The Mayor of Casterbridge by Thomas Hardy
Thomas Hardy wrote the novel 'The Mayor of Casterbridge' in 1886. Two
of the main characters, Donald Farfrae and Michael Henchard have a
contrast in luck and Hardy uses characterisation, language, historical
and social background and a craft in the structure of his novel to
help bring across this point. During this essay I am going to comment
upon how Hardy does this and further consider the view that, Farfrae's
good fortune is a result of Henchard's ill luck.
Throughout the novel there are many examples of Farfrae's good fortune
resulting in Henchard's ill luck. One of the most important examples
in the book is when Henchard and Farfrae both gamble on the weather.
Henchard is told that the weather will be awful and the harvest would
be ruined so he buys up all the grain early hoping to sell it off for
more. Farfrae on the other hand risks the weather hoping it'll be a
good harvest. When the weather turns out good and Henchard has to sell
his grain off for even less than he brought it for, he becomes
bankrupt and looses everything. Whereas Farfrae makes a lot of money
on the good harvest and ends up owning Henchard's manor house,
furniture and even his business. This good fortune for Farfrae is a
result of Henchard's ill luck because if Henchard risked the weather
he wouldn't have lost his money, home or business which means Farfrae
wouldn't have got any of it.
Hardy uses characterisation to shape his characters and to make them
who they are. As an author he is very good at this as he is seen as a
novelist of character and environment because of his great in-depth
descriptions of bot...
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...y. From that time onwards
Henchard's life went down hill at the same rate Farfrae's got better.
In the end Henchard was back where he started (after he sold Susan and
before he went to Casterbridge) with absolutely nothing. Farfrae
though had everything, - a business, plenty of money, a home, a wife
and the status of Mayor in Casterbridge. These two nearly exact
mirrored lines show that Farfrae's good fortune must be the result of
Henchard's ill luck because as Henchard lost something at the same
time Farfrae gained something e.g. Lucetta.
After considering the view "Farfrae's good fortune is a result of
Henchard's ill luck," in detail and commenting upon how Hardy used
characterisation, language, social and historical background and his
craft in the structure of the novel to show this, I know that it is
correct.
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