The Mayor of Casterbridge #

Thomas Hardy #

Febryary 5, 2022

5/5

Some potential spoilers ahead.

As with most classics, The Mayor of Casterbridge took me a while to read. The first half took a good few weeks, but the second half was finished rather quickly.

I recall reading something in the preface/note that mentioned that Henchard was not a bad man, but that he is hot-tempered. It was hard, for much of the novel, for me to understand why that statement was true, why it was the case, but I seemed to then have forgotten something I recall now, that people can change. This novel is the greatest example of the complexity of humans that I have thus far read. This book is very effective in showing that we are not 1 dimensional beings with a set of non-malleable characteristics.

The full title of this novel, “The Mayor of Casterbridge: A Story of a Man of Character”, really fits the theme of the story. What does it mean “to have character”? I’ve done some quick Googling, but have gotten many different answers: moral excellence and firmness or being able to deal well with difficult situations. However, the best definitions, to me at least, discuss individuality, and how “character” just means the sum of our traits. This means that you can have good character or bad character, they can all fall under the same label, at least I suppose so (I’m not a linguist, nor am I good at English).

To describe Henchard as a “man of character” is fitting to me, though with the definition I have given, it fits all of us wouldn’t it? I like how ambiguous this phrase is, though. It doesn’t tell us much, then, about Henchard, but effectively that he is just a person, like any of us. In that way, I guess we can all perhaps see at least some of ourselves in Henchard (or maybe I just have problems that need to be resolved).

Forgive me for these poorly written ramblings. I have no qualifications in reading or writing, I just enjoy thinking about it.

The book is fantastic, and if you want to read a story with characters that are just as complex, confusing, and contrary to their own nature as real people are, then I would give this novel a read. Thanks for stopping by!