Thomas Hardy Biography Thomas Hardy Biography Bookmark this page Manage My Reading List Early Years Thomas Hardy was born June 2, 1840, in the village of Upper Bockhampton, about three miles from the town of Dorchester in Southwestern England. The impressions of his early youth — the people, the events, the surrounding countryside — became part of the subject matter of his "Wessex" novels and stories. The town of Casterbridge itself, for example, is modeled after Dorchester. Hardy's father was a builder and stone mason and was by no means wealthy. His mother loved reading, and under her care young Thomas was given an ample introduction to the classics, folk songs, ballads, and local stories and legends. Music was also a common feature of the Hardy household. Thomas's father taught him to play the violin, for he himself was violinist in the church choir and often played at parties, weddings, and festivals. Music was a great love throughout Thomas Hardy's life and often figures in his writing. At least three important scenes in The Mayor of Casterbridge involve music. Education and Apprenticeship Hardy did not study at a university.

His formal education consisted of a year in a village school at Lower Bockhampton and additional private schooling in Dorchester during which he learned French and German. When he was sixteen, his father apprenticed him to a Dorchester architect, John Hicks, where he was taught architectural drawing for the restoration of churches and old houses. Indeed, this association taught him much of local family histories and folklore. When the day's work was completed, Thomas usually undertook advanced Latin studies and the task of teaching himself Greek. In 1862 Hardy went to London as a draftsman and worked in the office of A. W. Blomfield, an architect. During this time he won a number of prizes for essays, and he began to steep himself in architectural and art studies, classic literature, contemporary poetry, and fiction. In 1867 he returned to Dorchester to a better position as a church-restorer with his former master, and began to write more steadily. Years as a Novelist (1867-1895) From this time on, Hardy wrote poetry and novels, though he dedicated himself chiefly to the novel form until 1895.

At first Hardy published anonymously, but as interest grew in his work, he began to write under his own name. His novels were published for the most part in serial form in well-known magazines both in England and America. His major novels are: Under the Greenwood Tree (1872), Far from the Madding Crowd (1874), The Return of the Native (1878), The Mayor of Casterbridge (1886), The Woodlanders (1887), Tess of the D'Urbervilles (1891), and Jude the Obscure (1895). His works were highly acclaimed (the success of Far from the Madding Crowd enabled him to give up architecture and to marry), but he also encountered literary hostility. Jude the Obscure received such harsh criticism that Hardy gave up the writing of novels entirely. Years as a Poet (1895-1928) Hardy retired to his house in Dorchester and there turned to poetry almost exclusively. Before his death he completed over 800 poems and a long epic drama, The Dynasts (1908).

His first marriage was not a happy one, but in 1914, two years after the death of his first wife, he married a second time. The remaining supremely happy years of his life were spent in matrimonial devotion and reticent tranquility. The last two decades of Hardy's life were increasingly full of honors. With the death of George Meredith in 1909, he became undisputed holder of the title of greatest living man of letters, and in 1910 he was awarded the Order of Merit. His house, Max Gate, became a literary shrine, and there he received many visitors from all over the English-speaking world. He continued to publish poetry well into the 1920s, even though he was then over eighty. He died at the age of 87 on January 11, 1928. View All Photos (1) Movie Info Produced for the BBC in 2001, The Mayor of Casterbridge is the second British miniseries version of Thomas Hardy's 1886 novel (the first was filmed in 1978).

This time, Ciarán Hinds stars as Michael Henchard, an unemployed drunkard who, in a moment of greedy delirium, sells his wife, Susan (Juliet Aubrey), and their infant daughter, Elizabeth Jane, to a passing sailor -- for a price of five pounds. Sobering up the next day, Henchard conducts a frenzied search for his family, only to find that they have already gone. Swearing off liquor, Henchard promises to re-invent himself as a solid and dependable citizen. He succeeds so thoroughly in this endeavor that, 18 years later, he has risen to the rank of mayor of Casterbridge. About to make his reformation complete by wedding attractive young Lucetta (Polly Walker), Henchard is aghast to discover that his wife and now-grown daughter (played as an adult by Jodhi May), have returned home. Hounded by his conscience, Henchard bends over backward to make amends to his loved ones -- only to revert to his old, disreputable self when things go terribly wrong.

Meanwhile, a new intrigue has blossomed vis-à-vis a romantic triangle involving Elizabeth Jane, Lucetta, and handsome, righteous Donald Farfrae (James Purefoy). The Mayor of Casterbridge made its U.S. debut August 17, 2003, on the A&E cable channel. Rating: The Mayor of Casterbridge Summary The Mayor of Casterbridge Summary NEXT How It All Goes Down The novel opens with Michael Henchard and his wife, Susan, traveling through the country with their baby daughter, Elizabeth-Jane. They stop for supper and Henchard gets totally drunk on rum. He offers to sell his wife and daughter to the highest bidder. He isn't entirely serious, but when a sailor offers five guineas (a lot of money to a poor man back then), Henchard takes it. Susan thinks it's a binding arrangement and that she now legally belongs to the sailor, so she takes the baby and leaves. When Henchard wakes up sober and sorry, he tries to trace his wife and daughter. No luck. He swears a solemn oath not to drink any more alcohol for twenty years.

After several months, he learns that the sailor has probably taken Susan and Elizabeth-Jane to North America, and he gives up hope of ever finding them. He settles down in the town of Casterbridge. The scene changes. It's eighteen years later. Susan and her daughter, Elizabeth-Jane, are traveling to Casterbridge to track down Michael Henchard. The sailor, whose name was Newson, has died, and Susan (who now calls herself Mrs. Newson, since she thought that her marriage was actually legally transferred to Newson) has decided that it's only right to return to her first husband to see if he can do anything for Elizabeth-Jane. When they arrive in Casterbridge, they find that Henchard has worked his way up from a lowly hay harvester to a hay and grain merchant. He's wealthy now and has even been elected Mayor of the town. When he learns that Susan and Elizabeth-Jane are not only still alive, but in Casterbridge, he decides that it's only right to take them in and support them. But, as you might guess, he doesn't want to admit to anyone that he auctioned off his wife eighteen years earlier.

So he suggests that Susan live in Casterbridge and call herself the widow Mrs. Newson, and he'll pretend to fall in love with her and propose to marry her. Then they can all live together, with Elizabeth-Jane as his "stepdaughter" instead of as his real daughter. Susan agrees, they follow the plan, and Susan and Elizabeth-Jane are soon living in the Mayor's house. Around this same time, Henchard hires a young Scottish man, Donald Farfrae, to help manage his affairs. Farfrae has a much better head for business than Henchard does, and he quickly whips Henchard's business into shape. The two men become friends, and Elizabeth-Jane develops a crush on Farfrae. Henchard confides everything to Farfrae, including the drunken auction eighteen years earlier. He even admits to him that before Susan and Elizabeth-Jane showed up, he had had a romantic entanglement with a young lady from Jersey (the British one, not the one with the Shore). The young lady was head over heels in love with him and didn't hide it, and everyone assumed they'd been sleeping together. They hadn't, but her reputation was ruined anyway.

She wanted him to marry her to save her reputation, and he was going to – until Susan showed up. Farfrae is sympathetic when he hears the story and feels sorry for the other girl. Still, he agrees that Henchard did the right thing by remarrying his original wife. Then things start to unravel. Henchard becomes jealous of Farfrae because the employees like him better. He fires Farfrae, who starts up his own business across town and does really well. Then Susan dies. Henchard tells Elizabeth-Jane that she's his real daughter, saying that he and Susan had been "separated" from each other for a long time (he doesn't admit to having auctioned them off). But then he reads a letter that Susan left for him before her death admitting that Elizabeth-Jane isn't his real daughter. She's actually the daughter of Captain Newson, and the original Elizabeth-Jane (the baby who was auctioned off along with Susan) died as a baby. Crazy, huh?! Henchard decides he doesn't really want Elizabeth-Jane around anymore and starts being mean to her. And the drama continues.

Elizabeth-Jane moves out of Henchard's house to live with a wealthy young woman who has just moved to Casterbridge. Turns out, that young woman is the one who was in love with Henchard before! Her name is Lucetta, but she changed her last name from Le Sueur to Templeman after inheriting a lot of money from a wealthy aunt named Miss Templeman. She has moved to Casterbridge because she heard of Susan's death and still wants Henchard to marry her. Henchard feels guilty about having messed up her reputation (even though he still swears they never slept together) so he's all for marrying her. But then Lucetta meets Farfrae. Lucetta is a total flirt and Farfrae falls for her. Lucetta doesn't want to marry Henchard anymore, but she's worried that someone will find out about her past relationship with him. She'd written him a lot of steamy love letters and is worried that someone might show them to Farfrae. Henchard is angry that she doesn't want to marry him anymore, and he tries to blackmail her into promising to be his wife. Lucetta panics, then marries Farfrae on the sly.

Farfrae knows nothing about Lucetta's past relationship with Henchard and has no clue why Henchard, who used to be his best friend, is acting like such a jerk. Henchard's business has been failing ever since Farfrae stopped working for him, and finally he has to declare bankruptcy. Farfrae buys Henchard's house and business. Henchard ends up being hired to work for Farfrae as a lowly laborer, which really hurts his pride. He is still jealous of Farfrae and is tempted to show him Lucetta's old love letters as a way of getting back at them both. Lucetta tries to persuade Henchard to give her all the old love letters so that she can burn them. Henchard reluctantly agrees. But he sends the letters in a package with someone who isn't trustworthy. The messenger opens the package and shows the letters to a few people in a bar. The rumors about Lucetta's past relationship with Henchard start flying around. A few drunken townspeople decide it would be funny to have a parade with a model of Henchard and Lucetta cuddling together. They have their drunken procession one night while Farfrae is out of town.

Lucetta hears about it and is so upset that she gets hysterical and then dies. The drunken townspeople feel kind of bad about that. They didn't mean to kill her. Henchard realizes that he's been a total jerk to Elizabeth-Jane and apologizes. Elizabeth-Jane moves back in with him, still thinking she's his real daughter and that Captain Newson, the man who brought her up, was only her stepfather. Then one day, while Elizabeth-Jane is taking a nap, Captain Newson shows up at Henchard's door. (Wait, we thought he was dead!) Turns out that Newson hadn't really drowned when Susan thought he did. He asks about Elizabeth-Jane. Henchard is afraid that Newson will tell Elizabeth-Jane that he's her real father and that she'll leave. So Henchard lies and says Elizabeth-Jane is dead. Newson leaves town immediately, but Henchard is paranoid that Newson will return and Elizabeth-Jane will find out about his big fat lie. After Lucetta's death, Farfrae is at first heartbroken, but then he begins to realize that a much better woman than Lucetta has been there this whole time.

Elizabeth-Jane still loves him, and they start thinking about getting married. Henchard has been uneasy ever since Newson's visit, and now that Elizabeth-Jane is going to get married, he decides he should just leave Casterbridge altogether. But he can't bring himself to go too far away from Elizabeth-Jane – he wanders around the countryside near Casterbridge for weeks. Newson returns soon after Henchard leaves and tells Elizabeth-Jane the truth. She is understandably angry at Henchard for having lied to her about being her real father and for send Newson away. After she gets married, though, she starts to feel sorry for her stepfather. She searches for him but only finds him after he has died. SparkNotes: The Mayor of Casterbridge: Chapters I–II The Mayor of Casterbridge Themes, Motifs & Symbols Chapters III–VI In presence of this scene after the other there was a natural instinct to abjure man as the blot on an otherwise kindly universe. . . .

(See Important Quotations Explained ) Summary: Chapter I In the first half of the nineteenth century, a young hay-trusser named Michael Henchard, his wife, Susan, and their baby daughter, Elizabeth-Jane, silently walk along a road in the English countryside toward a large village called Weydon-Priors. They meet a turnip-hoer, and Henchard asks if there is work or shelter to be found in the town. The pessimistic laborer tells the young man that there is neither. The family eventually comes upon a fair and stops for food. They enter a furmity tent, where a woman sells a kind of gruel made from corn, flour, milk, raisins, currants and other ingredients. After watching the woman spike several bowls of the porridge with rum, Henchard slyly sends up his bowl to be spiked as well. The woman accommodates him again and again, and soon Henchard is drunk. As he continues to drink, he bemoans his lot as a married man.

If only he were “a free man,” he tells the group gathered in the furmity tent, he would “be worth a thousand pound.” When the sound of an auctioneer selling horses interrupts Henchard’s musings, he jokes that he would be willing to sell his wife if someone wanted to buy her. Susan begs him to stop his teasing, declaring that “this is getting serious. O!—too serious!” Henchard persists nevertheless. He begins to bark out prices like an auctioneer, upping the cost of his wife and child when no one takes his offer. When the price reaches five guineas, a sailor appears and agrees to the trade. Distraught, but glad to leave her husband, Susan go off with Elizabeth-Jane and the sailor. Henchard collapses for the night in the furmity tent. Summary: Chapter II Henchard wakes the next morning, wondering if the events of the previous night have been a dream. When he finds the sailor’s money in his pocket, however, he realizes that he has, in fact, sold his wife and child.

He deliberates over his situation for some time and decides that he must “get out of this as soon as [he] can.” He exits the tent and makes his way unnoticed from the Weydon fairgrounds. After a mile or so of walking, he stops and wonders if he told his name to anyone at the fair. He is surprised that Susan agreed to go with the sailor and curses her for bringing him “into this disgrace.” Still, he resolves to find Susan and Elizabeth-Jane and bear the shame, which he reasons is “of his own making.” Henchard continues on his way, and, three or four miles later, he comes upon a village and enters a church there. He falls to his knees on the altar, places a hand on the Bible, and pledges not to drink alcohol for twenty-one years, the same number of years that he has been alive. He continues the search for Susan and Elizabeth-Jane for several months and eventually arrives at a seaport where a family fitting the description of the sailor, Susan, and Elizabeth-Jane has recently departed. He decides to abandon his search and makes his way to the town of Casterbridge.

Analysis: Chapters I–II Many critics believe that Michael Henchard, the “Man of Character” to whom the subtitle of The Mayor of Casterbridge refers, is one of Thomas Hardy’s greatest creations. Henchard is constructed with a great deal of ethical and psychological complexity, and the first two chapters show some of the contradictions of his character. As a young man, Henchard is volatile, headstrong, and passionate. Even before Henchard works himself into a fury in the furmity tent, Susan’s meek behavior as she walks along beside him (“she kept as close to his side as was possible without actual contact”) implies his volatile and potentially violent nature. The events that take place in the furmity tent at the fair demonstrate a cycle into which Henchard falls frequently throughout the novel. After finding himself in a shameful situation—this time, having sold his wife and child—he takes full responsibility for his mistakes and sets out to correct them. In fact, his desire to make amends is overpowering. He spends several months searching for his wife and child, proving that his remorse is not halfhearted.

This audacious spirit is a hallmark of Henchard’s character, as he switches quickly from ungrateful misogyny to sincere penitence. Ultimately, though, critics have remained interested in Henchard because his success in atoning for his transgressions is ambiguous. Although Henchard’s search for his wife seems to be an example of honest contrition, his true motivation is more likely concern over his personal honor. When Henchard wakes, his remorse stems more from a fear of being disdained than from any sense of moral irresponsibility. His interest in his good name plays a significant role in his sacrifice of personal satisfaction when he swears off alcohol and determines to find his wife. Before he begins to scour the English countryside for his wife and child, he reflects that it is not his own but rather his wife’s “idiotic simplicity” that has brought disgrace on him. As he stands outside the fairgrounds at Weydon-Priors, anxiously wondering whether he revealed his name to anybody in the furmity tent, Henchard displays an obsession with public opinion concerning his character that greatly shapes his actions and personality.

Critic Irving Howe refers to this trait as Henchard’s “compulsive and self-lacerating pride.” Henchard’s initial irresponsibility suggests that the novel’s subtitle may not be an accurate description of him. In a way, then, the subtitle foreshadows Henchard’s transition to a man of character. Though Hardy resented being labeled a pessimist, the The Mayor of Casterbridge is at times bleakly realistic. Hardy described himself as a meliorist—one who believes that the universe tends toward improvement and that human beings can enjoy this progress as long as they recognize their proper place in the natural order of things—but the world that the novel describes seems pessimistic and difficult. Hardy uses Susan Henchard, who has “the hard, half--apathetic expression of one who deems anything possible at the hands of Time and Chance except, perhaps, fair play,” to demonstrate the importance of realistically understanding the natural order of things. We get the sense that the natural world, embodied by “Time and Chance,” has little interest in human life or misery. Hardy substantiates this idea by inserting an image of several horses lovingly rubbing their necks together after the ridiculous scene in the furmity tent.

Juxtaposing compassion and heartlessness, Hardy shows us that love and violence are competing aspects of both human behavior and the natural world. More Help The Mayor of Casterbridge by Thomas Hardy. Search eText, Read Online, Study, Discuss. Problem with the wheat I met a friend who likes Hardy and who is a professor in agriculture. I asked him whether he liked Hardy because of all the descriptions of farming. He said the problem described with the wheat was the same problem he studied for his PhD. Overall, he said the first few chapters up to the wife-selling episode were good, but that after that, it started to just go on and on. Posted By kev67 at Thu 14 Jun 2012, 1:22 PM in The Mayor of Casterbridge || 4 Replies Hardy is amazing. To all you people out there that are reading this book for school and finding it terribly boring well I did it in school as well and I read it on my own first of all and absolutely adored it. It had so many twists and turns and I couldn't put it down. Honestly, it is only because you are reading it and methodically going through it and picking out stuff that it is so boring.

Read it all on your own and you'll get hooked. :D I'm actually really sad that Hardy is being called boring. He's one of the best and most amazing writers of all time! I love his gloomy endings. I think he's the male, pessimistic version of Jane Austen. :) Posted By beximo at Tue 24 Mar 2009, 7:44 PM in The Mayor of Casterbridge || 1 Reply can anybody explain the social , economic , and political conditions reflected in The Book MAYOR OF CASTER BRIDGE and highlight important developments and problems existing in 19th and 20th century Posted By kritin at Sun 3 Jun 2007, 12:36 PM in The Mayor of Casterbridge || 3 Replies hardy influencing rowling? Has any one noticed in Thomas Hardy's Mayor of Casterbridge that the word Dumbledore and Hagrid are used in the same sentence. If any one wishes to check this it's near the beginning of a chapter on page 100 of the penguin edition (in UK). Also just started reading The return of the native and there's another character called Diggory.

Now any Harry Potter fan will recognise this as well - coincidence? Posted By dustybertram at Thu 3 May 2007, 2:25 PM in The Mayor of Casterbridge || 4 Replies I'll be happy to answer any questions(or most), to the best of my ability, pertaining to this book. Posted By whyhello at Thu 3 May 2007, 5:19 AM in The Mayor of Casterbridge || 1 Reply The mayor and redemption In asking about redemption, I'm not speaking of it in the Biblical sense, but rather, of turnign a new leaf, to be a new person if you will. I read this book in college as part of a great college class that I was in. I remember the discussion of this book vividly as the story obviously deals with a man with a sordid past who has evidently moved on. Can a person truly improve themselves and move on entirely? Or are they to be continually haunted by their past actions?

The million dollar question.:D Posted By SFG75 at Fri 6 Apr 2007, 6:20 PM in The Mayor of Casterbridge || 0 Replies What are some of the most important quotes in the book in your opinion? Mostly in regards to character, settting, portrayal of women, the idea of the tragic hero and/or the idea of fate vs. choice. Any ideas? Posted By mms1789 at Sun 21 Jan 2007, 3:30 AM in The Mayor of Casterbridge || 0 Replies Trust me, Hardy was the bravest man who lived - the book was sheer misery to read, let alone write. If, like me, you're being forced to read it for your course, you're better off following the advice above. Posted By makomborero at Tue 24 May 2005, 10:07 PM in The Mayor of Casterbridge || 0 Replies I think this was a great book and it had all the details needed... I also thought it informed me a bit about the time back then.

Posted By jennifer at Tue 24 May 2005, 10:07 PM in The Mayor of Casterbridge || 0 Replies hardy hardy's hard novel indeed. I am seeing the nature's influence in the minds of the characters. The lifes of the characters are moving in the direction of natures will. nothing is definite in this ephemeral world. all the hard things in life should be borne by a person in this world. this is highlighted in this novel. Posted By paintha at Tue 24 May 2005, 10:07 PM in The Mayor of Casterbridge || 0 Replies LibriVox Librivox Acoustical liberation of books in the public domain Menu Thomas HARDY (1840 - 1928) The Mayor of Casterbridge (1886) is a tragic novel by English author Thomas Hardy subtitled, "The Life and Death of a Man of Character". It is set in the fictional town of Casterbridge (based on the town of Dorchester in Dorset). The book is one of Hardy's Wessex novels, all set in a fictional rustic England.

(Wikipedia) A poor, disgruntled, drunken young man sells his wife and child to the highest bidder. When he awakens, sober, the next day he regrets his rash act and vows to give up drink and find his family and bring them home. Eventually he is forced to give up the search and move on with his life. He does this quite successfully until, nearly 20 years later, his past comes back to haunt him. (DebraLynn) Genre(s): Published 1800 -1900 SparkNotes: The Mayor of Casterbridge: Key Facts The Mayor of Casterbridge Important Quotations Explained Study Questions & Essay Topics full title · The Life and Death of the Mayor of Casterbridge: A Story of a Man of Character author · Thomas Hardy genre · Tragedy; naturalism; Bildungsroman (a novel that charts the protagonist’s moral and psychological development) language · English time and place written · 1885–1886, Dorchester, England date of first publication · The novel appeared in serial form concurrently in Graphic magazine in England and in Harper’s Weekly in the United States from January to May 1886.

It was first published in book form in 1886. publisher · Smith, Elder (in England); Henry Holt (in America) narrator · The anonymous narrator speaks in the third person. point of view · The point of view is, for the most part, limited to observations concerning the external world of the characters: how they act, what they see, and what they say. Occasionally an omniscient narrator breaks in to provide necessary information or back story, as in Chapter XXII where the narrator breaks the chronological flow of the story in order to provide essential information about events that occurred the previous night. tone · Tragic, melodramatic, naturalistic The Mayor of Casterbridge - The Greatest Literature of All Time First edition, 1886, in two volumes The Mayor of Casterbridge First line: [SHOW] [HIDE] One evening of late summer, before the nineteenth century had reach one third of its span, a young man and woman, the latter carrying a child, were approaching the large village of Weydon-Priors, in Upper Wessex, on foot.

Great lines: [SHOW] [HIDE] That the man and woman were husband and wife, and the parents of the girl in arms, there could be little doubt. No other than such relationship would have accounted for the atmosphere of domesticity which the trio carried along with them like a nimbus as they moved down the road. "Stuff—he's well enough! Some folk want their luck buttered." Last line: [SHOW] [HIDE] And in being forced to class herself among the fortunate she did not cease to wonder at the persistence of the unforeseen, when the one to whom such unbroken tranquillity had been accorded in the adult stage was she whose youth had seemed to teach that happiness was but the occasional episode in a general drama of pain. Hardy made one of the wisest observations on writing I've ever read: The whole secret of fiction and the drama—in the constructional part—lies in the adjustment.... more COMMENTARY A Hardy roller-coaster I don't know if it's still being taught to teenagers but The Mayor of Casterbridge turned me off Thomas Hardy for many years after studying it in high school.

It was just too melodramatic, too full of ridiculous coincidences and twists of fate, like a soap opera, I thought. And way too old-fashioned. What did I care about some British townspeople, like in another century, getting all hot and bothered over some personal intrigues? But the films Far From the Madding Crowd and Tess brought me back to Hardy years later to give him another chance and, after reading the book the first film was based on, I went on to other Hardy, finding it all surprisingly absorbing. I still put off the dreaded Mayor of Casterbridge though, until it was almost all I had left to reread of Hardy. And then to my great puzzlement I found it the best of all. What had I been reading in school? How could it be so different now? Each year that I've grow older since then, I've found myself appreciating Hardy more. I realize my saying this is not going to endear him to young readers—quite the opposite. But somehow Hardy seems more realistic when one has more life experience to catch up to his enduring insights into the human condition. That's a mouthful.

But as an aging adult, I am no longer concerned about the unlikelihood of the coincidences and the artificiality of the cruel fortunes that affect his characters. These are just unimportant narrative devices to make possible the real drama—be it physical battle or psychological conflict. And what a roller-coaster of conflict and mental anguish The Mayor of Casterbridge provides. It starts when the country labourer Michael Henchard gets drunk and sells his wife and young daughter to a sailor at a village fair for five guineas. When he sobers up and realizes what a horrendous thing he's done, he goes looking for them, but he learns the wife, daughter and sailor have left the country. Repentant, he swears off alcohol. Over the years he works hard, becomes rich and eventually is elected the mayor of Casterbridge. But then his wife and her grown-up daughter show up, his reputation is threatened and.... Well, all that just barely sets the scene. There are plenty more characters, more scandal, business and political intrigue, ill-fated love affairs, and at least two surprising revelations that I bet you won't see coming.

But, as seemingly unsympathetic as the main character Henchard is, we feel conflicted about him throughout, as he passes through remorse, pride, obstinacy, vengefulness, resentment, jealousy and humiliation. He'd be a great Shakespearean tragic character, a King Lear perhaps, except like many of Hardy's characters he seldom verbalizes his emotions—no howling against the elements for him. No other character in Casterbridge either, except perhaps the daughter, is depicted with completely pure motives—purely good, purely self-serving or otherwise. The reader's empathy is tossed back and forth, trampled on and then redeemed when least expected. After all this blathering I feel I still have not explained very well why I long ago gave up my old idea of The Mayor of Casterbridge as an unbelievable and boring soap opera. Read it to see for yourself. And if you don't get it, wait a few more years, give yourself time to grow wiser about the world, and try it again.

— Eric The Mayor of Casterbridge : Thomas Hardy : 9780553210248 The Mayor of Casterbridge US$5.87 US$5.99 You save US$0.12 Free delivery worldwide Add to basket Add to wishlist Description Thomas Hardy's exploration of his most tragic hero, Michael Henchard, is the classic tale of over-ambition. From his drunken sale of his wife and baby at a country fair, to his subjugation of a farming willage, Henchard's life is an epic attempt to bring the world to heel as he hides even from himself all vestiges of emotional vulnerability. A classic character study with overtones of Shakespeare's MacBeth. show more Product details 106 x 172 x 28mm | 222.26g Publication date Classics Back cover copy From the stunning opening wife-selling scene (at one time a not uncommon phenomenon in England) to the final playing out his tragedy, Michael Henchard proves to be violent, selfish, greedy and crude. At the same time he possesses magnanimity, humility and a comparison that always pleased Hardy.

show more Flap copy One of Hardy's most powerful novels, "The Mayor of Casterbridge opens with a shocking and haunting scene: In a drunken rage, Michael Henchard sells his wife and daughter to a visiting sailor at a local fair. When they return to Casterbridge some nineteen years later, Henchard--having gained power and success as the mayor--finds he cannot erase the past or the guilt that consumes him. "The Mayor of Casterbridge is a rich, psychological novel about a man whose own flaws combine with fate to cause his ruin. This Modern Library Paperback Classic reprints the authoritative 1912 Wessex edition, as well as Hardy's map of Wessex. "From the Trade Paperback edition. show more About Thomas Hardy Thomas Hardy, whose writing immortalized the Wessex countryside and dramatized his sense of the inevitable tragedy of life, was born at Upper Bockhampton, near Stinsford in Dorset in 1840, the eldest child of a prosperous stonemason. As a youth he trained as an architect and in 1862 obtained a post in London. During his time he began seriously to write poetry, which remained his first literary love and his last.

In 1867-68, his first novel was refused publication, but "Under the Greenwood Tree" (1872), his first Wessex novel, did well enough to convince him to continue writing. In 1874, Far from the Maddening Crowd, published serially and anonymously in the "Cornhill Magazine," became a great success. Hardy married Emma Gifford in 1878, and in 1885 they settled at Max Gate in Dorchester, where he lived the rest of his life. There he had wrote The Return of the Native (1878), The Mayor of Casterbridge (1886), Tess of the d Urbervilles (1891), and Jude the Obscure (1895). With Tess, Hardy clashed with the expectations of his audience; a storm of abuse broke over the infidelity and obscenity of this great novel he had subtitled A Pure Woman Faithfully Presented. Jude the Obscure aroused even greater indignation and was denounced as pornography. Hardy s disgust at the reaction to Jude led him to announce in 1869 that he would never write fiction ever again.

He published "Wessex Poems" in 1898, "Poems of the Past and Present" in 1901, and from 1903 to 1908, The Dynast, a huge drama in which Hardy s conception of the Immanent Will, implicit in the tragic novels, is most clearly stated. In 1912 Hardy s wife, Emma died. The marriage was childless and had been a troubled one, but in the years after her death, Hardy memorialized her in several poems. At seventy-four he married his longtime secretary, Florence Dugdale, herself a writer of children s books and articles, with whom he live happily until his death in 1928. His heart was buried in the Wessex Countryside; his ashes were placed next to Charles Dickens s in the Poet s Corner of Westminster Abbey." show more Review quote The Mayor of Casterbridge The Mayor of Casterbridge or browse other Shmoopers' Questions In A Nutshell Thomas Hardy was an English poet and novelist writing during the late 19th century.

Yes, we said "poet" first for a reason: Hardy always thought of himself first and foremost as a poet, even though nowadays he's remembered most for his novels. He started and ended his writing career as a poet, writing all those novels in the middle. Part of what makes his novels so famous today is that they were ahead of their time in the late 1800s when he was writing. Even though he was writing during what we call the "Victorian" period (i.e., during the reign of Queen Victoria in Britain, 1837 to 1901), critics often consider Hardy's writing to have more in common with the modernist writers of the early 1900s, like Virginia Woolf , James Joyce, and T.S. Eliot . Hardy's novels weren't always well received when he was writing, and two of his last novels, Tess of the D'Urbervilles and Jude the Obscure, were actually criticized so harshly for being "immoral" that Hardy stopped writing novels altogether and switched back poetry.

Hardy set many of his novels, including The Mayor of Casterbridge, in a fictional county of southern England that he called "Wessex." The fictional towns, farms, rivers, and forests in Wessex are common to all the "Wessex novels." You can actually find maps that critics and readers have drawn up of Hardy's imaginary county (see the "Best of the Web" section for an example), just like Lord of the Rings fans do for Middle-earth. The novel follows the fortunes (and misfortunes) of a man named Michael Henchard, who becomes a grain merchant and the mayor of a town called Casterbridge. Unfortunately for Henchard, he made some bad decisions as a young man that come back to haunt him just as things really seem to be looking up for him. Like most of Hardy's novels, The Mayor of Casterbridge is a tragedy – no matter what the main characters try to accomplish, the fates (or their own flaws) seem to get in the way. The subtitle of the novel, "The Life and Death of a Man of Character," already tells us that Henchard will die at the end.

And since this is a Thomas Hardy novel, we're betting that it won't be a happy death. Why Should I Care? Have you ever asked yourself why bad things happen in the world? Why people get divorced, good workers lose jobs, poor people get poorer, and gossip ruins innocent people's reputations? Well, you're not alone. Over a hundred years ago, our main man Thomas Hardy was asking these big questions too. In fact, The Mayor of Casterbridge is Hardy's attempt at finding some answers. Hardy doesn't take the simple way out and just say, "Hey, it was fate!" No way. Hardy doesn't shy away from saying that the bad things that happen to Michael Henchard, the Mayor of Casterbridge, are a result of Henchard's own mistakes. But Hardy seems to suggest that Henchard only made those mistakes because of his character flaws, which he had absolutely no control over. In the world of The Mayor of Casterbridge, your actions are the unavoidable consequence of your personality, and your personality is something you're born with. You're either born with the ability to exercise self control or you're not. You're either born with a gloomy personality or a happy one.

Think of it this way. Your personality and your actions are like a card game: you're dealt a certain hand of cards, and your actions are limited by that hand. Sure, you can change your hand slightly by drawing from the deck – but only slightly – and then you can still only play the cards in your hand. You can't act in a way that is out of character. This isn't a very optimistic view of the world. But, hey, no one has ever accused Hardy of being an optimistic guy! Just look at the last sentence of the novel: Elizabeth-Jane's "youth had seemed to teach that happiness was but the occasional episode in a general drama of pain." Man, what a downer. So, do you buy all this? How much control do people really have over their actions? Do people ever change? Is there truly more pain than happiness in the world? Is life really "a general drama of pain"? Whether you think of yourself as an optimist or pessimist, The Mayor of Casterbridge provides lots of juicy food for thought.

Question: Who was the first Mayor of Casterbridge in the Thomas Hardy novel?
Answer: Michael Henchard