The Mayor of Casterbridge: A Story Of A Man Of Character by Thomas Hardy

"Happiness was but the occasional episode in a general drama of pain.” - The Mayor of Casterbridge

I have been meaning to read Thomas Hardy for some time now and I figured when I finally got around to it I would start with Tess of the Ubervilles.  But this month I am taking the Victober Challenge and the group-read is The Mayor of Casterbridge (1886) and for someone like me who had never read Hardy before this book was quite the introduction.  The writing is brilliant, the characters are so memorable and it's a gripping read as well.  But having said this I am not sure how quickly I want to jump into my next Thomas Hardy novel and I will discuss why a bit later but first the plot.

The Mayor of Casterbridge takes place in rural England in the early part of the 19th century and the novel centers around Michael Henchard who is the mayor of the fictional town of Casterbridge.  Michael is a very successful man but he harbors a dark secret.  When he was twenty-one and living in another town he sold his wife and daughter to another man at the country fair.  How this could happen is that Michael Henchard's wife Susan was fed up with her drunken husband offering to sell her and their infant daughter Elizabeth Jane and so she agrees to go with the young sailor.

Michael wakes up the next morning and is horrified at what he did in his drunken state.  He tries to find Susan and his daughter Elizabeth Jane but they are gone.  No trace of them.  Eighteen years go by and Michael is the respected Mayor and business owner in the rural community of Casterbridge but he has never forgotten what he did when he was young.  He has never remarried and has sworn off alcohol.  The town knows nothing about his past.  He has become a lonely man.

And then one day Susan and Elizabeth Jane arrive in Casterbridge looking for Michael.  Susan is recently widowed from her sailor husband Richard Newson and Elizabeth Jane has never been told the truth about who Michael is and what happened that night in the tavern.  She thinks Michael is simply a distant relative that her mother is seeking out for help.

Susan and Michael reunite and marry but not long after the wedding Susan dies and leaves Michael a letter which is quite a revelation and the contents of this letter greatly affects his relationship with Elizabeth Jane.  Two other characters are also featured prominently in the novel.  The first is Donald Farfrae who starts out as Michael's friend and business assistant but Michael through his jealousy and suspicion turns Donald into a rival.  There is also Lucetta Templeman who Michael thoughtlessly dumps when Susan and Elizabeth Jane walk back into his life. But now that Susan is gone Michael assumes he can pick up with Lucetta where they left off.  

As the novel progresses Michael Henchard's fortunes take a nosedive on a level that I have rarely seen in a novel. Michael is a flawed man and his pride and temper lead to his downfall.  His past continues to stalk him as well.  But he is also capable of good and so the bad luck and the humiliations that continue to befall him I found increasingly hard to take.  

And so I came away from The Mayor of Casterbridge awed by Thomas Hardy's brilliance but hoping to find a Hardy novel where the outcome for the main character is a bit more uplifting and not so incredibly bleak as it was for poor Michael Henchard in The Mayor of Casterbridge.