Mayor of Casterbridge essays

Mayor of Casterbridge essays The Thomas Hardy novel, The Mayor of Casterbridge - The Story of a Man of Character, delivers exactly what the title states. The protagonist of this novel, Michael Henchard, is the man whose character is on display and judgement. From first impression at the beginning of the novel, Henchards character is, at best, questionable, because while walking with his wife and baby daughter he is paying no attention to them and is ignoring them on purpose. At this point, while in a poor mental state, Henchard sells his wife, Susan, and daughter, Elizabeth-Jane. The real story begins here, because this is where the reader is going to learn what the title really means, it is when Henchard reinvents himself into the man we see in the novel. Contrary to the view shown to the reader of Henchard at the beginning of the novel and even the majority of impressions throughout, Henchard is a heroic character who has fate and his own flaws working against him. Despite the fact that Henchard does lose the battle in this story and ends in an unexpected environment, he is the hero of The Mayor of Casterbridge. Becoming the Mayor of a town named Casterbridge from a lowly hay-trusser, he is shown as a man who has accomplished much on his own hard work and resilience. He also wants to be a fair man by doing the right thing, for example, when he learns that Susan has come back he wants to make her his wife again. However, this also relates to the fact that Henchard wants to hold his name in good repute, in his eyes and the eyes of everyone else. The most obvious choice that Henchard makes about being concerned about his name is the instructions of his will at the end of the novel when his name does not have the same value it once did. That Elizabeth-Jane Farfrae be not told of my death, or made to grieve on account of me . . . (Hardy 325). Henchards name is...