The Mayor of Casterbridge by Thomas Hardy

1518 Words4 Pages

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...

... middle of paper ...

...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.

Open Document