The Mayor of Casterbridge
Encyclopedia : T : TH : THE : The Mayor of Casterbridge
The Mayor of Casterbridge is a tragic novel by English author Thomas Hardy subtitled, "The Life and Death of a Man of Character". It is set in the fictional town of Casterbridge (based on the town of Dorchester in Dorset). The book is one of Hardy's Wessex novels, all set in a fictional rustic England.
At a country fair near Casterbridge, Wessex, a young hay–trusser named Michael Henchard overindulges in rum–laced furmity and quarrels with his wife Susan. Spurred by alcohol, he decides to auction off his wife and baby daughter, Elizabeth Jane, to a sailor, Mr. Newson, for five guineas. Once sober the next day, he is too late to recover his family, but swears not to touch liquor again for as many years as he has lived so far (twenty–one).
Eighteen years later, Henchard, now a successful grain merchant, is the Mayor of Casterbridge (and known for his staunch sobriety). He is reunited with Susan who brings a grown Elizabeth Jane to him. The return of his wife and daughter sets in motion a decline in his fortunes. Elizabeth Jane soon falls in love with Donald Farfrae, whom Henchard has employed as his business manager, and whose fortunes are on the rise in direct contrast to his. Unknown to Henchard, Elizabeth-Jane is not his biological child (who died months after they parted), but that of Newson. He learns this secret, however, after Susan's death by prematurely reading a letter which Susan on her deathbed marked only to be opened upon Elizabeth Jane's matrimony. Henchard conceals the secret from Elizabeth Jane, but grows cold and cruel towards her. Henchard's growing resentment of Donald Farfrae (as his fortunes rise) leads to his standing in the way of a marriage between Donald and Elizabeth-Jane.
In the meantime, Henchard's former mistress, Lucetta, arrives in town and attracts Donald, who marries her. Rumours spread of her previous relationship with Michael Henchard and both are disgraced. Lucetta dies of shame and stress. When Newson, Elizabeth Jane's biological father, returns, Henchard is afraid of losing her companionship and pretends she is dead. Henchard is once again impoverished, and, for for first time in decades, resorts to drink. By the time Elizabeth Jane, months later married to Donald Farfrae and reunited with Newson, goes looking for Henchard to forgive him, he has died and left a will requesting no funeral or fanfare
The work can be downloaded without charge from Project Gutenberg as either text or a computer-generated audiobook. (ISBN 0375760067)
Adaptations
The Mayor of Casterbridge has been adapted twice as a mini-series:- in 2003 by Ted Whitehead for the A&E Television Networks starring Ciarán Hinds -
- in 1978 by Dennis Potter for the BBC starring Alan Bates -
A version of the story was also filmed in 2000 as The Claim, with the setting changed to a town (called Kingdom Come) in the American West of the 19th Century. The film was directed by Michael Winterbottom from a screenplay by Frank Cottrell Boyce.
See also
External links
- [Free eBook: The Mayor of Casterbridge] at Project Gutenberg
- [A hypertextual, self-referential, complete edition of The Mayor of Casterbridge]
Study guides
- http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/casterbridge/
- http://www.gradesaver.com/classicnotes/titles/casterbridge/
From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Original article here. Support Wikipedia by contributing or donating.
All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License See Wikipedia Copyrights for details.