TITLE: FATALISM IN THE MAYOR OF

CASTERBRIDGE
CC10 TUTORIAL
NAME: POUSALI SHOME
COLLEGE ROLL NUMBER; 2019-ENGA-
0032
REGISTRATION NUMBER: 014-1211-0041-
19
UNIVERSITY ROLL NUMBER: 192014-11-
0038
 Fatalism In Thomas Hardy’s The Mayor Of
Casterbridge

One of the major characteristics of Thomas’s Hardy’s novels is that,

almost all of them are set within an area covering South and Southern
England known as Wessex. Therefore, he is popularly known as a
regional novelist. Secondly, the characters in his novels are mostly of
country origin, as the rural and their humble lifestyle is generally
explored rather than wealthy people from higher strata of society as
addressed in other Victorian novels. Another distinctive characteristic of
Hardy is that according to him, “Reality is not art.” He quotes – “Art is
disproportioning of realities, to show more clearly the features that
matter in these realities.” In the preface to “The Text of the
d’Urbervilles, Hardy writes: “a novel is an impression, not an
argument.” In the preface to Jude The Obscure, he quotes- “it is simply
an endeavor to give shape and coherence to a series of seemings, or
general impressions, the question of their consistency or their
discordance...being regarded as not of the first moment.” Virginia Woolf
refers to Hardy’s preference of naturalism by describing him as a man of
nature, a skillful observer, who also has discovered the existence of soul
in nature which either supports the destinies of men or women, or
ridicules them. Woolf also criticizes Hardy’s works “for using
coincidences in an extraordinary and melodramatic way and regards this
as a frailty.” However, she still compliments Hardy as “the biggest tragic
author among the English novelists.”
The phenomenon of coincidences that is prominent in Thomas Hardy’s
works does the characters more harm than any good. In The Mayor Of
Casterbridge, Henchard thinks that the crop harvest will turn out bad
and so buy a substantial amount of crop, only to find out at the end that
price decline due to good weather condition and he makes a loss. In the
novel, Henchard experienced misfortunes and despaired till his last
breath. But the readers also need to determine if he is a victim of his
own flaws and therefore the architect of his own fate. John Stuart Mill
had written in On Liberty about the significance of the character of a
person who has strong emotions, passion and urges: a person who has
strong emotion and impulses can be considered good as long as the
balance between emotional and moral compass is maintained. This
balance is not found in Henchard, who was driven by impulses to
perform several misdeeds. As his quick-temper nature, impulse and
pride has not been balanced with reason and conscience during the
critical moments of his life, the consequences of his actions were always
destructive. At the very beginning of the novel, the readers witnessed the
action scene, where Henchard actions off his wife and daughter under
the influence of alcohol. Later, he attempts to kill Farfrae in the hayloft
under the same circumstances. By consuming alcohol, he completely
gives in to the command of his impulses. Simon Garrel identifies
Henchard as “a proud, fiery, driven by imperious desires, uncaring of
consequences, ruthlessly honest but destructive of himself and others
around him.” In his article titled The Fate of Michael Henchard’s
Character, Robert Kiely comments- “He is not articulate enough to be
Shakespearian, not sophisticated enough to be Byronic, not viscous
enough to be a true descendant of Heathcliff.” Under the influence of
alcohol, Henchard sold his wife of his own free will and set into motion
the seeds of his own destruction. Therefore, it is not because of some
malignant fate that Henchard’s life is turned upside down, but it is
within his own character where the seeds of his destruction lie. The
effect conveyed in the entire novel is that 'Character is Fate'.
A majority of catastrophes in the novel seemed to occur due to several
unexpected coincidences. The series of coincidences start as early as
Chapter III, when Susan Henchard learns about the whereabouts of
Michael Henchard from the same furmity woman who was present
during their parting 18 years ago. Susan’s arrival was a pure accident for
Henchard, who had eventually given up hope after awaiting her return
for a long time. Her unexpected arrival coincided with Henchard’s
decision to marry Lucetta, which eventually brings forth a series of
misfortunes at his doorstep.
Even so, Henchard was glad that his Elizabeth-Jane, his supposed
daughter, was restored to him. While in the process of winning over
Elizabeth-Jane’s affections, Henchard coincidentally comes in terms
with the actual truth- Elizabeth-Jane was, in fact, the daughter of the
sailor Newson. Elizabeth-Jane, who was convinced by Henchard that she
was truly his daughter, agreed to change her name accordingly. After
Susan’s death, Henchard discovers the imperfectly sealed letter left for
him by her, and comes in terms with the agonizing secret of Elizabeth-
Jane’s true identity. Newson’s shocking appearance in Casterbridge was
both an unforeseen and dramatic coincidence. The sailor who was
supposedly drowned and passed away as revealed in the beginning of the
novel, appeared in Casterbridge searching for Elizabeth-Jane and claim
her as his own daughter. In this instance, the readers might consider that
it was the news of Newson’s death that led Susan and Elizabeth-Jane
back to Henchard and gave turn to beginnings of new occurrences 18
years later.
Lucetta and Elizabeth-Jane’s meeting occurs coincidentally for the first
time in the churchyard. Lucetta engages Elizabeth-Jane as a companion,
her motive being partly to attract Henchard to her house. However, fate
intervenes to prevent Henchard from marrying Lucetta, as Farfrae pays
an unexpected visit to Lucetta's house in order to meet Elizabeth-Jane
whom he wants to court for her hand in marriage. It so happens that
Elizabeth-Jane was presently unavailable, and he meets Lucetta just by
chance, who had been awaiting Henchard’s arrival. With the beginning
of mutual affections between the two newly met strangers, the
consequences of this coincidence were far-fetching, with the result that
Farfrae was no longer interested in Elizabeth-Jane who had been in love
with him all along. Henchard, who had lost Susan to death, Farfrae
through estrangement, and Elizabeth-Jane to Newson, would now lose
Lucetta as well. Evidently fate had shown hostility to Henchard in this
case, by sending Elizabeth-Jane away on the occasion of Farfrae visiting
Lucetta’s house. The appearance of the old furmity woman in
Casterbridge was absolutely unforeseen as well as fatal, as she disclosed
the secret of Henchard’s early life- the shameful proceedings of the trial
which separated Henchard and Susan. Had she not been the witness of
the incident, the disclosure and the final blow on Henchard perhaps
would not have taken place. The furmity woman was later prosecuted,
with Henchard being one of the magistrates himself. But this shameful
disclosure took turn for the worst, as it caused Henchard to immensely
despair over his irreparable loses that he carried on to his deathbed. In
this fashion, Henchard was depicted as a mere helpless puppet in the
hands of a blind, merciless fate, although the readers, instead of
immediately reducing the status of the tragic protagonist to a helpless
puppet whose destiny is controlled by the arbitrary hands of Fate, might
contradict to the statement to a certain extent, as the actions of Henchard
was largely responsible for the future occurrences and the eventual cruel
end handed over to him. Thomas Hardy's brilliant and realistic technique
of characterization prevents fate from becoming the dominant influence
in the scheme of the novel. The root of Michael Henchard’s tragedy lies
in his own past deeds as a result of his uncompromising nature. “It is this
emphasis on 'character is fate', an aphorism that Hardy borrows from
Novalis, that saves the plot from becoming a mere illustration of his
philosophy.”

REFERENCES
1. Tarihi, Glelis. Character is Fate: Henchard’s Rise and Fall in The
Mayor of Casterbridge by Thomas Hardy. Mediterranean Journal
of Humanities. mjh.akdeniz.edu.tr VIII/1 (2018):1-8

2. Venkatasamy, VE. Coincidence In Hardy’s “The Mayor Of

Casterbridge”. Langlit. Vol 2. Issue 4. 2016: 3-4

3. The Mayor Of Casterbridge As A Novel Of Series Of

Coincidences

https://www.bachelorandmaster.com/britishandamericanfiction/the
-mayor-of-casterbridge-as-a-novel-of-series-of-
coincidence.html#.YNcyXugzaM8
Last updated on 24th June, 2021. 8:30 PM.