The Life and Death of The Mayor of Casterbridge: A Story of a Man of Character (Signet Classics)

by Thomas Hardy

Other authorsWalter Allen (Afterword)
Paperback, 1962

Status

Available

Call number

FIC A3 Har

Publication

A Signet Classic (New American Library)

Pages

336

Description

Classic Literature. Fiction. HTML: From its astonishing opening scene, in which the drunken Michael Henchard sells his wife and daughter at a country fair, to the breathtaking series of discoveries at its conclusion, The Mayor of Casterbridge claims a unique place among Thomas Hardy's finest and most powerful novels. Rooted in an actual case of wife selling in early nineteenth-century England, the story builds into an awesome Sophoclean drama of guilt and revenge, in which the strong, willful Henchard rises to a position of wealth and power, only to achieve a most bitter downfall. Proud, obsessed, ultimately committed to his own destruction, Henchard is, as Albert Guerard has said, "Hardy's Lord Jim...his only tragic hero and one of the greatest tragic heroes in all fiction.".… (more)

Description

The Mayor of Casterbridge, one of Thomas Hardy’s most powerful novels, opens with a scene of shocking heartlessness. In a fit of drunken rage, Michael Henchard, an out-of-work laborer, sells his wife and baby daughter to a passing sailor. When the horror of what he has done dawns on him the next day, he determines to set his life on a different path, and through years of hard work and ambition rises to become the rich and respectable mayor of his town. Secret guilt continues to haunt this proud and brooding man, however, and when his wife and grown daughter return to Casterbridge, Henchard is set on the path to a dramatic confrontation with his own deeply flawed nature. Hardy’s keen insight into the course of wayward lives and his instinctive feel for the beauty of the rural landscape come together in this unforgettable portrait of a tragic hero.

Collection

Barcode

2140

Language

Original language

English

Original publication date

1886

Physical description

336 p.; 7.1 inches

User reviews

LibraryThing member atimco
I first read The Mayor of Casterbridge in my early teens, and I remember my shock at what happens in the opening chapters. It was interesting to revisit this novel as an older reader and see if what I remembered was accurate. For the most part it was, even down to the pennies that Susan Henchard
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lays by to weight her eyelids when she dies. This was rather heavy reading for a young teen, and it certainly made an impression on me.

The storyline is well-known. In a moment of drunken anger, Michael Henchard sells his wife Susan and daughter to a passing sailor at Weydon Fair. He then goes on to become a well-respected corn dealer in the nearby town of Casterbridge. Susan believes that the sale is binding and lives with the sailor as his wife. But when she learns the truth of the matter, she sets out to make things right with her husband, for the sake of her daughter. And thus begins a saga of deception, twisted relationships, and self-destruction.

Credit for the original comparison between The Mayor of Casterbridge (1886) and Victor Hugo's Les Misérables (1862) goes to my friend ncgraham, whose passing observation on that score gave me a new perspective as I read. The parallels in this story to Les Misérables are really stunning. Toward the end, I noticed that Hardy calls some of the impoverished Casterbridge people "misérables." Intentional allusion? Both stories follow the life of a man who suffers from a foolish act all his life. Somehow this man becomes the guardian of a young girl not his daughter, and that girl is the light of his life. And in both stories, her romantic relationship pulls her away from her adopted father and results in a separation between them.

But unlike Valjean, Henchard never is redeemed. Elizabeth-Jane does not appear in time to speak with him on his deathbed as Cosette does with Valjean. And Henchard's life is not particularly inspiring and beautiful like Valjean's — in fact, it's quite the opposite. I think the difference is because God is not a character in His own right in Casterbridge as He is in Les Misérables. Everything is determined by human passion, by chance and coincidence, and we're left feeling as if the floor could give way at any moment. Step on a rotten bit and you'll fall through — and there's no one there to catch you. It's grim.

I am unsure what Hardy is really trying to portray in this story. One line in particular stood out to me, about "Nature's jaunty readiness to support unorthodox social principles" (312). Is Hardy supporting these unsanctioned relationships because Elizabeth-Jane was produced by them? Or are the social issues just a backthought to the engrossing character of Henchard? I felt a sense of futility as I read; there were so many chances for Henchard to give up his destructive course, but he never can.

As with the other Hardy books I've read, this isn't a novel that I will ever really love. It's a good story, but ultimately it left me feeling frustrated. I suppose that means I cared about the characters, but I don't know that I really did. This novel never even comes close to the overarching greatness that is Les Misérables, but it's worth a read at least.
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LibraryThing member ncgraham
The Mayor of Casterbridge opens with a shocking episode. Tired, bitter, and more than a little drunk, journeyman-laborer Michael Henchard puts his wife Susan and their daughter Elizabeth-Jane up for auction on the fairgrounds of Weydon-Priors. Unexpectedly, a sailor takes the offer, and as Susan is
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willing, Henchard parts with her for a mere five guineas. The next morning, realizing what he has done, he swears an oath before God to "avoid all strong liquors for the space of twenty-one years to come." Twenty years later, he has become not only the most wealthy and prominent man in the town of Casterbridge, but also its mayor. Yet shadows of his past as well as new acquaintances soon come into his life in the persons of the young Donald Farfrae, Susan and Elizabeth-Jane, and the cosmopolitan Lucetta Templeman.

This being my first Hardy novel, I must say that I was very impressed with him as a writer—a presumptuous remark, I know, but while some classics are famous for great stories rather than great craftsmanship, The Mayor of Casterbridge features both. Little touches struck me throughout, such as the fact that upon their reunion, Henchard gives Susan five guineas—almost as though he is atoning for his sale of her twenty years prior! Before he was a writer, Hardy was an architect, which means that his descriptions of the structures in and about Casterbridge are both believable and fascinating. Indeed, one of the novel's most haunting passages occurs when Henchard, having learned a fearful secret, walks out by himself to the ruins of a Franciscan priory, with a mill attached to it and the gallows nearby. I would not be surprised to learn, moreover, that during that period of Hardy's life he was much around "common" folk, because his portrayal of them in this novel seems very convincing. And yet he was also extremely well-educated and well-read, quoting Shakespeare, Greek mythology, scripture, and Sir Walter Scott (who may have been an influence, especially when it comes to the conversations among the working class) with ease.

Albert J. Guerard, who wrote the introduction to my edition, sees the Bible as primary literary parallel to Hardy's book, working off of Henchard's own comment "'Tis as simple as scripture history." There is a sense in which Henchard is a larger-than-life Old Testament figure, but nothing came to mind so much while I was reading as Victor Hugo's Les Misérables. At the beginning of both stories a man commits a terrible deed that will change the course of his life, then repents and tries to live a normal life (and also becomes a mayor!). And yet the outcomes are quite different, for while Valjean is able to overcome his obstacles and extend grace in turn, Henchard ultimately succumbs to the consequences of his "original sin," if you will.

There is a sense in which fate is against Henchard—he himself notes that everything he does, no matter how pure his motives, comes back to cause him some grief—but Hardy also quotes Novalis in saying that "Character is Fate," so Henchard does ruin himself as well. Part of his tragedy is that there are two sides of himself that he cannot reconcile. There is the passionate, arbitrary, almost animal Henchard that we meet at the beginning of the book. And then there is the persona he creates for himself by dint of hard work over twenty years, the "Man of Character" of the subtitle. The issue is that everything he does in this guise is characterized by duty, not grace or love (he marries Susan again because he feels beholden to her, and had planned to do the same for Lucetta when he thought Susan dead). For him, these two qualities can never merge and become one.

Despite Henchard's centrality to the tale, much of it is seen through Elizabeth-Jane's eyes, and it is she who dictates the central concepts of the novel. When she meets Farfrae she is attracted to him because "he seemed to feel exactly as she felt about life and its surroundings—that they were a tragical rather than a comical thing" and later she refrains from dressing too gaily because "it would be tempting Providence to hurl mother and me down, and afflict us again as He used to do." These are the sort of words one would expect to hear from Hardy, whose work has a reputation for bleakness, and yet by the conclusion Elizabeth-Jane has changed her mind a little about these things, as is evident from the novel's final words. It seems to me that Hardy is using her to say that despite the sins of our fathers, so powerfully encapsulated by Henchard, there is hope for the future.

In passing, I must commend Pocket Books for their Enriched Classics edition. Not only does it feature eye-catching and unconventional cover art, but the Reader's Supplement is a splendid companion to the text. As well as specific notes, it features a whole essay regarding the tale's backgrounds, and pictorial examples of some nineteenth-century fashions and architectural features that have since become obsolete.

Though (as my father says) one could not read Hardy back-to-back for the sake of one's good humor, I'm looking forward to trying more of his novels in the future, as well as the ITV adaptation of Mayor.
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LibraryThing member AlisonY
Oh Mr. Hardy - canst thou ever forgive me for doubting thee?

The book is finished. My heart is sore. In my grief I can't bear to put it back on the bookshelf yet. Let it stay beside me on the bedside cabinet just a little while longer.

How wrong was I in my original assessment of Hardy's prose. I
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wept whilst reading this book. WEPT! Real tears! And not just once either.

Hardy initially cut to the chase with alarming alacrity, and it almost put me off continuing as I felt he had divulged the plot before I was engrossed enough to care much for the characters. More fool me. That was merely the tip of the iceberg, for the tale that developed was to have more twists and turns than a doorknob.

And the characterisation - oh, like nothing I've read before. Mr. Henchard was the most unpleasant of protagonists - harsh, proud, stubborn, jealous, cold, pompous - yet the whole way through the novel I was rooting for him, willing him on, desperately hoping he'll say the right thing here, do the right thing there. In the same way that my husband's wayward driving compels me to pump an imaginary brake as a passenger, so too Henchard's repeated mistakes had me constantly silently screaming "Stop! Look out! Take care!".

I'm now 5 books into my 50 book target. How I fear the 45 others shall now pale by comparison.
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LibraryThing member reading_fox
One of Hardy's more famous books, detailing the rise and fall of one Michael Henchard, and various persons related to him.

The story starts in the 1800s with Michael and his young wife and child entering the fair at Wheldon-Priors just outside Castorbridge (real life Dorchester). Michael is a
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journeyman hay trusser looking for work. He is quick tempered, bold, loud voiced and of rash but sudden judgement who bears a grudge long - an unsubtle man. The book is subtitled "The story of a man of Character".

The story then jumps 19 yrs until Michael is inexplicably Mayor of Castorbridge. No reasons are given for how this came to be. However it is clear that his rash judgement has recently involved him in a purchase of bad wheat, causing much resentment. A passing Scotsman, one Donald Farfrae has another inexplicable cure for this, and Michael persuedes him to stay on as his business manager. Donald is everything that Michael is not, cool headed, quietly spoken, prepared to take advice and consider positions carefully.

Although the story focuses on Michael it is no surprise that in all respects Donald, without meaning to, surpasses him in every way - each time it is carefully pointed out the faults of Michael's character that allow this to happen. The ending is not entirely unexpected, but tragically sad nethertheless. Michael's 'Will' being one of the more often quoted pieces of Hardy's work.

The other chief character is that of the young daughter from the opening chapter Elizabeth Jane. Timid and meek, as is perhaps true of most well bred girls at that time, she plays little part other than to be a source of affection for the various men thourghout the book.

The story is told in a dense prose that is however clearly intelligible. My edition had some 300 odd notes on the meanings of more obscure words that Hardy picks - many of which have fallen out of use as agricultural practise has changed. The meaning of many is obvious from context but the notes are sometimes helpful. Well written, if a little slow at times. Hardy took some liberties with the geography but is more or less based on the actual countryside and similar events of 18c England.
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LibraryThing member janoorani24
This is the story of Michael Henchard’s life in rural England at the start of the 19th century. Casterbridge was Hardy’s ninth novel, and shows the maturity of a seasoned novelist. Hardy trained to be an architect, and became a novelist gradually through self-education; he didn’t become
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published until he was in his 30s.

Casterbridge opens with a scene at an agricultural fair where Michael Henchard, his wife, Susan and baby daughter have stopped to rest while on a journey to find work. Henchard is a farm laborer and the family is very poor. In a fit of impulsive anger and drunkenness, Henchard sells his wife to a passing sailor. Wife-selling was a method among the poor of getting a divorce in rural England, but had become very uncommon by the early 19th century, and had actually been declared illegal as a means of divorce in the 18th century. Henchard’s wife was uneducated and so believed that the sale was binding. When Henchard came to his senses the next day, he tried unsuccessfully to find the sailor and his wife. By Chapter Three, about 18 years have passed and Henchard is a successful corn merchant and Mayor of the town of Casterbridge. Susan and her daughter, Elizabeth-Jane are destitute; the sailor being thought lost at sea, and come to Casterbridge to seek out Henchard.

Michael Henchard is a passionate, impulsive man. He loves intensely, but is quick to anger, and this leads to many problems in his life. Early on in the story, he develops strong and instant liking for a younger man, Farfrae, and hires him to be the manager of his business. Unfortunately this means the manager he had hired by letter, and who arrives a day later is turned aside, which has serious consequences later in the story. This is the same day that he discovers Susan and Elizabeth-Jane have come to Casterbridge to find him. Henchard stages a marriage with Susan so the townsfolk won’t know that she is actually his wife, and to protect Susan and Elizabeth-Jane’s reputations. Again, this leads to the unfortunate recanting of another marriage proposal Henchard had made to a woman on the isle of Jersey whom he had compromised in an affair before the return of Susan. This woman, Lucetta, arrives in Casterbridge after Susan’s death and falls in love with Farfrae, who had been paying court to Elizabeth-Jane. Subsequent tragedy ensues for all concerned.

Henchard’s passions and impulsive anger lead him to make many mistakes, both in his business dealings and his personal affairs. All of these mistakes bring him low in life, and he loses his business, his house and all those he loved.

Hardy’s telling of the story is beautifully done, with great poetry of language and use of scenic descriptions. He uses a lot of allusions to classical characters, and historic events that went over my head, but probably made sense to readers of his time. The edition I read was an Everyman’s Library edition, and contained no footnotes to help with these obscure references and with the language of the time. I read an annotated edition of Far From the Madding Crowd a couple of years ago, and wish I had had the same type of edition for this book. Even so, I greatly enjoyed the book and give it four stars.
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LibraryThing member m.belljackson
The Mayor of Casterbridge rates 5 stars for all the compelling descriptions, yet only 4 for the plot which does tend to go on and revolve back around itself too many times.

How welcome it would have been if young Elizabeth-Jane had just taken off back to the seaside to live with Captain Newsome
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until or if she decided to marry!
That would have left her sad and deceitful ex-father and her tepid ex-love to sort life out between them.
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LibraryThing member fingerpost
In a prologue like first chapter, a drunken Michael Henchard sells his wife and daughter to the highest bidder, and the woman and girl go off with a traveling sailor. The rest of the book takes place many years later. Henchard has managed to rise to be a wealthy and prominent citizen of
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Casterbridge, and is the Mayor. Then his long gone wife and daughter return unexpectedly. Also involved are a briliant and charming young Scotsman and a woman from a nearby town that Henchard took advantage of for his pleasure. The story is sad on many levels, with all characters getting their turn to share in the misery.
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LibraryThing member Laurenbdavis
One of my favorite books. Perhaps the greatest depiction of the repercussions of untreated alcoholism and the 'dry drunk' I've ever read. The faulty perceptions, the guilt, the grandiosity, the paranoia, the self-centeredness, the lies, the secrets, the horrible collateral damage, it's all here, as
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only Hardy could write it. I've read the book before, several times, but every time I read it I find a new layer. The depiction of the "Mayor" is heartbreaking, from beginning to end, a true tragedy in the sense he is never able to get out of his own way. It's a book I wish I'd written.
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LibraryThing member morryb
Hardy gives a good account of how one evil choice can lead to many others when a person seeks redemption without confession. Michael Henchard wants to improve himself, but he never wants to reveal his past. For Instance, Henchard swears off liquor, but he never confesses why he ha done so. Thomas
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aHardy really seems to understand many of our own thought processes as we decide we can make up for our past transgressions if we only really lead a good life. The mayor's past continually comes back on him, until he finally has no place to turn. From there it leads to the inevitable tragic ending. This is not a heart warming feel good book, but it is a good read.
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LibraryThing member adb42
The Mayor of Casterbridge is quintessentially Thomas Hardy. Although the main character rises high, he continues to be haunted by his past misdeeds. You'll trip over the story if you visit Dorchester, England.
LibraryThing member charlie68
Generally a good read, I love short chapters, I'm not a big fan of this edition however. I find notes irritating, even if they provide useful information, and terrible if they dont. But they novel itself flows along quite easily and the reader never feels tired.
LibraryThing member edella
In a fit of drunken anger, Michael Henchard sells his wife and baby daughter for five guineas at a country fair. Over the course of the following years, he manages to establish himself as a respected and prosperous pillar of the community of Casterbridge, but behind his success there always lurk
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the shameful secret of his past and a personality prone to self-destructive pride and temper. a powerful and sympathetic study of the heroic but deeply flawed Henchard is also an intensely dramatic work, tragically played out against the vivid backdrop of a close-knit Dorsetshire town.
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LibraryThing member Ayling
I've always been a bit wary to read Hardy because his stories always seem so depressing and this book hasn't dissuaded me of that. He writes much more about the average person, the rural worker people and how poor and hard their lives are.Henchard sold his wife and child at a country fair after a
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bout of heavy drinking. Wholly repentant by the morning he bitterly regrets his actions. However, unable to find them again he wanders into the town of Casterbridge, where through hard work he raises himself up to be the Mayor - from nothing at all.I like Hardy's style of writing, his simplicity and subtle way of expressing himself and his characters. Some times it sounds very matter of fact. He gently weaves character traits into a person, and guides you through the story.I felt sorry for Henchard. I wanted to bash him around the head too. I cannot dislike him though for all his mistakes and pig-headedness. He really was his own worst enemy. In the end I respected him, he was a self-made man but he was ashamed of his background and the poverty of his previous life pervaded his thoughts and confidence in himself.The ending was powerful and gave me a sharp punch in the gut. I was already aware of the ending from watching a TV film of it a while ago, though I'd forgotten most of the story apart from the beginning and the ending. This was perhaps fortunate as the copy of the book actually tells you what happens at the end on the back cover. So a word of warning: Do not pick up the British TV-tie in edition with Alan Bates on the front cover unless you already know the conclusion!I will definitely be reading more of Hardy's works from now on, he is an interesting man and I like reading about this other side of the Victorian society you never really get to hear about.
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LibraryThing member john257hopper
My first ever visit to Dorchester prompted me to read my first ever Thomas Hardy novel - very few other writers are so closely associated with a specific town or city; the fictional town in this novel's title is based very closely on Dorset's county town. I loved this novel, and will certainly be
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reading more Hardy. The plot is simple yet at the same time captivating and timeless. Michael Henchard, an itinerant farm labourer, while drunk one day sells his wife and baby daughter to a sailor at a fair. He wakes up sober and immediately regrets his choice, forswearing alcohol for 21 years and going off to search for them, but it is too late. The ramifications of this moment of madness ring throughout the years and affect Henchard's life and those of his family and others. This is a story about fortune's wheel and how it can bring one man up and cast another man down. Marvellous stuff, full of colourful incident and some quirky minor characters.
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LibraryThing member markfinl
Thomas Hardy is the anti-Jane Austen. Where her novels end in marriage, his novels usually end gloomily. The Mayor of Casterbridge is no exception. It reminds me of a Greek drama, where the main character is doomed from the start because of hubris. The locals of Casterbridge function as a Greek
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chorus as well, commenting on the action of the main players. I didn't find this quite as affecting as his other works because there are just too many plot contrivances. Characters appear and disappear, are dead then alive. For a novel so grounded in the realities of early 19th Century English rural life, the plot twists felt out of place.
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LibraryThing member Schmerguls
Eminently readable, smoother tha Far From the Madding Crowd, but thardly the tour de force of tess. Despite modern opinion, I still think Tess the best of Hardy's novels
LibraryThing member mermind
This is the second novel of Hardy's I have read this year. It is not as romantic as Far from the Madding Crowd, but it was an enjoyable read. Hardy has a reputation as somber, but although this is a novel of tragedy, a great man overcome by his own flaws, particularly pride, it was an exhilarating
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read. I loved Hardy as a poet before I appreciated his novels. His signature use of language combines the romantic, Victorian and modern in a way that is surprising and engaging. He has a sense of humor. His characters are types, but complex types, with contradictions that create a winding plot. The plot is not surprising. I would have to use the word "adumbration" multiple times in detailing the story's development. The romantic use of the fictional Wessex with its Roman ruins and its remnants of Druidic traditions holds huge appeal for me. The scale of the novel is not epic, it is intimate and compassionate.
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LibraryThing member KimMR

This is the story of Michael Henchard, who sells his wife and infant daughter for five guineas while drunk at a local fair. The consequences of this one impulsive action haunt his life thereafter. Henchard is a tragic figure, doomed not only by the character flaws of which he is only too aware, but
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also by a malignant, inescapable fate.

Hardy's writing is breathtaking. The novel is full of stunningly beautiful descriptive language. Hardy paints vivid pictures with words, bringing both characters and setting to life. It's a novel full of memorable characters. Henchard is the most striking, but in their quieter way Donald Farfarie, the Scotsman who wins and then loses Henchard's affection, the good and long-suffering Elizabeth-Jane and the complex Lucetta are also compelling, as are the secondary characters who form the chorus.

This is an intensely sad novel. It had the same effect on me as a Greek or a Shakespearean tragedy: you know it'll end badly, no matter how hard the characters try to avoid their fate. And I ached for Henchard, a man who desperately wants to find redemption, even when pride, arrogance, temper and impulsiveness undo him at every turn.

I listened to this as an audiobook narrated by Simon Vance. He does a magnificient job, particularly with Henchard and Farfarie, although (in common with most male narrators) he struggles with young female voices.

It appears that I've turned into a huge Thomas Hardy fan after steafastly avoiding his novels for more than thirty years. Who'd have thought?
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LibraryThing member Glorybe1
[edit]

I loved this book, I am a complete convert to Thomas Hardy and am saddened to think I have left it this long before delving in! He has a wonderful way of painting a picture with his words! You all of a sudden can see exactly what he is saying even though the language is so unlike the way we
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would talk today, I love it!
Henchard arrives in town with his wife and baby daughter with very little money and no job, After a very stupid drunken act he throws his and his families lives into a downward spiral that he never escapes. He moves to Casterbridge and over the years things seem to be on the up for him, but as I said he can never make right the mistake he made and he is to live a nightmare for what he did. A great story, very well thought out and written, a brilliant book.
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LibraryThing member Kristelh
This book is beautifully written and is more of a character driven story than a plot driven. Henchard in a episode of drunkenness auctions of his wife and daughter. Takes a vow to never drink for 21 years to make amends for what he has done. He becomes a successful businessman and is made Mayor of
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the town of Casterbridge. Into his life enters a Scotsman that he loves, his wife and her daugher, Elizabeth-Jane. Of course there is also the "other woman".

I especially enjoyed the first pictures that Hardy creates where we see the man, woman, child walking into the village, tired, with no place to lay their heads and rest.

Love this quote, "one who deems anything possible at the hands of Time and Chance except perhaps, fair play."

"when I was rich, I didn't need what I could have hadand now I be poor I can't have what I need."

"simple sorry is better than looming misery."

Love how Hardy paints this picture of late summer/fall "...hedges, tress, and other vegetation, which had entered the blackened green stage of colour that this doomed leaves pass through on their way to dingy, and yellow, and red. I love observing nature and this just range so true to me. And the book arrived at the end of fall here in Minnesota. So very fitting picture.

Hardy uses references to other literature, frequently using the Bible such as Jacob in Padan-Aran and excerpts from Greek mythology, Bellerophon. Austerliz (Napoleonic War),

Character of fate - even sober Henchard is "vehement gloomy being who had quitted the ways of vulgar without the light to guide him on a better way."

Henchard is a man who is isolated/lonely; he is separated from his wife by death, his friend by estrangement and his daughter by ignorance.
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LibraryThing member la2bkk
A truly outstanding book, and perhaps my favorite work of 19th century British literature.

The author's style is engaging, with interesting story lines and character development that flow seamlessly throughout. Mr. Hardy has that rare ability to capture the reader's attention and maintain it with
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wonderfully intertwined twists and turns that make for a compelling novel.

Highly recommended.
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LibraryThing member hemingwayok
Ah! This was my first Hardy book to read and I didn't know it was going to be like this. The plot is interesting, but as much as the characters change...I don't know, they still seem underdeveloped. I did love the theme of redemption that permeated throughout the story. Can a man really overcome
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his past? What if no one will let him forget? Moreso, what if his human failings will never let him transcend himself? It is a good book, but don't expect to smile at the end. The characters do so many messed up things that it sort of reminds you of the world we live in.
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LibraryThing member dalmatica
A young man, his wife, and their baby daughter stop in at a country fair after travelling through the English countryside searching for work. In a fit of alcoholic rage, the man sells auctions off his wife and daughter to a sailor passing through for a few coins. When he sobers up the next day and
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realizes what he's done, he searches the nearby towns trying to find them and undo his actions. He fails to find them and vows to give up alcohol. Years later, he's become a succesful businessman and mayor of Casterbridge. When his wife and grown daughter suddenly reappear, his life takes an unexpected turn. Success turns to failure, lives intertwine not always for the better, and everything he's worked so hard for look as though it will crumble before his eyes.

Hardy masterfully weaves a fantastic tale filled with the consequences of secrets and lies, the excesses of alcohol, and the power of love and redemption. I had tried to read this a few years ago but wasn't in the right frame of mind. This time around, however, I was hooked from the opening scene. I found The Mayor of Casterbridge to be a powerful story that had me eagerly looking forward to each spare moment I could spend reading a few pages or even a paragraph of two. I highly recommend picking up a copy and reading it yourself.
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LibraryThing member fig2
This dark novel begins with a man in a drunken rage, who sells his wife and daughter at a fair one evening. Full of remorse upon realization, he vows to redeem his life and does so, yet, his secret weighs heavily on him. Hardy is his usual brooding and heart-rending self here, but to a beautiful,
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profound effect.
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LibraryThing member bluehat1955
Hardy is one of my favorite authors, and perhaps I read the Mayor of Casterbridge (i.e., too slowly, over too many evenings), but I felt that the conclusion arrived with abruptness and, additionally, there was hardly a denouement. As many of Hardy's novels are, this is the tale of a man made
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intractably despondent by his own tragic faults -- but Hardy hardly gives him his due as he renders an account of the main character's demise.

The book, of course, is stunningly poignant. A moving vignette is the brief interlude when Henchard prepares breakfast for Elizabeth-Jane. As she gives herself a small dose of self-reproach for sleeping idly while he is caring for her sustenance he states, "I do it everday....how should I live if not by my own hands." And in that one statement Hardy and Henchard sum up the lonely existence of every being.
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Rating

½ (1373 ratings; 3.9)

Call number

FIC A3 Har
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