The Mayor of Casterbridge

Thomas Hardy
Chapter 24:

 Lucetta and Elizabeth- Jane visits the Saturday’s market where she is
fancied by both Michael Henchard and Donald Farfrae.
 A few days later, desiring to get advice about her own rather difficult
position, Lucetta reveals her past to Elizabeth-Jane, but tells the story as if it
had happened to another woman. Her main question is what should the
other "she" do now that "she" has grown fond of a second man. Elizabeth-
Jane refuses to answer so delicate a question. However, she knows that
Lucetta had been referring to herself.
Chapter 25:

 Farfrae calls upon Lucetta, and while Lucetta insists that Elizabeth-Jane join

them, Elizabeth-Jane is fully aware that she is excluded even while in the room.
She thinks that Farfrae seems a different man from the one who danced with her.
She, observing him, realizes that he must be the second man in Lucetta’s story.
 Elizabeth-Jane has been established as an intuitive and observant character,
further evidenced by her observation of Farfrae’s dramatic change, and her
discernment of the truth of Lucetta’s story.
 Henchard, meanwhile, has found his affections for Lucetta increasing due to her
inaccessibility and her growing beauty. Henchard calls on Lucetta
while Elizabeth-Jane is not at home. Henchard tells her that she has his full
consent to their being married, as they had planned before Susan’s return.
Lucetta replies that it is still early for any such plans. He says he is happy to see
her come into so much wealth, and comments upon the fineness of her furniture,
which she had brought from Bath.
 Henchard is more interested in Lucetta now that she is uninterested in him. As
he attempted to keep near Elizabeth-Jane once he realized he would actually
lose her, he again seems only to see the value of others when he is losing them
(like Susan). “It is human, perhaps, to appreciate little that which we have
and to long for that which we have not (Helen Keller). Lucetta’s evasion of
Henchard’s plan for their marriage shows her changed heart. Henchard is clearly
interested in Lucetta’s wealth, as well as her beauty.
 Henchard says his proposal of their marriage will silence the gossip in Lucetta’s
home town of Jersey, and Lucetta angrily replies that she did nothing wrong in
Jersey, despite the talk of her connection with Henchard. She says that they
should let things be for the present, and act as acquaintances.
 Lucetta would once have stopped at nothing to silence gossip about herself,
whether or not she was in the wrong, but now that she has met Farfrae, she
attempts to defend her actions in Jersey.

 A wagon of Farfrae’s, accompanied by the man himself, passes by the window,

and if Henchard had been looking at Lucetta’s face at that moment, he would
have seen the love shining there. Henchard, however, does not see this and
points out that Lucetta came to Casterbridge for his sake and now will not give
him the time of day.
 Henchard isn’t able to understand why Lucetta no longer seems interested. That
he would have understood the expression on her face had he only seen it shows
that he is not clueless about affairs of the heart.

 After Henchard leaves, Lucetta passionately exclaims that she will not be a

slave to the past by binding herself to Henchard, but instead that she will
love Farfrae.
  A key sentence in the novel, Lucetta’s decision has a dramatic impact on
multiple characters. Henchard, meanwhile, has been a slave to the past, with
equally terrible consequences.
 Elizabeth-Jane observes both Farfrae and Henchard’s love for Lucetta and her
own invisibleness in comparison. She feels that such a situation is reasonable in
Farfrae’s case, for who is she, she believes, next to Lucetta? But she feels some
pain over being neglected by her own father. Elizabeth-Jane’s life has taught her
to be good at renouncing her own emotions and interests. Life has given her
things she did not want and kept away those things she did.
 Elizabeth-Jane's situation is painful because both her father (she thinks) and her
love interest clearly prefer her companion to herself. Neither man attempts to still
be kind or attentive to Elizabeth-Jane. Henchard is guided by his selfish interest
in only his own feelings. Elizabeth-Jane, however, is used to the feeling of
isolation.

This chapter focuses on the following aspects.

1) Elizabeth-Jane ends up with nothing in her hand, losing both Michael
Henchard and Donald Farfrae.
2) Hardy emphasizes his theme of blind fate when he talks of Elizabeth-Jane's
stoicism: "She had learnt the lesson of renunciation."
3) Lucetta reveals her own tragic flaws here. First, like Michael, she is haunted
by her past. She is so terrified by her past that she attempts to remake
herself: "How you keep on about Jersey! I am English!" Another flaw is her
reckless emotion. "I'll love where I choose!" In the following chapters, these
flaws will slowly bring her dark fate as well.
4) Lucetta passionately declares, "I won't be a slave to the past - I will love
where I choose." She is pictured as a strong-willed woman who defies social
convention and pursues what she wants.
5) Elizabeth-Jane and Michael Henchard have somewhat same fate while
Lucetta and Donald Farfrae share same fate.
6) Furniture