Analysis of Thomas Hardy´s The Mayor of Casterbridge

Thomas Hardy (1840-1928), native to Dorchester, England, was a novelist and poet that spent the majority of his life as a career writer. His crowning achievement was The Mayor of Casterbridge, which he wrote in 1886; it highlighted his signature style of tragedy and indifference towards its main characters. He spent the entirety of his childhood and most of his adulthood in his private study because of recurring unknown illnesses. As a result, he observed the countryside that surrounded him and implanted it into the geography of his novels and poems. Most scholars believe that the setting of The Mayor of Casterbridge was a recreation of his hometown Dorchester. Hardy also had an exclusive circle of friends and family that heavily influenced his writing, such as his mother, who taught him the hardships of lower-class living. His acquaintances influenced him so much that the story of The Mayor of Casterbridge parallels his own life, especially the rags-to-riches story of its main character, Michael Henchard. Societal influences, such as class barriers and emerging secular ideas, including Darwin’s theory of evolution, became a critical part of his writing style during the latter half of his life. These ideas influenced him to write about an indifferent, demythologized world that is distant from its inhabitants. In The Mayor of Casterbridge, Hardy’s writing style was greatly influenced by his sickliness, friends and family, and a changing society.

Hardy’s unstable health influenced him to write The Mayor of Casterbridge from a uniquely observant perspective. As a newborn, he was so sickly that he was left to die, only to be saved by the midwife (Millgate). His early upbringing was frequented with illnesses that forced him to stay i...

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...ere conspiring against him. Hardy’s writing style, however, was not devoid of human connections; his friends and family taught him about contemporary society - its hardships as well as its luxuries. His lifelong lessons are mirrored through the story of Michael Henchard, whose character development parallels his (Hardy’s) own life. Both of them began their lives as poor village boys, only to become the most affluent men in their respective communities. Unfortunately, like Henchard, Hardy’s success eventually tapered down due to recurring illnesses. He became a hypochondriac in the latter half of his life, and the indifferent tone of his writing style began to overwhelm his works. It is quite evident that Hardy’s life influences had an extreme effect on his writing; nevertheless, it was to his benefit because he became well-known for his tragic, star-crossed stories.