by his own pride, and tormented by his own past.
A man who ruthlessly sells his wife and child in a drunken episode and then in the depths of despair and full of remorse promises to refrain from alcohol for 21 years. It is these past transgressions that shape everything in a book where cruelty is outshone by kindness, malice is met with forgiveness and good is often eclipsed by wrongdoing and evil. A story where opposites are in constant flux, and the flawed cast of characters never seem to end the perpetual cycle of suffering.
Malignant, tormenting, and tragic but a masterpiece in storytelling, with superb character development, and an intriguing plot, where morality, fate and redemption play a huge part.
The Plot
During one of his drunken binges and encouraged by his wife to stop drinking away their livelihood, Henchard sells his wife to a sailor for 5 guineas. Remorseful, he stops drinking and goes in search of the wife he cruelly sold, but to no avail. Turning his attention then to wealth, Henchard becomes a successful corn trader and Mayor of the fictious town of Casterbridge.
Almost two decades later, Susan returns with their 18-year-old daughter, when her husband dies and in need of financial support. Meeting Henchard again leads to an arrangement where he remarries Susan so his ‘stepdaughter� can take his respectable name. To claim her as his own would mean reputational ruin and his past secrets exposed, and so he decides against this course of action, with far reaching consequences.
Meanwhile Donald Farfrae arrives in Casterbridge with modern ideas for corn production. However, blighted by a series of bad business decisions, Henchard moves closer to financial ruin while the dashing Farrare weaves his way in the upper circles of Casterbridge’s elite, into the hearts of the women in Henchard’s life and then ultimately replaces Henchard as Mayor.
In an unpredictable twist, another woman who Henchard had promised to marry moves to Casterbridge and befriends his daughter and vies for the attention of his archrival, Farfrae. However, where each of the characters have their own plans, destiny has another.
Review and Comments
All of Thomas Hardy’s books weave threads of fate, social culture, and nature into the fabric of the story so well they equal the role of the key protagonists who themselves are likeable and detestable characters. However, this book does it best in my opinion.
To read the Mayor of Casterbridge is to immerse yourself in the period, the environment, and the surrounding nature, all of which play their part. To read this story is to empathise and to despise the attitudes of people, but all of it felt authentic and was so vividly depicted. Even that the fictitious town of Casterbridge is portrayed as “an old, hoary place o� wickedness� is incredibly symbolic.
Hardy’s ‘melancolic� style also matches the various and shifting moods of the seasons with the everchanging nature of his characters and their lives. However, it is his play on fate that fascinates me with Hardy’s writing.
I have often toyed with the idea that Hardy does not believe in fate, but instead uses it to question our own beliefs about who is ultimately responsible for our destiny? While factors such as social rigidity, Christian values and the role of women influenced the lives of the people in the story. I think Hardy was proclaiming that people should not be shackled to the notion of ‘destiny and fate� but they themselves are responsible for their actions and the treatment of people around them and are the key architects of their own fortunes and misfortunes.
In fact, Henchard’s cruel treatment of his wife, and throughout the story - his daughter and the deception and contempt shown towards Farfrae all came from a man who was egotistical, immoral, and selfish where his own stubbornness shaped his downfall rather than fate. Even when you think the immoral man had found redemption, he fails again by lying to his daughter with the worst sin of all. A character I loathed but also pitied for the hand he played in this heart breaking story of self destruction.
In a very poignant moment, Henchard expresses his wish to be forgotten evident that he had finally come to terms with the wretched life he led and the man he was. This utter damnation of himself expressed in his final will and testament displayed the moral compass and conscience that the reader had wanted, but did not, see during his life.
A true masterpiece in classic literature. I can’t think of any author who betters Hardy and Dickens in characterisation and in the character development throughout a story.
It is Hardy’s somewhat gloomy outlook with quotes like “happiness was but the occasional episode in a general drama of pain.� that has built his reputation and has led readers to look elsewhere for lighter reads. However, I would encourage anyone to embrace this author as someone who is absolutely superb at developing his characters, the evolution of the stories and the lives of the protagonists is just brilliant and the writing style?. Well elegant, tormenting, evocative, and simply stunning.
And the message? Destiny is not tied to some invisible force, but our lives are shaped mainly through our own actions, inactions, from flawed and great decisions and our ability to subdue our own temperament and embrace the people around us. For those things we can’t control - well maybe that’s ‘fate�.
Written in the 19th Century with such relevance today. That is what I call timeless and puts 'class' into classic. Just wonderful.
An easy 5 stars for a story that is tragic and tormenting, but with love, redemption, forgiveness, and tolerance the wonderful themes.
October 1, 2022
“The Mayor Of Casterbridge�, an intrusive third-party omniscient narration, swamped with psychological issues, and poignancy, calling out for intermittent perusals throughout, belongs to the 19th century England, revolving around the county town of Casterbridge (fictional name for Dorchester, in south -western region of England)!
It is about the rise and fall of the fortune and mental health of the protagonist, Michael Henchard (MH), who becomes penitent, every time he muddles up situations for himself. For me, he is a self-sabotage expert! But soon enough, he falls into remorse and deep despair. So this cyclic pattern of self-sabotage and falling into despair, enwraps the plot in entirety. The story is about his journey from 0 to 1 (with his past lurking him, throughout his success), and then again from 1 to 0!
The part of his rising graph from 0 to 1, was bearable for my puny brain, but the gargantuan and convoluted plot-twists in the second half of his journey from 1 to 0, blew away my mind! I literally felt exhausted and restive, upon completion of numerous, fast-paced exhaustive plot twists, which felt a tad contrived to me!
It is inundated with a labyrinth of events, around Michael Henchard, and I have few innocuous points to make, maybe this is what Thomas Hardy, wanted to bring to light. So, sharing a few-
-The plot starts with the inebriated Michael, selling his wife (Susan) in a fuddle of alcohol (turning out to be his own nemesis), becoming a victim of public ignominy, and letting the wife, and child (Elizabeth-Jane) emigrate with the sailor, Newson, all in a drunken stupor!
This opening scene clearly portrays, how alcohol can prove as a devastating nemesis for anyone, and sets the foundation for the novel! I admire, Thomas Hardy for reflecting on a topic of social well-being.
-The following day, coming out of stupefaction, penitent and in deep despair, he takes an avowal of giving up on alcohol for 21 years. Here, I have a doubt, when one gives up on something, it is either forever or never, why Hardy, selected the figure 21? Was it some superstition?
-The story moves forward to 18 years, when post the death of the sailor husband, Susan along with Elizabeth, returns to Casterbridge, seeking help from ex-husband Michael, and realises that he has become affluent, wealthy and the Mayor of Casterbridge. The daughter is kept in dark and informed about Michael being a relative. Need to ponder, why all these years, Susan never wished to meet Michael, or enquire about him? 18 years is a long period, and now when in need, she returns back.
-Meanwhile, another character, Donald Farfrae, helps Michael with the bad business dealings in selling sprouted grain, and gives suggestions on making the grain usable. Donald becomes his general manager and a confidant!
-Michael and Susan, decide to re-marry in a respectable manner, keeping their previous marriage furtive, and hence re-start courtship and finally re-marry. Had Michael stayed a shredded rag; would Susan have agreed to marry? The timid, Susan, flinging a coin onto his face, when she was sold in the fair, and after 18 years, agrees to re-unite, just because her current husband, is no-more, and the ex-husband in swamped in wealth!! I was infuriated!
- Donald, is becoming a favourite of the townspeople, because of his adroitness. Both Michael and Donald, gradually develop differences, Michael envious of Donald’s popularity, dismisses him as his manager. Searing in jealousy, all Michael can do is fire him, but cannot control his destiny!
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Till, this point the plot was bearable and non-convoluted. But from this point on, the twists and turns, blew away my mind, leaving me dazed and exhausted!!
To stay back from spoilers, the second half discusses about events, which lead Michael to losing everything, and returning back to square-one, “desolate and lonely�. Elizabeth-Jane, takes the centre-stage in the second half of the novel.
The novel not only deals with entrenched psychological issues, but also the societal norms. To begin with, Michael breaks the society-rules, by selling his wife in a drunken stupor, and faces ignominy (sets the tone for the novel, and builds on the pathos). It also poses a question on the opportune society, where when Michael, becomes a Mayor, then the society bows down to him. But when he cannot keep pace with the latest agricultural methods, then even his partner Donald, bypasses him. The society, who raised him to the position of Mayor, rejects him. He is left alone, as a destitute. The seeds of tragedy are sown from the start, and bloom towards the end, when even his own daughter (though the reality is a bit twisted), gets absorbed in her own life with her husband. There is a tad of romance with a female, Lucetta, which I felt was contrived, and could have been easily omitted.
I personally felt, a common trait among all the characters in this novel, and that is, SELFISHNESS!
Without any further belabouring, the first-half of Michael’s rise, reaching the crescendo, and clearly foreshadowing the devastating and ominous events of the future, unmitigatedly deserved a 5-star, but the second half with the contrivances and few conundrums unsolved, left me fatigued, exhausted and dissatisfied!!
So, docking a star, to ornate this work by Thomas Hardy, with 4-stars. It is commendable that the grave concerns of alcoholism, and baring the labyrinth of human and society psychology, surpass the convoluted contrivances of the second half! (I so much wish, if second half had few episodes omitted, to allow few breathers!) It is a very plot-heavy book, characters and atmosphere take a back-seat!!
July 26, 2022
I just love 'classic reads' like these, you pick up a book with a 19th century cover and feel, and within a few pages you read that an angry and drunk man arguing with his wife, ends up auctioning her and his baby daughter to a passing sailor! Sober the next day, he's too late to find them, so he pledges 21 years sobriety! And that's just the opening. We next come to Casterbridge many years later, where that self-same man has become a very successful businessman and The Mayor of Casterbridge! And when his wife and daughter come back to his life, slowly but surely he begins to reap what he sowed!
Considered a masterpiece by as many that have issues with the number of big events plotted in the book (it was originally serialised), this is a delicious classic read, as it feels like nothing you'd expect from this era, is nearly all story and plot, and his above all, an interesting immersive read. 8 out of 12.
2022 read
Considered a masterpiece by as many that have issues with the number of big events plotted in the book (it was originally serialised), this is a delicious classic read, as it feels like nothing you'd expect from this era, is nearly all story and plot, and his above all, an interesting immersive read. 8 out of 12.
2022 read
July 12, 2024
Michael Henchard an itinerant, young, annoyed farm worker, walking with quiet wife Susan, infant daughter Elizabeth -Jane, looking for employment, the time, the early 1830's, in southern England, after an exhausting journey they reach a country fair, in a small village, enter a crowded tent, with dubious humans, serving alcohol, he imbibes vigorously, (a weakness that will cause much trouble, and haunt him the rest of his life) soon inebriated, the highly distressed man, in a stupor, sells Susan to an unknown sailor named Newson, what began as a joke reaches an unforeseen conclusion. In the morning sober, and very ashamed, he seeks his wife and daughter everywhere, but they have left the area and the nation...Almost twenty years later, a drastic change, this Mr.Henchard is now the influential Mayor of Casterbridge (Dorchester) , a successful businessman in the corn and hay trade, only a few miles from his crime, a secret that still causes him much pain and suffering, he has vowed and kept this oath, not to partake any intoxicating beverages for 21 years, his age during the scandalous incident. Recently hiring the bright, young, reluctant, affable Mr. Donald Farfrae, from Scotland, with a vague dream of going to America, to pursue his fortune there, but after a protracted , difficult negotiation, on the road out of town, Henchard, persuades Farfrae to stay, he runs the business better than the owner. Michael has it all, a beautiful , girlfriend, Lucetta Templeman, too, from an impoverished family, on the island of Jersey, he has compromised, but promises will wed, the eager woman, she helped him back to health when the mayor, became dangerously ill there, nurses fall in love with their needy patients regularly . Yet life has frequent complications, the smooth voyage of his career hits a reef, his long suspected dead wife Susan returns, she also hides a deep secret, bringing his daughter Elizabeth-Jane, too...what to do? The respected mayor of Casterbridge, a widower he says, will quietly marry his wife again, for appearance sake... the townsmen are flabbergasted, a poor, sickly, uneducated woman, with a grown daughter, a stranger, Mr.Henchard, could have any single woman, from a good family, in the city, later Mr. Farfrae and shy Miss Elizabeth-Jane, start to look at each other, both with kind eyes . A major novel from the always interesting writer, Thomas Hardy, dark waters may flow through these pages , but they will take you back to a place that will engross, and this is the ultimate goal of any book.
December 12, 2017
Ooof, finally finished this trudge trudge trudge of a book, and it isn’t even that long. Maybe I’m getting feeble but Thomas Hardy’s manytentacled sentences and trillion 19th century rural slang words presented a north-face-of-the-Eiger challenge for my little brain � strange words like clane, felloe, furmety, gaberlunzie, twanking, diment, rantipole and comminatory and many many more, and sentences like this (deep breath) :
As the lively and sparkling emotions of her early married life cohered into an equable serenity, the finer movements of her nature found scope in discovering to the narrow-lived ones around her the secret (as she had once learnt it) of making limited opportunities endurable; by a species of microscopic treatment, of those minute forms of satisfaction that offer themselves to everybody not in positive pain; which, this handled, have much of the same inspiriting effect upon life as wider interests cursorily embraced.
You like that one? Heck, I got another :
While life’s middle summer had set its hardening mark on the mother’s face, her former spring-like specialities were transferred so dexterously by Time to the second figure, her child, that the absence of certain facts within her mother’s knowledge from the girl’s mind would have seemed for the moment, to one reflecting on those facts, to be a curious imperfection in Nature’s powers of continuity.
Yeah……�.. time to lie down for 20 minutes.
I guess I got what I thought I was going to get with this book � an intricate tale of the playing out of the intertwined fates of four characters who marry each other, lie about their origins to each other, lie about each others� origins to each other, don’t marry each other, have the hots for each other, love each other, hate each other, betray each other, turn the tables on each other and in general bamboozlerize each other until the poor reader’s head is spinning. The plot is as constricted and convoluted as a box of pythons; it’s like a Coen Brothers movie, like Blood Simple or Burn After Reading. It’s a lethal quadrille.
The sexual politics of this unlikely tale are just weird. The young (around 21 I guess) Michael Henchard auctions off his wife in the first (famous) scene and then lives as a bachelor for the next 18 years. He explains:
Being something of a woman-hater, I have found it no hardship to keep mostly at a distance from the sex.
The next big emotional entanglement he makes (after 18 years of celibacy) is with�. a man. An entrancing young Scotsman to be precise, we could be thinking maybe Ewan McGregor in Shallow Grave or David Tennant as Doctor Who. Henchard (by now hizzoner The Mayor of Casterbridge) practically falls in love with this guy. Then suddenly back comes the wife he sold with daughter in tow and the merry dance begins. Swing your partners, one two three.
Reading this Hardy novel was like watching an old mournful elephant skilfully pick up three peas and juggle them expertly with his one enormous trunk and then turn round and plod massively back into the trackless jungle smashing bamboo plants and ripping creepers apart as he went, one large tear trickling down his cheek.
As the lively and sparkling emotions of her early married life cohered into an equable serenity, the finer movements of her nature found scope in discovering to the narrow-lived ones around her the secret (as she had once learnt it) of making limited opportunities endurable; by a species of microscopic treatment, of those minute forms of satisfaction that offer themselves to everybody not in positive pain; which, this handled, have much of the same inspiriting effect upon life as wider interests cursorily embraced.
You like that one? Heck, I got another :
While life’s middle summer had set its hardening mark on the mother’s face, her former spring-like specialities were transferred so dexterously by Time to the second figure, her child, that the absence of certain facts within her mother’s knowledge from the girl’s mind would have seemed for the moment, to one reflecting on those facts, to be a curious imperfection in Nature’s powers of continuity.
Yeah……�.. time to lie down for 20 minutes.
I guess I got what I thought I was going to get with this book � an intricate tale of the playing out of the intertwined fates of four characters who marry each other, lie about their origins to each other, lie about each others� origins to each other, don’t marry each other, have the hots for each other, love each other, hate each other, betray each other, turn the tables on each other and in general bamboozlerize each other until the poor reader’s head is spinning. The plot is as constricted and convoluted as a box of pythons; it’s like a Coen Brothers movie, like Blood Simple or Burn After Reading. It’s a lethal quadrille.
The sexual politics of this unlikely tale are just weird. The young (around 21 I guess) Michael Henchard auctions off his wife in the first (famous) scene and then lives as a bachelor for the next 18 years. He explains:
Being something of a woman-hater, I have found it no hardship to keep mostly at a distance from the sex.
The next big emotional entanglement he makes (after 18 years of celibacy) is with�. a man. An entrancing young Scotsman to be precise, we could be thinking maybe Ewan McGregor in Shallow Grave or David Tennant as Doctor Who. Henchard (by now hizzoner The Mayor of Casterbridge) practically falls in love with this guy. Then suddenly back comes the wife he sold with daughter in tow and the merry dance begins. Swing your partners, one two three.
Reading this Hardy novel was like watching an old mournful elephant skilfully pick up three peas and juggle them expertly with his one enormous trunk and then turn round and plod massively back into the trackless jungle smashing bamboo plants and ripping creepers apart as he went, one large tear trickling down his cheek.
March 11, 2021
*4.5 stars *
October 23, 2022
My third reading, and I still love this book. One of the best of Hardy's, I think - the plot and themes, and the examination of tragedy and of one man's failure to do the right thing. The characters are so complex and the narrative so well-written. A truly great book.
September 21, 2021
Michael Henchard is the perfect example of being your own worst enemy - even after a second chance to redeem past mistakes he just will not see past the toxic pools of power that spill over his life; he can never be happy with who he is and what he has been given - highest recommendation.
March 31, 2022
2,5/5
March 27, 2025
I have not read Thomas Hardy for some time. There were reasons for it. A few years back, after I read and fell in love with his Far from the Madding Crowd, I chose to read The Return of the Native. It was one of the five famous novels of the author. For some reason, it didn't have the same charm for me that the Madding Crowd had. I was invested neither in the plot nor in its characters. It was a total disappointment, and I was forced to give it up lest I'll have a serious fallout with Hardy. The next choice was Tess, and it put me in an even more precarious position, for I found the story to be too depressing. Perhaps, my mood was not receptive at that time, but the end story was, I gave up reading Hardy altogether.
Recently I have been feeling the need to return to a Victorian classic. I wanted to read a "proper" story and take a break from the plotless or/and philosophical works I have been reading lately. That is when I thought that it may now be time to give another try on Hardy. With much trepidation, I ventured on The Mayor of Casterbridge. I needn't have feared, for in The Mayor of Casterbridge, I found the most favourite Hardy novel that I've read so far.
The story revolves around the protagonist, Michael Henchard. His one reckless action in his youth, committed under intoxication, sets in motion the events that form the main storyline. The first impression the reader forms on Henchard is a negative one. His wild actions don't call for much sympathy. As the story progresses, however, we see a somewhat repentant Henchard who is eager to right his wrongs. But this new, matured Henchard is no saint. He is still governed by his inherent flaws. Thus his actions, beginning with good intentions, are ultimately governed by his pride, his temper, and the false image that he is desperate to preserve. Henchard is not a likable character; but rather than disliking him, I found him interesting. His actions, committed in justification of his selfish motives, amused me. I truly felt sorry for the man and his poor antics.
The rest of the characters were a mixed lot with differing ages and stations in life. All of them are flawed and none, perfect. Yet, they were quite likable in their flawed selves and felt like everyday neighbours that one can easily connect with. Like Gabriel Oak in Far From the Madding Crowd, Hardy makes Donald Farfrae the saviour of the day in The Mayor of Casterbridge. And like Gabriel Oak, Donald Farfrae, too, won my heart. I liked their equanimity.
The brilliance of his writing is one of my major attractions to Hardy. It is so beautiful and poetic. One can savour every word he writes. It's rich and enthralling. I also love the way he brings the atmosphere to life as if it were another character. He most certainly takes the readers into an ethereal world. Hardy's stories are evocative statements of rural culture and people's lifestyle, quite a contrast to the urban reformism of Dickens. The only drawback for me is that some of his novels are too depressing which jars on my peace of mind. After all, we read for relaxation and enjoyment, and not to feel dejected.
I do like Hardy as an author. Although his every work is not for me, I'm delighted when I discover a novel that I can fully appreciate. I certainly will be reading more of his works although I know I must tread the field carefully.
More of my reviews can be found at
Recently I have been feeling the need to return to a Victorian classic. I wanted to read a "proper" story and take a break from the plotless or/and philosophical works I have been reading lately. That is when I thought that it may now be time to give another try on Hardy. With much trepidation, I ventured on The Mayor of Casterbridge. I needn't have feared, for in The Mayor of Casterbridge, I found the most favourite Hardy novel that I've read so far.
The story revolves around the protagonist, Michael Henchard. His one reckless action in his youth, committed under intoxication, sets in motion the events that form the main storyline. The first impression the reader forms on Henchard is a negative one. His wild actions don't call for much sympathy. As the story progresses, however, we see a somewhat repentant Henchard who is eager to right his wrongs. But this new, matured Henchard is no saint. He is still governed by his inherent flaws. Thus his actions, beginning with good intentions, are ultimately governed by his pride, his temper, and the false image that he is desperate to preserve. Henchard is not a likable character; but rather than disliking him, I found him interesting. His actions, committed in justification of his selfish motives, amused me. I truly felt sorry for the man and his poor antics.
The rest of the characters were a mixed lot with differing ages and stations in life. All of them are flawed and none, perfect. Yet, they were quite likable in their flawed selves and felt like everyday neighbours that one can easily connect with. Like Gabriel Oak in Far From the Madding Crowd, Hardy makes Donald Farfrae the saviour of the day in The Mayor of Casterbridge. And like Gabriel Oak, Donald Farfrae, too, won my heart. I liked their equanimity.
The brilliance of his writing is one of my major attractions to Hardy. It is so beautiful and poetic. One can savour every word he writes. It's rich and enthralling. I also love the way he brings the atmosphere to life as if it were another character. He most certainly takes the readers into an ethereal world. Hardy's stories are evocative statements of rural culture and people's lifestyle, quite a contrast to the urban reformism of Dickens. The only drawback for me is that some of his novels are too depressing which jars on my peace of mind. After all, we read for relaxation and enjoyment, and not to feel dejected.
I do like Hardy as an author. Although his every work is not for me, I'm delighted when I discover a novel that I can fully appreciate. I certainly will be reading more of his works although I know I must tread the field carefully.
More of my reviews can be found at
March 21, 2024
تدور الرواية حول رجل يدعى مايكل هنشردمسافر مع زوجته سوزن وابنته الصغيرة اليزابيث جين
وفى أحد الخيم كان تباع فيها الطعام وتمزجه السيدة بالخمر لمن يرغب فسكر مايكل وفى لحظة سكر و نوبة غضب قرر بيع زوجته وما بدأ هزلا أنقلب ليصبح شئ جاد وعرض البحار نيوسن أن يشتريها فذهبت زوجته سوزان معه .
وفى اليوم التالى يفيق مايكل ليكتشف بشاعة ما فعل ويبحث عن زوجته وابنته والبحار لكن لا يستطيع العثور عليها ويندم ندم شديدا ويقرر ترك الخمرة و أقسم ان لا يقرب الخمر لسنوات تعادل عمره .
" مضيت بعيدا بسبب الشراب ، بعيدا جدا وحل بي الخراب ! لقد أتيت بسبب ذلك فعلا جللني بالخزي إلى يوم مماتي. وقد ترك في أثرا كبيرا إلى حد أنني أقسمت ، في ذلك الزمان والمكان ، ألا أشرب ماهو أقوى من الشاى عددا من السنين يساوى عمري آنذاك "
وبعد سنوات عادت سوزن مع ابنتها اليزابيث تبحث عن زوجها مايكل بعدما توفي البحار وعرفت بسذاجتها حين ظنت ان عملية بيعها للبحار شرعية وانها مجبرة على الذهاب معه وبالصدفة عرفت ان مايكل موجود فى قرية كاستربردج فقررت الذهاب للبحث عنه بعد ان اخبرت ابنتها ان هذا الرجل قريب لهم من بعيد فهى لم تخبرها يوما بما حدث .
وذهبت السيدتان إلى القرية للبحث عن هنشرد وهناك تفاجئت انه هو العمدة فترددت أن تذهب للقاءه . وفى ذلك اليوم جاء الى القرية ايضا مسافرا الاسكتلندى دونالد فارفري وألتقي بهنشرد الذي حاول إقناعه بأن يترك فكرة السفر ويستقر فى البلدة ليكون مسئولا عن اعماله . فهل سيستطيع إقناعه ؟ وكيف ستكون احوالهم بعد ذلك ؟
وماذا ستفعل سوزن وكيف ستخبر هنشرد بعودتها هى وابنتهم اليزابيث؟ وكيف سيكون رد فعل هنشرد على لقائهم بعد كل هذه السنين ؟ وهل ستعرف اليزابيث بالسر الخطير الذي حدث منذ سنوات ؟؟
الرواية فى البداية واجهني معها بعض الملل لكثرة التفاصيل كما هو معتاد مع الروايات الكلاسيكية لذا واجهت صعوبة فى البداية ثم جذبتنى الاحداث والرواية و غصت بأكملي فى تفاصيلها واندمجت مع الأحداث والشخصيات وأنفعلت مع ما يحدث معهم ورغبت أن أعرف ماذا سيفعلون وكيف ستنتهى الرواية ! بإختصار كانت رحلة ممتعة ولطيفة حتى وان واجهتنى معها بعض الصعوبات فى البداية خاصة . لكنها كانت تجربة ولقاء ممتع تفاجأت انى مع الوقت أحببته وكنت متشوقة للأحداث .
أحب ان أوجه شكرى لصديقتي أسماء على تعريفى بهذه الرواية وصحبتها فى القراءة ❤❤🌷🌷
هذا اول لقاء لي مع توماس هاردي ولن يكون الأخير
٨ / ٣ / ٢٠٢١
وفى أحد الخيم كان تباع فيها الطعام وتمزجه السيدة بالخمر لمن يرغب فسكر مايكل وفى لحظة سكر و نوبة غضب قرر بيع زوجته وما بدأ هزلا أنقلب ليصبح شئ جاد وعرض البحار نيوسن أن يشتريها فذهبت زوجته سوزان معه .
وفى اليوم التالى يفيق مايكل ليكتشف بشاعة ما فعل ويبحث عن زوجته وابنته والبحار لكن لا يستطيع العثور عليها ويندم ندم شديدا ويقرر ترك الخمرة و أقسم ان لا يقرب الخمر لسنوات تعادل عمره .
" مضيت بعيدا بسبب الشراب ، بعيدا جدا وحل بي الخراب ! لقد أتيت بسبب ذلك فعلا جللني بالخزي إلى يوم مماتي. وقد ترك في أثرا كبيرا إلى حد أنني أقسمت ، في ذلك الزمان والمكان ، ألا أشرب ماهو أقوى من الشاى عددا من السنين يساوى عمري آنذاك "
وبعد سنوات عادت سوزن مع ابنتها اليزابيث تبحث عن زوجها مايكل بعدما توفي البحار وعرفت بسذاجتها حين ظنت ان عملية بيعها للبحار شرعية وانها مجبرة على الذهاب معه وبالصدفة عرفت ان مايكل موجود فى قرية كاستربردج فقررت الذهاب للبحث عنه بعد ان اخبرت ابنتها ان هذا الرجل قريب لهم من بعيد فهى لم تخبرها يوما بما حدث .
وذهبت السيدتان إلى القرية للبحث عن هنشرد وهناك تفاجئت انه هو العمدة فترددت أن تذهب للقاءه . وفى ذلك اليوم جاء الى القرية ايضا مسافرا الاسكتلندى دونالد فارفري وألتقي بهنشرد الذي حاول إقناعه بأن يترك فكرة السفر ويستقر فى البلدة ليكون مسئولا عن اعماله . فهل سيستطيع إقناعه ؟ وكيف ستكون احوالهم بعد ذلك ؟
وماذا ستفعل سوزن وكيف ستخبر هنشرد بعودتها هى وابنتهم اليزابيث؟ وكيف سيكون رد فعل هنشرد على لقائهم بعد كل هذه السنين ؟ وهل ستعرف اليزابيث بالسر الخطير الذي حدث منذ سنوات ؟؟
الرواية فى البداية واجهني معها بعض الملل لكثرة التفاصيل كما هو معتاد مع الروايات الكلاسيكية لذا واجهت صعوبة فى البداية ثم جذبتنى الاحداث والرواية و غصت بأكملي فى تفاصيلها واندمجت مع الأحداث والشخصيات وأنفعلت مع ما يحدث معهم ورغبت أن أعرف ماذا سيفعلون وكيف ستنتهى الرواية ! بإختصار كانت رحلة ممتعة ولطيفة حتى وان واجهتنى معها بعض الصعوبات فى البداية خاصة . لكنها كانت تجربة ولقاء ممتع تفاجأت انى مع الوقت أحببته وكنت متشوقة للأحداث .
أحب ان أوجه شكرى لصديقتي أسماء على تعريفى بهذه الرواية وصحبتها فى القراءة ❤❤🌷🌷
هذا اول لقاء لي مع توماس هاردي ولن يكون الأخير
٨ / ٣ / ٢٠٢١
April 3, 2022
This is the story of the rise and fall of Michael Henchard, a hot-tempered, proud and irascible hay-trusser who in a drunken haze, sells his wife and baby girl to a sailor at a fair, for five guineas.
He regrets his deed the next day, but can not find his wife and child. Entering a church, he kneels by the altar and vows to stay sober for 21 years and do good and be charitable.
But can he rise above his anger, pride, obstinacy, jealousy, sense of rivalry and impulsiveness?
Would he be able to prevent the life and name he has built for himself from unraveling? Could he fight fate?
This is a story of misunderstandings; of suffering the consequences of transgressions; of self-punishment and regrets and of longing to be loved and cherished.
This is a tragedy.
He regrets his deed the next day, but can not find his wife and child. Entering a church, he kneels by the altar and vows to stay sober for 21 years and do good and be charitable.
But can he rise above his anger, pride, obstinacy, jealousy, sense of rivalry and impulsiveness?
Would he be able to prevent the life and name he has built for himself from unraveling? Could he fight fate?
This is a story of misunderstandings; of suffering the consequences of transgressions; of self-punishment and regrets and of longing to be loved and cherished.
This is a tragedy.
January 28, 2024
I have long meant to revisit this novel, one of the earliest Hardy’s that I read and always a great favorite with me. It had been long enough since the last reading that the book held surprises, which is always an added pleasure. What I remembered the most was the terrible incident that landed Mr. Henchard in his questionable situation, the auctioning of his wife at a fairground. (Not a spoiler, this is done in the first chapter of the book). From this bad act springs such a twisting tale of deceit and misunderstanding that it seems fate has oppressed this individual.
What makes this book such a tragedy is that there is not any real villain. Henchard is quick tempered and wrong in most of his dealings, but the harm he does is almost exclusively to himself. He is much too pitiful a character to represent anything truly sinister. He is a man who might have had everything good had he not destroyed it himself through jealousy, mistrust, and sheer pride. He might have had a friend in Farfrae, a good wife in Susan, and a daughter in Elizabeth-Jane, and perhaps this is the final tragedy, that he comes to realize this himself.
Henchard regrets his bad acts almost as soon as he commits them, but fate and his own stubbornness prevent his regrets from making any difference. The lies and secrets he keeps eat into not only his life, but the lives of those who become involved with him.
Henchard is willful and unbending; he attaches himself too easily, he wishes to be forgiving, but his nature is not that of a forgiving man. He wants to maintain that he is a man of position and character, but he is hiding a past that is immoral; he gives up drinking and he attempts to make amends as best he can, but he cannot alter the damage that has already been done. Self-destructive is the adjective that most comes to mind.
While Henchard is guilty of wronging others, it cannot be ignored that he is also wronged. As is so often the case, it takes but a reversal of monetary fortune to send the majority of those who respect him into a state that is quite the reverse. Every good deed, and there are many, is forgotten in the wake of his misfortune, and I found it appalling how little anyone seemed to grasp what such a stark reversal would do to the pride and self-image of such a man. He is utterly humiliated and left without a shred of dignity, although some of what he suffers is unknown to his main rival, Farfrae.
The truth was that, as may be divined, he had quite intended to effect a grand catastrophe at the end of this drama by reading out the name; he had come to the house with no other thought. But sitting there in cold blood he could not do it. Such a wrecking of hearts appalled even him.
His parting words brought me to tears, which says much about the power of Hardy’s writing, for this is not a man that inspires emotional attachment or complete sympathy.
I think Thomas Hardy is one of the greatest writers of all time. I would place The Mayor of Casterbridge among his greatest works. He has an ability to transport the reader to a particular place and time that is uncanny. I feel I have been in the seedy bar in Mixen Lane and walked the hills and roadway to Budmouth. I have heard the Casterbridge bells tolling the wedding and felt the knife digging into the heart of a man who knows nothing of how to make amends without undoing them almost immediately. Perhaps just a man fated to fail.
But the momentum of his character knew no patience. At this turn of the scales he remained silent. The movements of his mind seemed to tend to the thought that some power was working against him.
What makes this book such a tragedy is that there is not any real villain. Henchard is quick tempered and wrong in most of his dealings, but the harm he does is almost exclusively to himself. He is much too pitiful a character to represent anything truly sinister. He is a man who might have had everything good had he not destroyed it himself through jealousy, mistrust, and sheer pride. He might have had a friend in Farfrae, a good wife in Susan, and a daughter in Elizabeth-Jane, and perhaps this is the final tragedy, that he comes to realize this himself.
Henchard regrets his bad acts almost as soon as he commits them, but fate and his own stubbornness prevent his regrets from making any difference. The lies and secrets he keeps eat into not only his life, but the lives of those who become involved with him.
Henchard is willful and unbending; he attaches himself too easily, he wishes to be forgiving, but his nature is not that of a forgiving man. He wants to maintain that he is a man of position and character, but he is hiding a past that is immoral; he gives up drinking and he attempts to make amends as best he can, but he cannot alter the damage that has already been done. Self-destructive is the adjective that most comes to mind.
While Henchard is guilty of wronging others, it cannot be ignored that he is also wronged. As is so often the case, it takes but a reversal of monetary fortune to send the majority of those who respect him into a state that is quite the reverse. Every good deed, and there are many, is forgotten in the wake of his misfortune, and I found it appalling how little anyone seemed to grasp what such a stark reversal would do to the pride and self-image of such a man. He is utterly humiliated and left without a shred of dignity, although some of what he suffers is unknown to his main rival, Farfrae.
The truth was that, as may be divined, he had quite intended to effect a grand catastrophe at the end of this drama by reading out the name; he had come to the house with no other thought. But sitting there in cold blood he could not do it. Such a wrecking of hearts appalled even him.
His parting words brought me to tears, which says much about the power of Hardy’s writing, for this is not a man that inspires emotional attachment or complete sympathy.
I think Thomas Hardy is one of the greatest writers of all time. I would place The Mayor of Casterbridge among his greatest works. He has an ability to transport the reader to a particular place and time that is uncanny. I feel I have been in the seedy bar in Mixen Lane and walked the hills and roadway to Budmouth. I have heard the Casterbridge bells tolling the wedding and felt the knife digging into the heart of a man who knows nothing of how to make amends without undoing them almost immediately. Perhaps just a man fated to fail.
But the momentum of his character knew no patience. At this turn of the scales he remained silent. The movements of his mind seemed to tend to the thought that some power was working against him.
July 12, 2023
Neither cheerful nor uplifting, but always compelling and moving!
Michael Henchard, a down-on-his-luck, unemployed hay trusser, succumbs to the siren call of alcohol at a country fair. Subconsciously feeling his wife, Susan, is holding him back from success in this world, he awakes to sobriety the next morning and realizes that, in a foolish fit of pique, he has auctioned her and his daughter, Elizabeth-Jane, off to a sailor. Despite his frantic efforts to find them, they have disappeared. Ravaged with guilt over his selfish, impulsive act, he swears he will not take another drink for twenty-one years.
Whether his wife was indeed one of Henchard's problems is left for the reader to ponder as Henchard moves to Casterbridge, prospers wildly in business and eventually becomes the town's leading citizen and mayor. Henchard's wheel of fortune, however, begins to spin on a wobbly axle as Donald Farfrae, an enterprising young Scot travelling to seek his fortune, enters his employ as the manager of his business. At the same time, Susan and Elizabeth-Jane, re-enter Henchard's life believing that Michael Newson, the sailor who had purchased them some nineteen years earlier, has perished at sea. Henchard's life truly begins to come apart when Lucetta Templeman, a former lover, also moves to Casterbridge and, ashamed of her past romantic entanglement with Henchard, seeks to hold him to his promise of marriage!
Hardy raises many issues but, not expressing his own opinion through an unequivocal direction in the story's plot line, seems content to leave these issues as topics for sober analysis by his readers. Hardy questions the conflict between the merits of tradition vs modernization. There is the enormous irony that Henchard's success as a business person seems clearly attributable in part to his tee-totalling vow but is founded upon the five guineas seed capital raised through the auction of his wife and daughter! Henchard seems to epitomize the constant personal conflicts we all face between decisiveness and strength of character as opposed to impulsiveness and stubborn bullheaded intransigence! One wonders whether Lucetta is flighty, coquettish, thoughtless and selfish or is she an early manifestation of modern woman sadly out of time and years ahead of the ladies around her? Is Farfrae to be admired or scorned for his meteoric rise to power in Casterbridge and his complete devastation of Henchard's place among his peers?
Perhaps the most powerful moment of the entire novel comes with the discovery of Henchard's will and his words directing that the world leave him to rest in forgotten isolation and that no person mark or mourn his passing in any fashion. Once again, we are left to decide for ourselves whether Henchard's life should be pitied, forgiven, admired or looked upon with scorn and disgust.
To the readers of the day, The Mayor of Casterbridge would have been perceived as a darkly pessimistic tragedy that might have evoked emotions akin to those raised by Shakespeare's Hamlet or Sophocles' Oedipus Rex. A classic worthy of the term, The Mayor of Casterbridge, certainly never cheerful or uplifting, is however many, many things - compelling, moving, disturbing, thought-provoking and poignant. Above all, it is worthy of being read and enjoyed by any lover of classic 19th century British Literature.
Paul Weiss
Michael Henchard, a down-on-his-luck, unemployed hay trusser, succumbs to the siren call of alcohol at a country fair. Subconsciously feeling his wife, Susan, is holding him back from success in this world, he awakes to sobriety the next morning and realizes that, in a foolish fit of pique, he has auctioned her and his daughter, Elizabeth-Jane, off to a sailor. Despite his frantic efforts to find them, they have disappeared. Ravaged with guilt over his selfish, impulsive act, he swears he will not take another drink for twenty-one years.
Whether his wife was indeed one of Henchard's problems is left for the reader to ponder as Henchard moves to Casterbridge, prospers wildly in business and eventually becomes the town's leading citizen and mayor. Henchard's wheel of fortune, however, begins to spin on a wobbly axle as Donald Farfrae, an enterprising young Scot travelling to seek his fortune, enters his employ as the manager of his business. At the same time, Susan and Elizabeth-Jane, re-enter Henchard's life believing that Michael Newson, the sailor who had purchased them some nineteen years earlier, has perished at sea. Henchard's life truly begins to come apart when Lucetta Templeman, a former lover, also moves to Casterbridge and, ashamed of her past romantic entanglement with Henchard, seeks to hold him to his promise of marriage!
Hardy raises many issues but, not expressing his own opinion through an unequivocal direction in the story's plot line, seems content to leave these issues as topics for sober analysis by his readers. Hardy questions the conflict between the merits of tradition vs modernization. There is the enormous irony that Henchard's success as a business person seems clearly attributable in part to his tee-totalling vow but is founded upon the five guineas seed capital raised through the auction of his wife and daughter! Henchard seems to epitomize the constant personal conflicts we all face between decisiveness and strength of character as opposed to impulsiveness and stubborn bullheaded intransigence! One wonders whether Lucetta is flighty, coquettish, thoughtless and selfish or is she an early manifestation of modern woman sadly out of time and years ahead of the ladies around her? Is Farfrae to be admired or scorned for his meteoric rise to power in Casterbridge and his complete devastation of Henchard's place among his peers?
Perhaps the most powerful moment of the entire novel comes with the discovery of Henchard's will and his words directing that the world leave him to rest in forgotten isolation and that no person mark or mourn his passing in any fashion. Once again, we are left to decide for ourselves whether Henchard's life should be pitied, forgiven, admired or looked upon with scorn and disgust.
To the readers of the day, The Mayor of Casterbridge would have been perceived as a darkly pessimistic tragedy that might have evoked emotions akin to those raised by Shakespeare's Hamlet or Sophocles' Oedipus Rex. A classic worthy of the term, The Mayor of Casterbridge, certainly never cheerful or uplifting, is however many, many things - compelling, moving, disturbing, thought-provoking and poignant. Above all, it is worthy of being read and enjoyed by any lover of classic 19th century British Literature.
Paul Weiss
November 3, 2020
Man stuck in his own character!
There is something endearing and sweet about the brutal consistency of Michael Henchard's eternal fight against his own bad temper. He is not a bad person as such - not bad in the psychopath fashion of careless evil doing at least.
Quite the contrary. He wants to be fair in life, but life keeps infuriating him to the point of boiling over, again and again. Even when he has murder in his heart, he makes sure to be fair in the fight, and therefore calculates that he needs to bind one of his arms before engaging in a deadly match - lest the opponent be without a fair chance! His kind of destruction is not the backstabbing kind. On the first pages, he sells his wife to the highest bidder, and that public shame remains his theme for the rest of his life.
Even in his most outrageous anger, he punishes himself more than the victims of his rage.
Woman, too, seems stuck in irrational emotionality though, I quickly add, in case it may seem as if Hardy tried to prove the "rational sex" to be the only one pitifully guided by impulses and fleeting states of mind.
Lucetta's life and death is a Tragedy Of Strong Feeling, Quickly Changed! In that respect, she and Henchard are the perfect couple, but it makes sense too, considering their characters, that they should never be together properly, as their feelings and impulses move like clashing waves...
After these two personae dramatis have left the stage, those less burdened by character remain to get on with life, settling in calm boredom most probably.
After Tess, I found this novel to have a soothing effect on my nerves, with some comic qualities I didn't expect, but appreciated all the more. If one could choose one's personality, it is doubtless better to be an Elizabeth-Jane or a Donald Farfrae. But as Hardy shows: ONE CAN'T! And it is good entertainment for the others when Men and Women of Character enter the game...
Curtain to standing ovations! Reading bliss in dark autumn weather!
There is something endearing and sweet about the brutal consistency of Michael Henchard's eternal fight against his own bad temper. He is not a bad person as such - not bad in the psychopath fashion of careless evil doing at least.
Quite the contrary. He wants to be fair in life, but life keeps infuriating him to the point of boiling over, again and again. Even when he has murder in his heart, he makes sure to be fair in the fight, and therefore calculates that he needs to bind one of his arms before engaging in a deadly match - lest the opponent be without a fair chance! His kind of destruction is not the backstabbing kind. On the first pages, he sells his wife to the highest bidder, and that public shame remains his theme for the rest of his life.
Even in his most outrageous anger, he punishes himself more than the victims of his rage.
Woman, too, seems stuck in irrational emotionality though, I quickly add, in case it may seem as if Hardy tried to prove the "rational sex" to be the only one pitifully guided by impulses and fleeting states of mind.
Lucetta's life and death is a Tragedy Of Strong Feeling, Quickly Changed! In that respect, she and Henchard are the perfect couple, but it makes sense too, considering their characters, that they should never be together properly, as their feelings and impulses move like clashing waves...
After these two personae dramatis have left the stage, those less burdened by character remain to get on with life, settling in calm boredom most probably.
After Tess, I found this novel to have a soothing effect on my nerves, with some comic qualities I didn't expect, but appreciated all the more. If one could choose one's personality, it is doubtless better to be an Elizabeth-Jane or a Donald Farfrae. But as Hardy shows: ONE CAN'T! And it is good entertainment for the others when Men and Women of Character enter the game...
Curtain to standing ovations! Reading bliss in dark autumn weather!
October 8, 2007
I give it five stars because it seems nearly a perfect example of its type of craft. This book has an intertwined and flawless plot that is never overcomplicated; it is full of wonderful language, rich with regional variation, for instance the tenor of Donald Farfrae's Scottish is exceptionally musical and not like the speech of his peers. There were moments reading this book I felt so much under the sway of the author's power that I could observe him wirte himself into one tight plot corner and then another and then skillfully find his way out from all . Plot plot plot. There's a lot to learn here. Everything they told us in graduate school started here: plot springs from character; don't coddle your characters--reveal their weaknesses, build plot around their flaws. Let their mistakes haunt their lives forever. Don't get bogged down in narrative tangents. The simplicity of this tale makes room for its psychological richness--not the same as complexity, just depth. I wish I could do this. In comparision to the other 19th century realists with whom Hardy is often compared, Hardy it seems to me is the purest of them all. He doesn't get lost in well-meaning documentarian slumming as Zola did, and he has less of the pathos of Wharton or James. That said I prefer Wharton and James--somehow their characters seem yet more tragic. I'm not sure why--perhaps there is a teeny bit less subtely and elegance to Hardy's writing. His is sure footed, Anglo-saxon, stubborn, forceful. And yet with beautiful moments of authorial reflection. We'll have to take a poll....
November 24, 2015
I'd heard Hardy was a bit of a chore, so instead of his chunky novels I went slender with The Mayor of Casterbridge as my first. I'm not sure it was a wise choice.
Not because I thought it was bad by any means. The writing's quite good, the story held my interest, but jeez louise, this is bleak stuff! It's bleaker than Bleak House! Are all this books like this? I'm not normally depressed, but I may have to put myself on suicide watch just to get through another one of his novels!
Seriously though, I don't mind a dose of miserable realism now and then, and I liked that peek into an odd and terrible matrimonial tradition. Stories based on drunken missteps that linger into lifelong regrets do not generally lend themselves to frivolity and this book is not about happy happy good times. Back in merry ole England (and no doubt many other places) if a man no longer loved his woman, he could get rid of her and potentially make a profit. What a world...
Some day I'll get around to meeting Tess of the d'Ubervilles, but I fear by the end of the encounter I may want to get as Far from the Madding Crowd as possible!
Not because I thought it was bad by any means. The writing's quite good, the story held my interest, but jeez louise, this is bleak stuff! It's bleaker than Bleak House! Are all this books like this? I'm not normally depressed, but I may have to put myself on suicide watch just to get through another one of his novels!
Seriously though, I don't mind a dose of miserable realism now and then, and I liked that peek into an odd and terrible matrimonial tradition. Stories based on drunken missteps that linger into lifelong regrets do not generally lend themselves to frivolity and this book is not about happy happy good times. Back in merry ole England (and no doubt many other places) if a man no longer loved his woman, he could get rid of her and potentially make a profit. What a world...
Some day I'll get around to meeting Tess of the d'Ubervilles, but I fear by the end of the encounter I may want to get as Far from the Madding Crowd as possible!
June 10, 2023
Character is Fate�
This is my third novel by Thomas Hardy. I am familiar with the way Hardy’s realism shines in his writing and his pastoral prose that emphasizes the countryside of the settings he creates. Hardy uses the city of Dorchester, a place he was very familiar with, as the model for his fictional Casterbridge. In this novel, the town is caught between the agricultural age of England and the modern industrialized country. The conflict between the traditions of the past and the innovations of the future are evident in the ways our two main characters, Michael Henchard and Daniel Farfrae, transact their business.
One of the most dramatic opening chapters that I have read in quite some time involves a marital dispute. Michael Henchard and his wife and daughter arrive at a country fair in which his goal is to get drunk and wallow in his downtrodden situation. In a moment of hostility toward his wife, Henchard impulsively sells his family to a sailor for 5 guineas. The next morning, he is regretful when he finds her wedding ring lying on the ground and he realizes that it was real. He looks for her but is unable to find them.
For 20 years, Henchard allows the incident of the past to overshadow his life and he really wants to make it right. He has also made a name for himself in the town of Casterbridge where he has prospered with a wheat business and has also become the mayor. Susan and daughter, Elizabeth-Jane decide to find her long lost relative after her sailor “husband� Newsom has been lost at sea. The women arrive in Casterbridge looking for Henchard. Meanwhile, the secrets abound and the twists and turns build and build in a truly Hardyish manner. If you are familiar with his stories, you know that tragedy will ensue at some point and that the characters will most likely go through a reckoning of sorts for behaviors and instances that cause hardship or struggles. Fate is considered and unseen forces and superstitions are alleged as the cause of the conflicts. Or could it really be the flaws in the character himself?
But the momentum of his character knew no patience.
This novel is complete with rivalries, love and marriage, jealousies, downfalls and rises, confessions, deaths, lying, secrets, revelations, reunions and disgraces. You will journey along with Henchard as he struggles with his impulsivity and his desire to be an honorable man. He is so human and such a one that is his own worst enemy that it’s difficult not to feel pity for him.
The movements of his mind seemed to tend to the thought that some power was working against him.
This is my third novel by Thomas Hardy. I am familiar with the way Hardy’s realism shines in his writing and his pastoral prose that emphasizes the countryside of the settings he creates. Hardy uses the city of Dorchester, a place he was very familiar with, as the model for his fictional Casterbridge. In this novel, the town is caught between the agricultural age of England and the modern industrialized country. The conflict between the traditions of the past and the innovations of the future are evident in the ways our two main characters, Michael Henchard and Daniel Farfrae, transact their business.
One of the most dramatic opening chapters that I have read in quite some time involves a marital dispute. Michael Henchard and his wife and daughter arrive at a country fair in which his goal is to get drunk and wallow in his downtrodden situation. In a moment of hostility toward his wife, Henchard impulsively sells his family to a sailor for 5 guineas. The next morning, he is regretful when he finds her wedding ring lying on the ground and he realizes that it was real. He looks for her but is unable to find them.
For 20 years, Henchard allows the incident of the past to overshadow his life and he really wants to make it right. He has also made a name for himself in the town of Casterbridge where he has prospered with a wheat business and has also become the mayor. Susan and daughter, Elizabeth-Jane decide to find her long lost relative after her sailor “husband� Newsom has been lost at sea. The women arrive in Casterbridge looking for Henchard. Meanwhile, the secrets abound and the twists and turns build and build in a truly Hardyish manner. If you are familiar with his stories, you know that tragedy will ensue at some point and that the characters will most likely go through a reckoning of sorts for behaviors and instances that cause hardship or struggles. Fate is considered and unseen forces and superstitions are alleged as the cause of the conflicts. Or could it really be the flaws in the character himself?
But the momentum of his character knew no patience.
This novel is complete with rivalries, love and marriage, jealousies, downfalls and rises, confessions, deaths, lying, secrets, revelations, reunions and disgraces. You will journey along with Henchard as he struggles with his impulsivity and his desire to be an honorable man. He is so human and such a one that is his own worst enemy that it’s difficult not to feel pity for him.
The movements of his mind seemed to tend to the thought that some power was working against him.
May 1, 2022
I'm still after about 2 years after I read this novel the first time, agreeing what I wrote then. I realized I've missed to read his works as I haven't picked up one in quite some time.
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I thought I've already read this and didn't like it but on closer inspection I hadn't, so I decided to give it ago. To my surprise I actually quite enjoyed the book, maybe not most exciting book ever read but it's well written and well crafted. Thomas Hardy is one of those writers that make art with words, while his books is usually a bit depressing it's very entertaining to read them. Need to read much more of Thomas Hardy, I'm just barley started!
---
I thought I've already read this and didn't like it but on closer inspection I hadn't, so I decided to give it ago. To my surprise I actually quite enjoyed the book, maybe not most exciting book ever read but it's well written and well crafted. Thomas Hardy is one of those writers that make art with words, while his books is usually a bit depressing it's very entertaining to read them. Need to read much more of Thomas Hardy, I'm just barley started!
September 5, 2021
Thomas Hardy was a genius. I know that he wrote tragedies with characters crushed by fate (or their own mistakes) - yet there were so many twists and turns in this novel that I held out hope until the very end. He had me rooting for Michael Henchard, the Mayor, in spite of his difficult, sometimes cruel temperament. I was enthralled throughout.
June 1, 2020
This is my first Novel by Thomas Hardy. I can not say it was dull or that it was hard to read. It is a read with mixed feelings towards the characters and he does a good job keeping my attention and wanting to continue reading.
The main character in a moment of impulsiveness and anger towards his wife offers a deal. The next day he regrets his decision and decides he will improve his life as justification for what he has done.
He turns out successful in his new world, but his past comes back from a guilt of duty.
He goes through a lot of conflict that is from his own doing and lack of confidence has him making decisions that are spontaneous, reckless, stupid, and downright mean, just plain bad. He has made grave mistakes and it will eventually destroy him. He is his own worst enemy! A lot happens and one person has a very high tolerance for his nonsense and crap shoveling that he does.
The one person, that is caring, kind, selfless and affectionate continues to be so towards him, as no others do, he had a chance to make things right and again makes a choice that will end the relationship forever.
In the end, despite all of the lies, suffering and pain endured in life, that sometime forgiveness can come too late and you must appreciate the life and happiness you have.
The main character in a moment of impulsiveness and anger towards his wife offers a deal. The next day he regrets his decision and decides he will improve his life as justification for what he has done.
He turns out successful in his new world, but his past comes back from a guilt of duty.
He goes through a lot of conflict that is from his own doing and lack of confidence has him making decisions that are spontaneous, reckless, stupid, and downright mean, just plain bad. He has made grave mistakes and it will eventually destroy him. He is his own worst enemy! A lot happens and one person has a very high tolerance for his nonsense and crap shoveling that he does.
The one person, that is caring, kind, selfless and affectionate continues to be so towards him, as no others do, he had a chance to make things right and again makes a choice that will end the relationship forever.
In the end, despite all of the lies, suffering and pain endured in life, that sometime forgiveness can come too late and you must appreciate the life and happiness you have.
March 21, 2022
Some novels represent an attempt at a retreat into the past on the part of the reader, some a step into the imagined future & still others take aim at identifying a scenario that occurs in the present but which may or may not seem at all familiar. Thomas Hardy's wonderful novel, The Mayor of Casterbridge takes the reader into the author's world of 1840s Dorset, called Wessex in the novel, a very different time & place just on the eve of the Industrial Age.
In a departure from the literary efforts of many other writers from this & similar periods in England, there seems little reference to Britain's extremely class-conscious stratification, very much in force during this period. The novel involves the path to resolution if not actual reconciliation for a misdeed of major proportion by Michael Henchard, committed in a fit of drunkenness at a county fair, selling off his wife & young daughter to a sailor.
By way of a quick summary, the rest of the slow-moving novel involves the quick onset of remorse & a gradual revelation of just what Mr. Henchard does to resolve his offense. Nothing in Hardy's universe is ever termed a "sin" & so Henchard does not seek a return to grace but rather endures a self-imposed penance, vowing not to drink for 21 years, his age at the time that he parts company with his wife & child.
In the coming years, the reader learns a great deal about grain harvesting in Casterbridge & follows Henchard as he searches in vain for this wife & child, working as an itinerant tradesman, a "hay-trusser", bundling corn or wheat, while saving his money, in time settling in Casterbridge, working diligently and eventually becoming so resourceful in the harvesting & selling of grain that he becomes both wealthy & in turn the town's mayor.
With the sort of twists & turns that occur in Dickens or in Shakespeare, Henchard's wife Susan & daughter Elizabeth-Jane almost magically reappear in Casterbridge, not seeking revenge but rather a continuation of life as it had been before they were sold off to the sailor, Richard Newsom for 5 Guineas. In the interval, the erstwhile Susan Henchard had taken leave of Mr. Newsom, who is now believed to have been swept away while at sea. With what is described as a "mechanical rightness" rather than a loving embrace, the family becomes reunited.
There are "3 great resolves" at play with Henchard: "to make amends to Susan; to provide a comfortable home for Elizabeth-Jane; to castigate himself with the thoughts that these restitutory acts brought in their train." But Henchard's daughter knows none of the circumstances surrounding this apparent marriage renewal or the earlier sale of mother & daughter. Indeed, there is deception aplenty involved on the part of both her father & her mother. For:
In fact, Henchard is enlisted as a hay-trusser working for Farfrae, commenting "the bitter truth is that when I was rich, I did not need what I could have & now that I be poor, I can't have what I need." And in the midst of all of this, Elizabeth-Jane shines as a developing woman, a heroine of great capacity to deal with whatever confronts her.
Please pardon that I have given away more than a touch of the plot but I have not in any way hinted at how the novel concludes. The imagery in The Mayor of Casterbridge is very memorable, even at times stunning! By way of one humorous example is the vignette of Henchard & Farfrae being hosted by a women each is enamored of & upon being offered a piece of buttered bread, "each feeling certain that he was the man meant, neither letting go & the slice tearing apart."
But even more portentous & haunting is the scene by a bridge when Henchard, having lost everything that is of any value to him, "devoid of loved ones, hobby or desires, all had gone, one by one, either by his fault or by his misfortune but with hard fate having ordained that he should be unable to call up the Divine Spirit in his need" contemplates suicide.
If you have no interest in entering this diorama of mid-19th century Dorset, the morality tale of Mr. Henchard & the others will likely not be sufficient to support the many allusions to Greek & Roman antiquity, French phrases & archaic English words that are indeed a distraction, at least in my version of The Mayor of Casterbridge, published in 2016 with no footnotes by Vintage/Random House.
My guess is that Hardy, lacking a formal education, longed to demonstrate his self-taught comprehension of the world at large. Belatedly, I became aware of an online resource for the Hardy novel which conveys almost all of these terms for the reader & which is highly recommended. Likewise, I urge empathy & a sympathetic stance in the case of Michael Henchard, while at the same time highly recommending Mr. Hardy's excellent novel.
*Within my review are 2 images of Thomas Hardy, the first a photo & the 2nd, a late-in-life oil painting of the author.
In a departure from the literary efforts of many other writers from this & similar periods in England, there seems little reference to Britain's extremely class-conscious stratification, very much in force during this period. The novel involves the path to resolution if not actual reconciliation for a misdeed of major proportion by Michael Henchard, committed in a fit of drunkenness at a county fair, selling off his wife & young daughter to a sailor.
By way of a quick summary, the rest of the slow-moving novel involves the quick onset of remorse & a gradual revelation of just what Mr. Henchard does to resolve his offense. Nothing in Hardy's universe is ever termed a "sin" & so Henchard does not seek a return to grace but rather endures a self-imposed penance, vowing not to drink for 21 years, his age at the time that he parts company with his wife & child.
In the coming years, the reader learns a great deal about grain harvesting in Casterbridge & follows Henchard as he searches in vain for this wife & child, working as an itinerant tradesman, a "hay-trusser", bundling corn or wheat, while saving his money, in time settling in Casterbridge, working diligently and eventually becoming so resourceful in the harvesting & selling of grain that he becomes both wealthy & in turn the town's mayor.
With the sort of twists & turns that occur in Dickens or in Shakespeare, Henchard's wife Susan & daughter Elizabeth-Jane almost magically reappear in Casterbridge, not seeking revenge but rather a continuation of life as it had been before they were sold off to the sailor, Richard Newsom for 5 Guineas. In the interval, the erstwhile Susan Henchard had taken leave of Mr. Newsom, who is now believed to have been swept away while at sea. With what is described as a "mechanical rightness" rather than a loving embrace, the family becomes reunited.
There are "3 great resolves" at play with Henchard: "to make amends to Susan; to provide a comfortable home for Elizabeth-Jane; to castigate himself with the thoughts that these restitutory acts brought in their train." But Henchard's daughter knows none of the circumstances surrounding this apparent marriage renewal or the earlier sale of mother & daughter. Indeed, there is deception aplenty involved on the part of both her father & her mother. For:
His mind began vibrating between the wish to reveal himself to her & the policy of leaving well enough alone, till he could no longer sit still. He walked up & down & then he came & stood behind Elizabeth-Jane, looking down on the top of her head. He could no longer restrain his impulse. 'What did your mother tell you about me--my history?' he asked.But wait, I've forgotten to mention the arrival of an industrious young Scot, Donald Farfrae, an intelligent, even-tempered lad who is seemingly en route to a new life in America but who reminds Henchard of his late brother & who is convinced to sign on as a foreman at Henchard's grain business, helping to enhance its profitability, while becoming a confidant but later a rival. In a reversal of roles, Henchard becomes a pauper & Farfrae wealthy & the town's mayor.
In fact, Henchard is enlisted as a hay-trusser working for Farfrae, commenting "the bitter truth is that when I was rich, I did not need what I could have & now that I be poor, I can't have what I need." And in the midst of all of this, Elizabeth-Jane shines as a developing woman, a heroine of great capacity to deal with whatever confronts her.
Please pardon that I have given away more than a touch of the plot but I have not in any way hinted at how the novel concludes. The imagery in The Mayor of Casterbridge is very memorable, even at times stunning! By way of one humorous example is the vignette of Henchard & Farfrae being hosted by a women each is enamored of & upon being offered a piece of buttered bread, "each feeling certain that he was the man meant, neither letting go & the slice tearing apart."
But even more portentous & haunting is the scene by a bridge when Henchard, having lost everything that is of any value to him, "devoid of loved ones, hobby or desires, all had gone, one by one, either by his fault or by his misfortune but with hard fate having ordained that he should be unable to call up the Divine Spirit in his need" contemplates suicide.
He took off his coat & hat and stood on the brink of a stream with his hands clasped in front of him. While his eyes were bent on the water beneath, there slowly became visible something floating in the circular pool formed by the wash of centuries; the pool he was intending to be his deathbed.What also lifts Thomas Hardy's early novel well above the pitfalls of the apparent storm & stress of the relationships I've highlighted are some most uplifting descriptive details about sunsets, sunrises, daily life in a small English village almost 200 years ago, including some mention of the grog that was Henchard's undoing, "furmity" (fermenty), a mix of milk, boiled & fermented corn, spices, sugar & for an extra tuppence, a bit of rum, most certainly not on the drink menu of any place I've ever visited in the U.K.
At first it was indistinct by reason of the shadow from the bank but it emerged thence & took shape, which was that of a human body, lying stiff & stark upon the surface of the stream. Then he perceived with a sense of horror that it was himself. Not a man somewhat resembling himself but one in all respects his counterpart, his actual double.
The sense of the supernatural was strong in this unhappy man & he turned away as one might have done in the actual presence of an appalling miracle. He covered his eyes & bowed his head. Without looking again into the stream, he took his coat & hat and went slowly away.
If you have no interest in entering this diorama of mid-19th century Dorset, the morality tale of Mr. Henchard & the others will likely not be sufficient to support the many allusions to Greek & Roman antiquity, French phrases & archaic English words that are indeed a distraction, at least in my version of The Mayor of Casterbridge, published in 2016 with no footnotes by Vintage/Random House.
My guess is that Hardy, lacking a formal education, longed to demonstrate his self-taught comprehension of the world at large. Belatedly, I became aware of an online resource for the Hardy novel which conveys almost all of these terms for the reader & which is highly recommended. Likewise, I urge empathy & a sympathetic stance in the case of Michael Henchard, while at the same time highly recommending Mr. Hardy's excellent novel.
*Within my review are 2 images of Thomas Hardy, the first a photo & the 2nd, a late-in-life oil painting of the author.
March 29, 2017
When Thomas stopped writing novels in the early 1900s, he concentrated his bitterness on spectacularly peevish poetry, dripping with more melancholy self-loathing than mid-90s Morrissey albums (has anyone actually heard Maladjusted or Southpaw Grammar the whole way through?) These poems captivated my downbeat imagination as a teenager but the novels remained out of reach—I wanted heartbreak-to-go, I wasn’t looking to eat in the restaurant of shattered dreams. Now, I find myself pulled towards the Great Grump’s masterworks. Starting with this terrific novel that reads like a transcript of my first two goes on The Sims—I lost my father, killed my mother, made a series of kitchen-fire hotchpotches and ended up killing all my close friends and children, then killed myself. The details are different in The Mayor of Casterbridge (only slightly), but if ever a writer was Sim-like, it’s Hardy. He is like an existential bingo caller with a grudge. Mayor no more—forty-four! Poisoned by hate—eight-eight! No women survive—twenty-five! This Oxford World Classics edition stifled me with its academia and I confess I skipped the intro. Usually I like the setup and context intros give me but here, I wanted in to the action. Since this review is stressfully scattershot, I might as well conclude with this track from Nick Cave: sums up the fate of the poor Mayor perfectly, as well as being amazing in its own right:
February 28, 2017
What a silly novel! Much of these unfortunate destinies could have been prevented if only the characters weren't so stupid and didn't make so many irrational and unbelievable decisions.
But what an entertaining story this is! It's got a shocking beginning and a lot of plot twists that I didn't see coming, I just wish that it didn't feel like Thomas Hardy was pushing the plot forward in an unnatural and quite unbelievable way.
I won't go too much into the plot and the characters' decisions which I disagree with because I want for you to be surprised when you read it. I will say, though, that this is quite an entertaining book, however in my eyes not the strongest work of Hardy's.
But what an entertaining story this is! It's got a shocking beginning and a lot of plot twists that I didn't see coming, I just wish that it didn't feel like Thomas Hardy was pushing the plot forward in an unnatural and quite unbelievable way.
I won't go too much into the plot and the characters' decisions which I disagree with because I want for you to be surprised when you read it. I will say, though, that this is quite an entertaining book, however in my eyes not the strongest work of Hardy's.
August 14, 2020
Tess, along with Wuthering Heights, was a book that made me realise at a very young age I was going to find a lot of the love and excitement of my life in novels. That the novel was as thrilling in its way as foreign travel. Opening those first pages like standing on the deck of a boat and feeling buoyantly unsteady on one's legs and the sea spray wetting one's face and hair as a new world begins to slowly take shape. So I've always felt a debt of gratitude to Thomas Hardy for introducing me to the joys of reading.
However, as an adult, I've now read two Hardy novels and both times I have been dismayed by a lack of artistry at the heart of his talent. One might define a commercial novel as having nothing to offer beyond its plot. This is true of The Mayor of Casterbridge. Its plot is like a grid of immovable iron girders. Its main character is relentlessly at the mercy of the plot. Hardy shoves him around like a supermarket trolley. The poor man seems to have no volition of his own whatsoever. As a consequence, there's no fluidity in this novel.
A hay trusser gets drunk at a country fair and sells his wife and child to a sailor. Years pass and he's become the mayor of Casterbridge. We know we're in for a story of domesticated Greek tragedy. How Henchard makes the magical transition from common farmhand to mayor is conveniently skipped by Hardy. Henchard is a man who wants to do the right thing but can't because Hardy won't allow him to. At times it's almost inadvertently comical how Hardy bullishly shoves Henchard into relentlessly doing the wrong thing.
It's also a novel brimming with cheap tricks.
Henchard is going to kill Farfrae.
At the last moment Henchard changes his mind.
Henchard is going to commit suicide.
At the last moment Henchard changes his mind.
Henchard is going to leave the town.
At the last minute Henchard changes his mind.
On a subjective level, I love writers who dress up their individual sentences as if there's a lot at stake on how they look and sound. I don't so much warm to writers who see their sentences as nothing more than office workers. Hardy falls into the latter category. You can't really say he has a way with words. The Mayor of Casterbridge, like most overtly commercial fiction, has little of interest to say about the human condition because it's rigid preordained plotting rather than character that determines every significant act in the narrative.
However, as an adult, I've now read two Hardy novels and both times I have been dismayed by a lack of artistry at the heart of his talent. One might define a commercial novel as having nothing to offer beyond its plot. This is true of The Mayor of Casterbridge. Its plot is like a grid of immovable iron girders. Its main character is relentlessly at the mercy of the plot. Hardy shoves him around like a supermarket trolley. The poor man seems to have no volition of his own whatsoever. As a consequence, there's no fluidity in this novel.
A hay trusser gets drunk at a country fair and sells his wife and child to a sailor. Years pass and he's become the mayor of Casterbridge. We know we're in for a story of domesticated Greek tragedy. How Henchard makes the magical transition from common farmhand to mayor is conveniently skipped by Hardy. Henchard is a man who wants to do the right thing but can't because Hardy won't allow him to. At times it's almost inadvertently comical how Hardy bullishly shoves Henchard into relentlessly doing the wrong thing.
It's also a novel brimming with cheap tricks.
Henchard is going to kill Farfrae.
At the last moment Henchard changes his mind.
Henchard is going to commit suicide.
At the last moment Henchard changes his mind.
Henchard is going to leave the town.
At the last minute Henchard changes his mind.
On a subjective level, I love writers who dress up their individual sentences as if there's a lot at stake on how they look and sound. I don't so much warm to writers who see their sentences as nothing more than office workers. Hardy falls into the latter category. You can't really say he has a way with words. The Mayor of Casterbridge, like most overtly commercial fiction, has little of interest to say about the human condition because it's rigid preordained plotting rather than character that determines every significant act in the narrative.
March 15, 2013
It seems The Mayor of Casterbridge can end only in one direction as this Mayor is continually victimized by his own shortcomings. As the novel begins, we witness the famous selling of his wife while he is in a drunken stupor, not caring about anything or anyone else in the world. Years later, he has his chance to make changes, amends but his essential character prevents this. He sees evil and devils where there are none and increases small faults to large. He turns friends to enemies and enemies to people who will do him wrong.
I used to think that Hardy was about fate (when I was young) but now I see him as about character. His people earn the good and bad that happens by how they interact with the world around them, by their meanness or their generosity, their straightforwardness or their double-dealing. Fate watches and smiles or cries.
A strong 4 stars.
3/15/13...Rating changed to 5 stars after wonderful group discussion with Classics section of Constant Reader. This made me realize just how much I enjoyed this book and how well it is written.
I used to think that Hardy was about fate (when I was young) but now I see him as about character. His people earn the good and bad that happens by how they interact with the world around them, by their meanness or their generosity, their straightforwardness or their double-dealing. Fate watches and smiles or cries.
A strong 4 stars.
3/15/13...Rating changed to 5 stars after wonderful group discussion with Classics section of Constant Reader. This made me realize just how much I enjoyed this book and how well it is written.
February 1, 2020
“Life is an oasis which is submerged in the swirling waves of sorrows and agonies.�
or
“Happiness was but the occasional episode in a general drama of pain�--Thomas Hardy, in this and almost every one of his tragic novels.
I had thought I was permanently done with my year of rereading Thomas Hardy, but I had some time in a car, so listened to this, a book I last read as a sophomore in college. Subtitled “A Story of a Man of Character,� Hardy's 1886 portrait of Michael Henchard—depressive, bad-tempered, self-destructive—still manages to be sympathetic of this deeply flawed man. He considered the book one of his strongest achievements; “he was deeply affected, telling a friend that the novel was the only tragedy that made him weep while writing it.� I can believe it.
Hardy got the idea for the story based on something he had read in the Times about a young man who had gotten drunk, got into a fight with his wife and auctioned her and his baby in a pub. So from the beginning, it’s a hard sell to get you to care about this guy as a potential “man of character.� When Henchard wakes up in the bar the next morning he is seized with remorse, but his wife and child are indeed gone, sold to a sailor. Twenty years later we find he has worked his way up economically and politically to be the mayor of Casterbridge. And then his wife shows up, with her daughter, the sailor apparently lost at sea. Hey! Henchard can do the right thing! Then things get really complicated.
Henchard tells his hired hand, Donald Farfrae, that he has a problem; he tells him of the story of Susan, and also that he had recently told Lucetta he would marry her! But! Susan dies! But! Henchard finds out Elizabeth-Ann is not really his daughter. The original Elizabeth-Ann, his actual daughter, had died, and this Elizabeth-Ann is actually the daughter of Captain Newsom, the sailor! Henchard is now being totally mean to this Elizabeth-Ann and so she moves out and in with a woman who has just come to live in town, and whoa, this woman actually turns out to be Lucetta! So, perfect, Henchard is free to marry Lucetta and do the right thing and maybe even be nice again to this Elizabeth-Ann he admits he has been mean to!! But! It seems Lucetta and Farfrae, fired by Henchard, had quietly fallen in love and gotten married! And so on, but I really loved it, seriously, in spite of the expected gloom and grimness that attends almost every event.
Can he Henchard be redeemed? Given the chance to do so, can he consistently do the right thing? He certainly tries at some points, but fate reigns, you pay for your mistakes in the Hardy-verse. People being as flawed as they are, the likelihood of a grim outcome is almost never in doubt in a Hardy novel. Too many twists and turns, you say? Too many coincidences? Ok, maybe, but in spite of my making light fun of the plot twists above, and in spite of my love for all the strong and complex women in the other novels—Tess, Bathsheba, Sue and Eustacia—The Mayor of Casterbridge has emerged as my favorite Hardy.
J. M. Coetzee confessed a couple years ago that he was “sick of the well-made novel with its plot and its characters and its settings.� Life is not a novel, we know, but Thomas Hardy wrote here what must be one of the most finely crafted “well made� novels ever, shaped like a finely-crafted oak cabinet, with a polished and perfectly fitted tongue and groove plot that might have even gotten Coetzee to change his mind.
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“Happiness was but the occasional episode in a general drama of pain�--Thomas Hardy, in this and almost every one of his tragic novels.
I had thought I was permanently done with my year of rereading Thomas Hardy, but I had some time in a car, so listened to this, a book I last read as a sophomore in college. Subtitled “A Story of a Man of Character,� Hardy's 1886 portrait of Michael Henchard—depressive, bad-tempered, self-destructive—still manages to be sympathetic of this deeply flawed man. He considered the book one of his strongest achievements; “he was deeply affected, telling a friend that the novel was the only tragedy that made him weep while writing it.� I can believe it.
Hardy got the idea for the story based on something he had read in the Times about a young man who had gotten drunk, got into a fight with his wife and auctioned her and his baby in a pub. So from the beginning, it’s a hard sell to get you to care about this guy as a potential “man of character.� When Henchard wakes up in the bar the next morning he is seized with remorse, but his wife and child are indeed gone, sold to a sailor. Twenty years later we find he has worked his way up economically and politically to be the mayor of Casterbridge. And then his wife shows up, with her daughter, the sailor apparently lost at sea. Hey! Henchard can do the right thing! Then things get really complicated.
Henchard tells his hired hand, Donald Farfrae, that he has a problem; he tells him of the story of Susan, and also that he had recently told Lucetta he would marry her! But! Susan dies! But! Henchard finds out Elizabeth-Ann is not really his daughter. The original Elizabeth-Ann, his actual daughter, had died, and this Elizabeth-Ann is actually the daughter of Captain Newsom, the sailor! Henchard is now being totally mean to this Elizabeth-Ann and so she moves out and in with a woman who has just come to live in town, and whoa, this woman actually turns out to be Lucetta! So, perfect, Henchard is free to marry Lucetta and do the right thing and maybe even be nice again to this Elizabeth-Ann he admits he has been mean to!! But! It seems Lucetta and Farfrae, fired by Henchard, had quietly fallen in love and gotten married! And so on, but I really loved it, seriously, in spite of the expected gloom and grimness that attends almost every event.
Can he Henchard be redeemed? Given the chance to do so, can he consistently do the right thing? He certainly tries at some points, but fate reigns, you pay for your mistakes in the Hardy-verse. People being as flawed as they are, the likelihood of a grim outcome is almost never in doubt in a Hardy novel. Too many twists and turns, you say? Too many coincidences? Ok, maybe, but in spite of my making light fun of the plot twists above, and in spite of my love for all the strong and complex women in the other novels—Tess, Bathsheba, Sue and Eustacia—The Mayor of Casterbridge has emerged as my favorite Hardy.
J. M. Coetzee confessed a couple years ago that he was “sick of the well-made novel with its plot and its characters and its settings.� Life is not a novel, we know, but Thomas Hardy wrote here what must be one of the most finely crafted “well made� novels ever, shaped like a finely-crafted oak cabinet, with a polished and perfectly fitted tongue and groove plot that might have even gotten Coetzee to change his mind.
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