None of the great Victorian novels is more vivid andreadable than The Mayor of Casterbridge. Set in theheart of Hardy's Wessex. the partly real, partly dreamcotintry' he founded on his native Dorset, it charts therise and self-induced downfall of a single man ofcharacter. The fast-moving and ingeniously contrivednarrative is Shakespearian in its tragic force, andfeatures some of the authors most striking episodesand brilliant passages of description.

         INTRODUCTION

 The Mayor of Casterbridge can readily be described in terms of Greek orElizabethan tragedy. Its hero, Michael Henchard, a man of(local) highposition, is humbled and destroyed primarily as a result of his owndefects. Hardy quotes Novalis: Character is fate (p. 88). Henchard,like Oedipus, Hamlet or Lear, has been betrayed by personal weakness,or tragic flaw. Indeed his final exile in a ruined hut, attended by asingle loyal simpleton, is deliberately reminiscent of King Lear.

 The novel invites this traditional tragic interpretation, and comeswell out of it. Any first-time reader is likely to respond, instinctively,along such lines. But the fact is that Hardy does not usually endorse thefamiliar view of the workings of the world that such a reading wouldseem to imply. He is both traditionalist and modernist, a tragedian,certainly, but not merely of the established kind. To take the fullmeasure of the work one must appreciate the traditional reading butalso see beyond it.

 Arguably this is the best organised of all Hardys novels. His first twochapters - the wife-sale and its aftermath - constitute a narrativeprologue, like the scene before the credit-rifles in many a film, Thesequence provides a brilliantlydramatic beginning: only Great F~ecta-tions, of major Victorian novels, starts as explosively. There follows thegap of some eighteen years within which (we are later told) Henchardrises from unemployed hay-trusser to mayor of Casterbridge. It saysmuch for Hardys initial projection of forcefulness and willpower thatthis off-stage advancement seems perfectly plausible. A man of thiscapacity could indeed have risen so far. But it is the extravagantopening episode that gives rise, directly or indirectly, to the essentialaction that is to follow. Henchards selling of his wife is the cause; hissubsequent downfall is a belated series of effects. His tragedy has asustained, fatalistic logic.

 It evolves through a central situation of unusual compactness andsymmetry. Four main characters are concerned, Henchard, Farfrae,Lucetta and Elizabeth-Jane. Each is emotionally related, in one way oranother, to each of the other three: what affects one must affect themall. The circumstances are such that they cannot all be happy. Theytake narrative precedence in turn, as the balance of power constantlyshifts, almost as in a game. Each moves between desire, hope,fulfilment and disappointment. Their personalities and voices are sovividly combined and contrasted as to produce an effect akin to that ofan operatic quartet. The complex interrelationships are brilliantlycontrived and developed. Yet everything that transpires has beenconditioned by Henchards selling of his wife, twenty years before - anevent at which none of the other three was present.

 The novel is sub-rifled A Story of a Man of Character, and in hispreface Hardy underlines the point, declaring that The story is moreparticularly a study of one mans deeds and character than any of hisother narratives. What is there in Henchard that makes him worthy ofsuch attention? Certainly he has some rough and ready virtues,including energy, a sense of justice and a fitful generosity. But whenfirst encountered he is no more than a farm labourer, an ill-educatedman of limited talents and imagination. By normal standards hisconduct proves appalling: he shows himself to be impulsive, hot-tempered, violent, quarrelsome and stubborn. He drinks, sells his wife,lies, deceives, bullies, goes to the very brink of suicide and murder. Bycontrast Farfrae, his great rival, is intelligent, civ~sed and amiable.Why should not he be described asa manof character?

 All the early indications are in his favour. He helps Henchard withhis grown wheat though he stands to gain nothing from doing so. Atthe Three Mariners his courtesy and charm create an immediatefavourable impression, not merely with the locals but with the thought-ful Elizabeth-Jane. He shows decency and courage in countermandingHenchards punitive command that Abel Whittle must work withoutbreeches. It is his idea that a public entertainment should be put on inthe town: Henchard is merely an imitator. Farfraes fair prospers, aslater do his business dealings, because he shows forethought and leavesa margin for error. He sees from the first that agriculture must adapt,must mechanise, while Henchard clings blindly to traditional methods.Altogether Farfrae shows himself to be an accomplished and conscien-tious man. If Hardy hints at reservations they are minor ones. Certainlythe Scotsman is canny with his money: we learn (p. i7z) that AbelWhittle earns a shilling a week less when Farfrae takes over Henchardsbusiness. But Whittle himself concedes that he is the richer man forthe change, since working conditions are more equable. Often quotedagainst Farfrae is a passage late in the novel when he and Elizabeth-Jane have been trying in vain to track down the missing Henchard. Headvises her to give up the search in person and trust to other means tofind him:

They were now a score of miles at least from home, but, by resting  the horse for a couple of hours at a village they had just traversed, it  would be possible to get back to Casterbridge that same day; while  to go much further afield would reduce them to the necessity of  camping out for the night; and that will make a hole in a  sovereign, said Farfrae. 

             [p. 257]

 The comment can seem niggardly and mean-spirited in retrospect,once the reader learns that Henchard had died, in extremity, less thanan hour before it was made. With his characteristic fairness, however,Hardy mitigates it in two ways. He tells us immediately that Elizabeth-Jane (whose good feelings are never questioned) pondered the position,and agreed. A moment or two later they see ahead of them a manresembling Abel Whittle. Farfrae remarks:

And it may be Whittle, for hes never been to the yard these three  weeks, going away without saying any word at all; and I owing him  for two days work, without knowing who to pay it to.

 His calculating scrupulosity is seen to cut two ways: it is also an aspectof his fair-mindedness.

 What it nevertheless precludes is the quality that, above all,characterises his predecessor as mayor: whole-heartedness. WhatHenchard feels he feels intensely; what he does he does with all hismight. Bored with his pallid young wife he longs to be rid of heraltogether. When, more by chance than intention, he does indeeddispose of her, he is consumed with guilt for his drunken folly andswears an immediate oath- which he keeps- to give up drink fortwenty years. Attracted by Farfraes charm and intelligence he forth-with does everything in his power to persuade him to remain inCasterbridge as his assistant. When the younger man becomes a rivalboth in love and business he sets out to destroy him - even to kill him.Ashamed of being a debtor, following the failure of his business, hedisposes of everything in his possession, right down to his watch, tomake what restitution he can. He is capable of committing greatwrongs, but is proportionately, self-laceratingly, remorseful. Hispride prevents him from making excuses, even to himself. He takesfull responsibility for his actions, stoically accepting misery as de-served retribution: "I - Cain - go alone as I deserve - an outcast anda vagabond. But my punishment is not greater than I can bear!" (p.243) Henchard is incapable of moderating his emotions or doingthings by halves. His impetuosity and full-bloodedness make him adanger both to himself and to others, but even at his lowest he is hisown man.

 Lucetta offers an extreme contrast when she is debating which of twonew dresses to buy:

But settling upon new clothes is so trying, said Lucetta. You are  that person (pointing to one of the arrangements), or you are that  totally different person (pointing to the other), for the whole of  the coming spring: and one of the two, you dont know which, may  turn out to be very objectionable.

 It was finally decided by Miss Templeman that she would be the  cherry-coloured person at all hazards.          [p. I29]……

CHAPTER I

CHAPTER II

CHAPTER III

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CHAPTER 45