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INTERNATIONAL COLLEGE FOR

GIRLS

DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH

SUBMITTED TO: SUBMITTED BY:

MA¶AM SMITA HARSHITA RATHORE
B.A. SEM VI
ICG/2008/8063
ROLL NO: 80031
TOPIC: VICTIMIZATION OF WOMEN IN
HARDY¶S NOVEL (The mayor of the caster bridge).
 INDEX
ïc INTRODUCTON
ïc p OUT THOMp
HpRDY
ïc THEME
,MOTIF
&
TYLE

ïc
UMMpRY OF THE NOVEL
ïc ëOMEN CHpRpCTER
IN THE NOVEL
ïc VICTIMIZpTION OF ëOMEN IN THE NOVEL
ïc EY F pCT

ïc I LIOGRpHY
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 INTRODUCTION
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The Mayor of Casterbridge (1886), subtitled "The Life and Death of a Man of
Character", is a tragic novel by ritish author Thomas Hardy. It is set in the
fictional town of Casterbridge (based on the town of Dorchester in Dorset). The
book is one of Hardy's ëessex novels, all set in a fictional rustic England. The
novel is often considered one of Hardy's greatest works.

The novel reveals Hardy¶s peculiar location in this shifting world, possessing
elements of both the Victorian and modernist forms. It charts the course of one
man¶s character, but it also chronicles the dramatic change of an isolated, rural
agricultural community into a modern city. In The Mayor of Casterbridge, as well
as in his most popular fictions, such as Tess of the D¶Urbervilles and Jude the
Obscure, Hardy explores the effects of cultural and economic development: the
decline of Christianity as well as folk traditions, the rise of industrialization and
urbanization, and the unraveling of universally held moral codes.
Hardy himself abandoned Christianity. He read the writings of Charles Darwin,
accepted the theory of evolution, and studied the German philosopher prthur

chopenhauer.
chopenhauer¶s notion of the ³Immanent ëill´ describes a blind
force that drives the universe irrespective of human lives or desires. Though his
novels often end in crushing tragedies that reflect
chopenhauer¶s philosophy,
Hardy described himself as a meliorist, one who believes that the world tends to
become better and that people aid in this betterment. Humans can live with some
happiness, he claimed, so long as they understand their place in the universe and
accept it. Hardy died in 1928 at his estate in Dorchester. True to the rather
dramatically romantic fantasies of his fiction, Hardy had his heart buried in his
wife¶s tomb.

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Thomas Hardy, OM (2 June 1840 ± 11 January 1928) was an English novelist and
poet. ëhile his works typically belong to the Naturalism movement, several poems
display elements of the previous Romantic and Enlightenment periods of literature,
such as his fascination with the supernatural.

Thomas Hardy was born in the village of Higher [Upper] ockhampton in

tinsford parish near the town of Dorchester in Dorset County, England, the first of
four children born to Jemima ·ee Hand (1814-1904) and Thomas Hardy
r. (1811-
1892), builder and stonemason. His birthplace, built by his great grandfather, is
now a museum owned by the National Trust. Young Thomas was given to quieter
childhood pursuits, often spending time alone wandering the countryside,
exploring the flora and fauna, gaining a profound connection with nature and the
familiar sights and sounds of his rural home county. His mother had a great
influence on his imagination, entertaining him with stories and songs, many of
which would later inspire his ëessex tales.

ps a young boy Hardy attended the
tinson church with his family, was a
voracious reader, learned to play the violin and attended local schools studying
Latin, Greek, French, classical literature, and assisted his father in his various
building projects. pt the age of sixteen he was taken on as apprentice to John
Hicks, an architect in Dorchester. He conducted surveys and excelled as
draughtsman, working for Hicks until 1862 when he left for London to work with
architect prthur lomfield. pround this time he met Henry Moule (1801-1880)
who would become a friend and mentor. He also immersed himself in the city's
vibrant literary and cultural atmosphere, studying art, visiting the National Gallery,
attending the theatre, and writing prose and poetry. His first published story "How
I uilt Myself p House" appeared in Chamber's Jour·al in 1865. His wrote his
first, but never published novel The Poor Ma· a·d the Lady in 1867. ack in
ockhampton due to ill-health he secured a position with Hicks where in 1870 he
met Emma Lavinia Gifford (1840-1912).
he was working at the rectory in
t.
Juliot, Cornwall, a building project he was working on. They married in London in
1874 and would have no children. Emma died suddenly on 27 November 1912.

Hardy's first novel, The Poor Man and the Lady, finished by 1867, failed to find a
publisher and Hardy destroyed the manuscript so only parts of the novel remain.
He was encouraged to try again by his mentor and friend, Victorian poet and
novelist George Meredith. ÷esperate Remedies (1871) and nder the
Greenwood Tree (1872) were published anonymously. In 1873 p Pair of Blue
|yesè a novel drawing on Hardy's courtship of his first wife, was published under
his own name. The term "cliffhanger" is considered to have originated with the
serialized version of this story (which was published in Tinsley's Magazine
between
eptember 1872 and July 1873) in which Henry night, one of the
protagonists, is left literally hanging off a cliff.

Hardy said that he first introduced Wessex in ›ar from the Madding Crowd
(1874), his next novel. It was successful enough for Hardy to give up architectural
work and pursue a literary career. Over the next twenty-five years Hardy produced
ten more novels.

The Hardys moved from London to Yeovil and then to Sturminster Newton,
where he wrote The Return of the Native (1878). In 1885, they moved for a last
time, to Max Gate, a house outside Dorchester designed by Hardy and built by his
brother. There he wrote The Mayor of Casterbridge (1886), The Woodlanders
(1887), and Tess of the d'rbervilles (1891), the last of which attracted criticism
for its sympathetic portrayal of a "fallen woman" and was initially refused
publication. Its subtitle, p Pure Woma· Faithfully Prese·ted, was intended to
raise the eyebrows of the Victorian middle-classes.

oude the Obscure, published in 1895, met with even stronger negative outcries
from the Victorian public for its frank treatment of sex, and was often referred to
as "Jude the Obscene". Heavily criticised for its apparent attack on the institution
of marriage through the presentation of such concepts as erotolepsy, the book
caused further strain on Hardy's already difficult marriage because Emma Hardy
was concerned that Jude the Obscure would be read as autobiographical.
ome
booksellers sold the novel in brown paper bags, and the Bishop of Wakefield is
reputed to have burnt his copy. In his postscript of 1912, Hardy humorously
referred to this incident as part of the career of the book: "pfter these [hostile]
verdicts from the press its next misfortune was to be burnt by a bishop ² probably
in his despair at not being able to burn me".

Despite this criticism, Hardy had become a celebrity in English literature by the
1900s, with several highly successful novels behind him, yet he felt disgust at the
public reception of two of his greatest works and gave up writing fiction
altogether. Other novels written by Hardy include Two on a Tower, a romance
story set in the world of pstronomy.
Literary themes

Hardy critiques certain social constraints that hindered the lives of those living in
the 19th century. Considered a Victorian Realist writer, Hardy examines the social
constraints that are part of the Victorian status quo, suggesting these rules hinder
the lives of all involved and ultimately lead to unhappiness. In Two o· a Tower,
Hardy seeks to take a stand against these rules and sets up a story against the
backdrop of social structure by creating a story of love that crosses the boundaries
of class. The reader is forced to consider disposing of the conventions set up for
love. Nineteenth-century society enforces these conventions, and societal pressure
ensures conformity.
within
t Cleeve's idealism pits him against contemporary
social constraints. He is a self-willed individual set up against the coercive
strictures of social rules and mores.

 In a novel structured around contrasts, the main opposition is between

within
t Cleeve and Lady Viviette Constantine, who are presented as
binary figures in a series of ways: aristocratic and lower class, youthful and
mature, single and married, fair and dark, religious and agnostic«she [Lady
Viviette Constantine] is also deeply conventional, absurdly wishing to
conceal their marriage until
within has achieved social status through his
scientific work, which gives rise to uncontrolled ironies and tragic-comic
misunderstandings (Harvey 108). ´

Hardy¶s stories take into consideration the events of life and their effects. Fate
plays a significant role as the thematic basis for many of his novels. Characters are
constantly encountering crossroads, which are symbolic of a point of opportunity
and transition. Far From the Maddi·g Crowd tells a tale of lives that are
constructed by chance. ³Had athsheba not sent the valentine, had Fanny not
missed her wedding, for example, the story would have taken an entirely different
path.´ Once things have been put into motion, they will play out. Hardy's
characters are in the grips of an overwhelming fate.

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Themes
Themes are the fu·dame·tal a·d ofte· u·iversal ideas explored i· a literary work.
The Importance of Character
ps a ³
tory of a Man of Character,´ The Mayor of Casterbridge focuses on how its
protagonist¶s qualities enable him to endure. One tends to think of character,
especially in terms of a ³Man of Character,´ as the product of such values as honor
and moral righteousness. Certainly Michael Henchard does not fit neatly into such
categories. Throughout the novel, his volatile temper forces him into ruthless
competition with Farfrae that strips him of his pride and property, while his
insecurities lead him to deceive the one person he learns to truly care about,
Elizabeth-Jane. Henchard dies an unremarkable death, slinking off to a humble
cottage in the woods, and he stipulates in his will that no one mourn or remember
him. There will be no statues in the Casterbridge square, as one might imagine, to
mark his life and work. Yet Hardy insists that his hero is a worthy man.
Henchard¶s worth, then²that which makes him a ³Man of Character´²lies in his
determination to suffer and in his ability to endure great pain. He shoulders the
burden of his own mistakes as he sells his family, mismanages his business, and
bears the storm of an unlucky fate, especially when the furmity-woman confesses
and Newson reappears. In a world that seems guided by the ³scheme[s] of some
sinister intelligence bent on punishing´ human beings, there can be no more
honorable and more righteous characteristic than Henchard¶s brand of ³defiant
endurance.´
The Value of a Good Name
The value of a good name is abundantly clear within the first few chapters of the
novel: as Henchard wakes to find that the sale of his wife was not a dream or a
drunken hallucination, his first concern is to remember whether he divulged his
name to anyone during the course of the previous evening. pll the while,
usan
warns -Elizabeth-Jane of the need for discretion at the Three Mariners Inn²their
respectability (and, more important, that of the mayor) could be jeopardized if
anyone discovered that Henchard¶s family performed chores as payment for
lodging.
The importance of a solid reputation and character is rather obvious given
Henchard¶s situation, for Henchard has little else besides his name. He arrives in
Casterbridge with nothing more than the implements of the hay-trusser¶s trade, and
though we never learn the circumstances of his ascent to civic leader, such a climb
presumably depends upon the worth of one¶s name. Throughout the course of the
novel, Henchard attempts to earn, or to believe that he has earned, his position. He
is, however, plagued by a conviction of his own worthlessness, and he places
himself in situations that can only result in failure. For instance, he indulges in
petty jealousy of Farfrae, which leads to a drawn-out competition in which
Henchard loses his position as mayor, his business, and the women he loves. More
crucial, Henchard¶s actions result in the loss of his name and his reputation as a
worthy and honorable citizen. Once he has lost these essentials, he follows the
same course toward death as Lucetta, whose demise is seemingly precipitated by
the irretrievable loss of respectability brought about by the ³skimmity-ride.´
The Indelibility of the Past
The Mayor of Casterbridge is a novel haunted by the past. Henchard¶s fateful
decision to sell his wife and child at ëeydon-riors continues to shape his life
eighteen years later, while the town itself rests upon its former incarnation: every
farmer who tills a field turns up the remains of long-dead Roman soldiers. The
Ring, the ancient Roman amphitheater that dominates Casterbridge and provides a
forum for the secret meetings of its citizens, stands as a potent symbol of the
indeli-bility of a past that cannot be escaped. The terrible events that once occurred
here as entertainment for the citizens of Casterbridge have, in a certain sense,
determined the town¶s present state. The brutality of public executions has given
way to the miseries of thwarted lovers.
Henchard¶s past proves no less indomitable. Indeed, he spends the entirety of the
novel attempting to right the wrongs of long ago. He succeeds only in making
more grievous mistakes, but he never fails to acknowledge that the past cannot be
buried or denied. Only Lucetta is guilty of such folly.
he dismisses her history
with Henchard and the promises that she made to him in order to pursue Farfrae, a
decision for which she pays with her reputation and, -eventually, her life.

Motifs
Motifs are recurri·g structures, co·trasts, or literary devices that ca· help to
develop a·d i·form the text¶s major themes.
Coincidence
Even the most cursory reading of The Mayor of Casterbridge reveals a structural
pattern that relies heavily on coincidence. Indeed, the story would hardly progress
were it not for the chance occurrences that push Henchard closer and closer to
failure. For example, the reappearance of just one long-lost character would test
our willingness to believe, but here we witness the return of
usan, the furmity-
woman, and Newson, each of whom brings a dark secret that contributes to
Henchard¶s doom. plthough we, as modern readers, are unlikely to excuse such
overdetermined plotting, we should attempt to understand it. Hardy¶s reliance on
coincidence relates directly to his philosophy of the world. ps a determinist, Hardy
believed that human life was shaped not by free will but by such powerful,
uncontrollable forces as heredity and God. Henchard rails against such forces
throughout the novel, lamenting that the world seems designed to bring about his
demise. In such an environment, coincidence seems less like a product of poor plot
structure than an inevitable consequence of malicious universal forces.
The Tension between Tradition and Innovation

Casterbridge is, at first, a town untouched by modernism. Henchard¶s government

runs the town according to quaintly traditional customs: business is conducted by
word of mouth and weather-prophets are consulted regarding crop yields. ëhen
Farfrae arrives, he brings with him new and efficient systems for managing the
town¶s grain markets and increasing agricultural production. In this way, Henchard
and Farfrae come to represent tradition and innovation, respectively. ps such, their
struggle can be seen not merely as a competition between a grain merchant and his
former protégé but rather as the tension between the desire for and the reluctance
to change as one age replaces another.
Hardy reports this succession as though it were inevitable, and the novel, for all its
sympathies toward Henchard, is never hostile toward progress. Indeed, we witness
and even enjoy the efficacy of Farfrae¶s accomplishments. Undoubtedly, his day of
celebration, his new method for organizing the granary¶s business, and his
determination to introduce modern technologies to Casterbridge are good things.
Nevertheless, Hardy reports the passing from one era to the next with a quiet kind
of nostalgia. Throughout the novel are traces of a world that once was and will
never be again. In the opening pages, as Henchard seeks shelter for his tired
family, a peasant laments the loss of the quaint cottages that once characterized the
English countryside.
The Tension between Public Life and Private Life
Henchard¶s fall can be understood in terms of a movement from the public arena
into the private one. ëhen
usan and Elizabeth-Jane discover Henchard at the
Three Mariners Inn, he is the mayor of Casterbridge and its most successful grain
merchant, two positions that place him in the center of public life and civic duty.
ps his good fortune shifts when his reputation and finances fail, he is forced to
relinquish these posts. He becomes increasingly less involved with public life²his
ridiculous greeting of the visiting Royal ersonage demonstrates how completely
he has abandoned this realm²and lives wholly with his private thoughts and
obsessions. He moves from ³the commercial [to] the romantic,´ concentrating his
energies on his personal and domestic relationships with Farfrae, Lucetta, and
Elizabeth-Jane.

Symbols
àymbols are objects, characters, figures, or colors used to represe·t abstract ideas
or co·cepts.
The Caged Goldfinch
In an act of contrition, Henchard visits Elizabeth-Jane on her wedding day,
carrying the gift of a caged goldfinch. He leaves the bird in a corner while he
speaks to his stepdaughter and forgets it when she coolly dismisses him. Days
later, a maid discovers the starved bird, which prompts Elizabeth-Jane to search for
Henchard, whom she finds dead in pbel ëhittle¶s cottage. ëhen ëhittle reports
that Henchard ³didn¶t gain strength, for you see, ma¶am, he couldn¶t eat,´ he
unwittingly ties Henchard¶s fate to the bird¶s: both lived and died in a prison. The
finch¶s prison was literal, while Henchard¶s was the inescapable prison of his
personality and his past.
The Bull
The bull that chases down Lucetta and Elizabeth-Jane stands as a symbol of the
brute forces that threaten human life. Malignant, deadly, and bent on destruction, it
seems to incarnate the unnamed forces that Henchard often bemoans. The bull¶s
rampage provides Henchard with an opportunity to display his strength and
courage, thus making him more sympathetic in our eyes.
The Collision of the Wagons
ëhen a wagon owned by Henchard collides with a wagon owned by Farfrae on the
street outside of High-lace Hall, the interaction bears more significance than a
simple traffic accident. The violent collision dramatically symbolizes the tension in
the relationship between the two men. It also symbolizes the clash between
tradition, which Henchard embodies, and the new modern era, which Farfrae
personifies@

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M ICHpEL HENCHpRD I
TRpVELING with his wife,
usan, looking for employment
as a hay-trusser. ëhen they stop to eat, Henchard gets drunk, and in an auction that
begins as a joke but turns serious, he sells his wife and their baby daughter, -
Elizabeth-Jane, to Newson, a sailor, for five guineas. In the morning, Henchard
regrets what he has done and searches the town for his wife and daughter. Unable
to find them, he goes into a church and swears an oath that he will not drink
alcohol for twenty-one years, the same number of years he has been alive.
pfter the sailor¶s death, eighteen years later,
usan and Elizabeth-Jane seek
Henchard; Elizabeth-Jane believes he is merely a long-lost relative. They arrive in
Casterbridge and learn that Henchard is the mayor. The parents meet and decide
that in order to prevent -Elizabeth-Jane from learning of their disgrace, Henchard
will court and remarry
usan as though they had met only recently.
Meanwhile, Henchard has hired Donald Farfrae, a young
cotchman, as the new
manager of his corn business. Elizabeth-Jane is intrigued by Farfrae, and the two
begin to spend time together. Henchard becomes alienated from Farfrae, however,
as the younger man consistently outdoes Henchard in every respect. He asks
Farfrae to leave his business and to stop courting Elizabeth-Jane.

usan falls ill and dies soon after her remarriage to Henchard. pfter discovering
that Elizabeth-Jane is not his own daughter, but Newson¶s, Henchard becomes
increasingly cold toward her. -Elizabeth-Jane then decides to leave Henchard¶s
house and live with a lady who has just arrived in town. This lady turns out to be
Lucetta Templeman, a woman with whom Henchard was involved during
usan¶s
absence; having learned of
usan¶s death, Lucetta has come to Casterbridge to
marry Henchard.
ëhile Lucetta is waiting for Henchard to call on her, she meets Farfrae, who has
come to call on Elizabeth-Jane. The two hit it off and are eventually married.
Lucetta asks Henchard to return to her all the letters she has sent him. On his way
to deliver the letters, the messenger, Jopp, stops at an inn. The peasants there
convince him to open and read the letters aloud. Discovering that Lucetta and
Henchard have been romantically involved, the peasants decide to hold a
³skimmity-ride,´ a humiliating parade portraying Lucetta and Henchard together.
The event takes place one afternoon when Farfrae is away. Lucetta faints upon
seeing the spectacle and becomes very ill.
hortly afterward, she dies.
ëhile Henchard has grown to hate Farfrae, he has grown closer to Elizabeth-Jane.
The morning after Lucetta¶s death, Newson, who is actually still alive, arrives at
Henchard¶s door and asks for -Elizabeth-Jane. Henchard tells him that she is dead,
and Newson leaves in sorrow. Elizabeth-Jane stays with Henchard and also begins
to spend more time with Farfrae. One day, Henchard learns that Newson has
returned to town, and he decides to leave rather than risk another confrontation.
Elizabeth-Jane is reunited with Newson and learns of Henchard¶s deceit; Newson
and Farfrae start planning the wedding between Elizabeth-Jane and the
cotchman.
Henchard comes back to Casterbridge on the night of the wedding to see Elizabeth-
Jane, but she snubs him. He leaves again, telling her that he will not return.
he
soon regrets her coldness, and she and Farfrae, her new husband, go looking for
Henchard so that she can make her peace. Unfortunately, they find him too late,
discovering that he has died alone in the countryside. He has left a will: his dying
wish is to be forgotten.
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Susan Henchard (Newson)

usan is an honest but simple-minded woman who, as a young woman, is married
to Michael Henchard but sold (along with her baby girl Elizabeth-Jane) at a
drunken auction to a sailor by the name of Newson.
he believes there is
something legally binding about the sale, and goes to live with Newson as his wife.
The baby Elizabeth-Jane dies three months later, and
usan has a daughter with
Newson whom she names Elizabeth-Jane. It is this second Elizabeth-Jane whom
she later passes off as Henchard's daughter.

pfter living for years with Newson in Canada, the family of three returns to
England. One spring, Newson (who believes his wife is having second thoughts
about the validity of their marriage) is lost at sea. The impoverished widow
"Newson" returns with Elizabeth-Jane, who is now about eighteen years old. p
reader who cares to do the math will realize immediately that there's something
fishy about Elizabeth-Jane's age. In any case,
usan has never told Elizabeth-Jane
about Henchard or her first marriage, and certainly never told her about the auction
incident.

ecause she has no way to earn a living,
usan approaches Henchard for help.
he
does not correct his assumption that he is Elizabeth-Jane's father, nor does she tell
anyone about the auction incident. Henchard sends her a gift of five guineas (the
amount for which he sold her to Newson, and which is no doubt substantially less
than what he sent his mistress Lucetta when breaking off the affair) and sets her up
as a genteel new arrival to town. He courts her and remarries her.
he does not tell
him the truth about Elizabeth-Jane until her death a year or two later, when she
writes a deathbed confession and seals it in an envelope to be opened only on
Elizabeth-Jane's wedding day

Elizabeth-Jane Newson
pbout eighteen years old when she and her mother arrive in Casterbridge,
Elizabeth-Jane is the daughter of Newson.
he is a sweet, innocent young woman
who is ignorant of the social graces required of a mayor's stepdaughter.
he strives
to improve herself, reading constantly and studying Latin and geography.
Gradually she transforms herself into the kind of sophisticated young lady
Henchard believes he ought to have as a daughter. ëhen Henchard alternates
between doting on her and verbally abusing her, she never understands why,
especially when Henchard (mistakenly) reveals the "truth" about who her father
was.
he never really lives up to Henchard's expectations of her and is often
unhappy.

Elizabeth-Jane is a fairly passive person who does not let sudden wealth (or the
loss of it) affect her much. pfter her mother's death she accepts Lucetta's invitation
to live with her as a companion or chaperone.
he develops feelings for Donald
Farfrae until Lucetta attracts him away from her, and is disappointed for a while
but is ultimately happy when she is reunited with her father Newson (who turns out
not to be lost at all) and marries Farfrae also.

Lucetta Templeman (Lucette Le Sueur)

p native of the island of Jersey, the Francophone Lucette Le
ueur is the daughter
of a military officer.
he lives a nomadic life, and after the death of her parents
takes lodging in a boarding-house in Jersey. There she meets Michael Henchard,
who is traveling on business and who is taken sick with a bout of severe
depression.
he becomes infatuated with him, and he indulges her affection for
him without too much regard for appearances.

Lucetta is a few years older than Elizabeth-Jane and far more refined.
he speaks
fluent French as well as English, but conceals her knowledge of the language
because she does not want her history in Jersey to become well known.
he's
impulsive, like Henchard, but not spiteful or mean although she lets money and
status go to her head. pfter she marries, she slights Henchard and puts on airs,
alienating Henchard and refusing to help Jopp (an old acquaintance of hers) obtain
employment.

Exactly how far the affair between Lucetta and Henchard went is unclear. The
book strongly suggests that the two of them have had sexual relations, but is
ambiguous enough to not offend the sensibilities of 19th century readers. ëhatever
happened was enough for Lucetta's reputation to be so irreparably tarnished that
the only solution for her is to leave Jersey and change her name.
he takes the last
name of her deceased relative, Templeman, and alters her first name to make it
sound more English.

It is important to notice that scandal would not have broken out if all Lucetta and
Henchard did was walk, talk, or dine together in a boarding house. They would
have had to have spent a considerable amount of time alone together, or they
would have to have been caught in a very compromising situation. In any case
Henchard does propose marriage, stating that there was a risk his first wife would
return. Lucetta accepts the proposal, so the two are engaged. Henchard returns to
Casterbridge leaving Lucetta to bear the full brunt of the scandal until he is ready
to bring her to town, and she writes him passionate letters on a daily basis. Of
course, it is at this inopportune time that
usan arrives. Henchard cancels the
engagement and sends Lucetta a substantial gift of money.

Lucetta is scheduled to stop and pick up her love letters to Henchard, but a family
emergency (specifically, the death of her only living relative who was quite
wealthy) intervenes. Lucetta is left with substantial means. ëhen she learns of

usan's death, she moves to Casterbridge to determine whether she should pick up
her association with Henchard where she left off.
he's agreeable to the match at
first, but as she learns more about Henchard she likes him less and her rosy outlook
and tendency to rationalize away his cruel treatment of others decreases over time.
esides, she's attracted to Donald Farfrae instead.

Given that Henchard married somebody else, their original engagement to each
other is null and void. Yet Henchard, who finds himself very interested in Lucetta
particularly since she has come into money, bullies Lucetta into accepting his
proposal again. Lucetta elopes with Farfrae, and incurs Henchard's wrath. He
retrieves her love letters, toys with the idea of exposing her secret to her new
husband, and eventually sends her love letters by way of Jopp, who has reason to
hate both Henchard and Lucetta. The love affair becomes public, and the scandal
eventually contributes to Lucetta's death.

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Thomas Hardy's The Mayor of Casterbridge (1886) brings to light the harsh reality
of Victorian society's treatment of women. This aspect of the novel may be
illustrated by comparing present-day society's conditions for and attitudes towards
women with how characters in the story treat
usan Henchard, Lucetta
Templeman, and Elizabeth-Jane Newson.

"The Mayor of Casterbridge begins with a scene that dramatises the analysis of
female subjugation as a function of capitalism: the auction of Michael Henchard's
wife
usan at the fair at ëeydon-riors". Henchard's auctioning off his wife to the
highest bidder at ëeydon Fair in the first chapter (page 10 of the Macmillan
edition) verifies that in early nineteenth-century England women of her class in
rural districts were regarded as little more than stock to be disposed of at their
owners' whims: "it has been done elserwhere" (12) affirms that such sales were not
uncommon. pfter awaking from his drunken sleep and realizing that
usan has
indeed left with the "genial sailor" (Ch. 4, p. 26), Henchard rationalizes that

usan's "meekness" and ignorance--her "idiotic simplicity" (Ch. 2, p. 17)--has led
her to acquiesce in the transaction, and does not look further than the spiked
furmity for what drove him to sell her. His "introspective inflexibility" (Ch. 12, p.
89) makes it impossible for Henchard to see beyond his wife's gullibility and his
own alcohol abuse to the real cause of the sale, his stubborn pride. He thinks his
having sold her is a delusion--until he finds her wedding ring on the grassy floor
and the five shillings and the bank-notes in his breast-pocket.

Eighteen years later, when
usan returns to Henchard destitute after Richard
Newson's being reported lost at sea off the coast of Newfoundland, Henchard
attempts to make amends. plthough he may have been signalling his desire to be
forgiven, he encloses with a note to his former wife five pound notes and five
shillings, in total the same amount for which he had sold her.

He sat down at the table and wrote a few lines; next taking from his pocket-
book a five-pound note, which he put in the envelope with the letter, adding to
it, as by an after-thought, five shillings.

plthough conducted in his library rather than in his business office, this act
looks suspiciously like another cash transaction on the part of a merchant who
makes his living by buying and selling commodities, and knows to a penny
what it will take to make a purchase. Even the narrator notes that Henchard's
 gesture of enclosing the bank-notes and coins "may tacitly have said to her
[
usan] that he bought her back again" (Ch. 10, p. 79).

The remarriage of Michael and
usan Henchard is the product of what Hardy terms
"business-like determination" (Ch. 13, p. 93) and "strict mechanical rightness" (93)
in Henchard's conscientious thinking. Henchard courts
usan as if he were going to
work or performing a civic duty: "The visit was repeated again and again with
business-like determination by the mayor" (93). Outside the church on their
wedding day the common people's reaction to the event is negative; the average
Casterbridger feels that the Mayor is degrading himself. In the eyes of the
townsfolk he is "lowering his dignity by marrying so comparatively humble a
woman" (95). To extrapolate from this statement, women were (and still are)
regarded as status symbols, just as the right make of car is today. For many people
even today, female currency remains beauty; in these terms,
usan is regarded as
"bankrupt." eople in Casterbridge are mystified at Henchard's choice, for
usan
has neither the social status, nor physical attractiveness, nor money necessary for
one who wishes to marry a merchant-prince.

ps ert G. Hornback of the University of Michigan remarks, "there are striking

parallels" between
usan and the second woman from Henchard's past, Lucetta.
"
he tries to break from the bonds of her past, and this destroys her". ëhat
destroys Lucetta are the attitudes of society. For much of the duration of Lucetta's
existence in the novel she is the subject of ridicule. ëhen word is circulated
throughout her native Jersey about her intimacy with Henchard, it is she and not
Henchard who suffers opprobrium. This intimacy, when revealed in Casterbridge,
leads to her social downfall (signalled by the
kimmington), a miscarriage, and
subsequently her death.

Elizabeth-Jane, on the other hand, is not subjected to the public ridicule and
mistreatment to the same extent as Lucetta. Henchard appears to be the main
instigator of her worries. From the beginning of Henchard's remarriage, Henchard
takes it upon himself to see that Elizabeth-Jane conforms to the manners, fashion,
attitudes, and general lifestyle expected of the Mayor's daughter. First, he assumes
that Elizabeth will take his name without objecting: "You shall take it as if by
choice" (Ch. 19, p. 141).

If Elizabeth-Jane were male, Henchard would not have been as domineering in

his request since a man's name is "sacred." The next idiosyncratic imposition of
Henchard upon Elizabeth-Jane involves her style of handwriting; "Henchard's
creed was that proper young girls wrote ladies'-hand" (Ch. 19, p. 150). He makes
her feel ashamed at not having written "a line of chain-shot and sand-bags" (the
narrator is reading Henchard's mind here) rather than a proper Lady's Hand.
Henchard naturally assumes that, since Elizabeth is female, her writing will reflect
her relation to him. This, however, was not the case. Essentially, she had been
raised as a fisherman's daughter; Henchard somehow expected that his marrying
her mother would transform her into a well-bred lady.

resent-day society's conditions and attitudes have been compared to the

treatment of
usan, Lucetta, and Elizabeth-Jane. In The Mayor of Casterbridge,
Thomas Hardy attempted to make Victorian society more aware of its treatment of
and attitudes towards women. This object he effected through the chief female
characters of the novel, as well as through such minor figures as Mrs. Goodenough
(the furmity vendor), Nance Mockridge, Mother Cuxsom, and Mrs.
tannidge, the
genial publican of the Three Mariners Inn. ëhether of high or low estate, women
are consistently revealed either as insignificant workers or as pawns in male
power-games in this late Victorian novel.

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 pc
FULL TITLE · The Life a·d Death of the Mayor of Casterbridge p àtory of a Ma·
of Character
AUTHOR · Thomas Hardy
TYPE OF WORK · Novel
GENRE · Tragedy; naturalism; ildungsroman (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
„raphic magazine in England and in Harper¶s Weekly in the United
tates from
January to May 1886. It was first published in book form in 1886.
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
TENSE · ast
SETTING (TIME) · Mid-1800

SETTING (PLACE) · Casterbridge, England (a fictional town based on the city
of Dorchester)
PROTAGONIST · Michael Henchard
MAJOR CONFLICT · ëracked with guilt over selling his wife and child, Henchard
tries to escape from the shadow of his past and his overwhelming need to punish
himself for it.
RISING ACTION · Henchard arranges to remarry
usan.
CLIMAX · The furmity-woman, recognizing Henchard as the man who sold his
wife and child at a fair in ëeydon-riors, divulges his shameful secret to the town
of Casterbridge.
FALLING ACTION · Having fallen out with Elizabeth-Jane, his only hope for a
renewed life, Henchard slinks off to a humble country cottage to die.
THEMES · The importance of character; the value of a good name; the indelibility
of the past
MOTIFS · Coincidence; the tension between tradition and innovation; the tension
between public life and private life
SYMBOLS · The caged goldfinch; the bull; the collision of the wagons

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