The Mayor of Casterbridge
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Key Facts
full title · The Life and Death of the Mayor of Casterbridge: A Story of a Man of Character
author · Thomas Hardy
type of work · Novel
genre · Tragedy; naturalism; Bildungsroman (a novel that charts the protagonist’s moral and psychological development)
language · English
time and place written · 1885–1886, Dorchester, England
date of first publication · The novel appeared in serial form concurrently in Graphic magazine in England and in Harper’s Weekly in the United States from January to May 1886. It was first published in book form in 1886.
publisher · Smith, Elder (in England); Henry Holt (in America)
narrator · The anonymous narrator speaks in the third person.
point of view · The point of view is, for the most part, limited to observations concerning the external world of the characters: how they act, what they see, and what they say. Occasionally an omniscient narrator breaks in to provide necessary information or back story, as in Chapter XXII where the narrator breaks the chronological flow of the story in order to provide essential information about events that occurred the previous night.
tone · Tragic, melodramatic, naturalistic
tense · Past
setting (time) · Mid-1800s
setting (place) · Casterbridge, England (a fictional town based on the city of Dorchester)
protagonist · Michael Henchard
major conflict · Wracked with guilt over selling his wife and child, Henchard tries to escape from the shadow of his past and his overwhelming need to punish himself for it.
rising action · Henchard arranges to remarry Susan.
climax · The furmity-woman, recognizing Henchard as the man who sold his wife and child at a fair in Weydon-Priors, divulges his shameful secret to the town of Casterbridge.
falling action · Having fallen out with Elizabeth-Jane, his only hope for a renewed life, Henchard slinks off to a humble country cottage to die.
themes · The importance of character; the value of a good name; the indelibility of the past
motifs · Coincidence; the tension between tradition and innovation; the tension between public life and private life
symbols · The caged goldfinch; the bull; the collision of the wagons
foreshadowing · Farfrae’s accumulation of Henchard’s business, social position, and family is first foreshadowed by Henchard’s failed day of celebration, which takes place alongside the Scotchman’s successful party.
Characters
by atleastimnotaprincess, March 23, 2013
All of the characters (besides the troubled Henchard) are almost completely shallow and almost petty. Isn't it odd how Frafaer had no difficulty getting back together with Elizabeth-Jane after he hurt her so terribly by going for Lucetta? And how Lucetta practically refuses to own up to her own actions by claiming it was a misfortune she fell into? Although it is almost annoying how Henchard never learns from his mistakes, he truly does seem like the only "deep" character in this book.
