The Life and Death of Michael Henchard

Mrs. Beard

English IV AP

18 April 2012

The Life and Death of Michael Henchard

A story about one man’s struggle and attempts to find peace through his reputation and authority in society, the novel The Mayor of Casterbridge by Thomas Hardy has a classic tragedy intertwined with an indomitable fatalistic tone. Through Hardy’s portrayal of the different characters, he effectively mirrors events in the book with his own life as well as communicating the different themes throughout the novel. Stressing the importance of character and an unsullied name, Hardy develops a character who poignantly struggles against his own failures and the social construct placed upon him. After an intoxicated Michael Henchard impulsively auctions off his wife and young daughter to an eager sailor, Henchard goes above and beyond to restore his reputation, tarnished as a result of his drunken actions, into that of a well-respected person. Moreover, one sees Henchard evolve from a man ashamed of others who pose a threat to his level of success into a man ashamed of his own actions searching for some sort of redemption. Hence, a reoccurring idea emerges throughout the novel regarding the ability of one’s choices to unquestionably affect the future, further underscoring the futility of trying to escape the past. Hardy’s belief of the role that Fate plays in one’s life, as well as his belief in supernatural forces, is evident throughout the novel, especially in the untimely return of Susan and Elizabeth-Jane, Henchard’s estranged wife and daughter. In addition to alluding to the details of his own life, The Mayor of Casterbridge inadvertently reflects Hardy’s unwavering and dynamic belief that a person’s destiny is wrapped up in fate, choice, and social expectation, all of which lead to unhappiness as well as a tragic end.

Hardy unwittingly gives insight into his failure at writing poetry through his portrayal of Michael Henchard’s rise and fall from power. By trade, Henchard, a poor hay-trusser who later becomes a wealthy merchant and the mayor of Casterbridge, loses everything he has after a more successful merchant takes over. These events, repeatedly portrayed throughout the storyline, mirror Hardy’s life as an attempted poet, yet thriving novelist. Similar to Michael Henchard’s situation as a hay-trusser, according to Virginia Brackett, Hardy “chose fiction writing as a career only after determining that he could not earn a living writing poetry” (Brackett 2). Both men choose a profession that will further them financially, indicating that each prioritizes wealth and power over their own personal interests. It could also be argued that Henchard and Hardy thrive so much on the power and fame each accumulated through their celebrated careers, returning to a seemingly monotonous life is not an option. In Michael Henchard’s search, but inability to find salvation, Thomas Hardy could likely be indirectly referencing his estrangement from the church as well as his attempt to conform to the church’s beliefs. As acknowledged by Virginia Brackett, the location of Casterbridge is a representation of Hardy’s hometown of “Dorchester, to which [he] returned…and lived until his death” (Brackett 2). Thus it is symbolic that Hardy chooses to bring Michael Henchard’s life to a close the same way he began life a poor man with “no appetite at all” representing his extreme poverty, as well as man deprived of love (Hardy 365). Through this, Hardy makes a statement on one’s destiny and how a person is meant to be birthed and die in the same conditions. The palpable similarities between Thomas Hardy and the main character of his most successful novel confirm the symbolic nature of Michael Henchard as a stand-in for Hardy.

Through his actions and reaction towards other characters and their lives, the evolution of Michael Henchard as a character becomes evident throughout the novel. Henchard’s motivation behind the auction of his wife and daughter is the prospect of wealth and power. He feels that “if [he] were a free man again [he’d] be worth a thousand pound”, suggesting that his family has lessened the possibility of success as well as posed an obvious inconvenience to his constant craving of money (Hardy13). After the return of Susan and Elizabeth-Jane, Henchard consents to marry Susan as long as they openly court. Michael does not “see how [the] two can return openly to [his] house” without arousing suspicion (Hardy, 84). After succumbing to society’s principles about keeping his intimate relationships more private, as well as continually regarding the community’s beliefs, so as to not ruin his reputation, Henchard becomes a slave to public expectation. However, what Henchard thought was his ‘consideration’ of society’s standards ends up only furthering his personal destiny. Much like one sees at the beginning of the novel, Michael Henchard is more absorbed with his appearance and what other people think about him than with the physical well being of his wife and daughter, demonstrating his extreme selfishness.

Henchard signifies his extreme lack of compassion and irrelevance towards someone he no longer feels a sense of obligation towards when he discovers that Elizabeth-Jane is not genetically his daughter, he shuns all contact from her, becoming cold in his responses. However, after Henchard tries to rekindle his relationship with Elizabeth-Jane, he becomes even fonder of her, enthralled by her innocent and kindhearted nature, most likely because he does not understand the logic behind her character. This illustrates his growth towards being a more compassionate person despite his initial feelings of anger and betrayal over his discovery of Elizabeth-Jane and their lack of relations. Nevertheless, at times, Henchard often allows his more aggressive and domineering side to take over. For example, in his haste to seek revenge upon Lucetta for her swift marriage to Farfrae, he plots to reveal his previous relations with Lucetta to Farfrae. Although Henchard returns to his old house, now Farfrae’s home, with full intentions of bringing them further apart by reading Lucetta’s letters aloud, “such a wrecking of hearts appalled even him” (Hardy 272). When Henchard is accurately accused of selling his wife and daughter several years prior, he admits to his wrongdoings, though as a man of such high ranking with a solid reputation, he could have easily denied such accusations. However, Michael accepts responsibility for his actions, further proving his evolution into a kindred spirit. Through these events, one recognizes an obvious change in Henchard and his desire for some sort of redemption from his past actions. Moreover, the change in Henchard is not that of a common man, but rather a man of superior moral strength as there is a drastic difference in his life from where he originally started. This becomes apparent in his will when he wishes “that no man remember [him]” (Hardy 366). His statement implies that, though he has grown as a person, he never reaches the sort of redemption he was constantly searching for and, therefore, mourning and commemoration for him would be worthless. This confirms the idea of a devastating end from trying to please the outside world.

Each character, though more specifically Michael Henchard, is unable to escape their scandalous past which produces consequences that threaten to control their future. During the eighteen years between the auction of his wife and daughter and his role as mayor, Henchard becomes paranoid about the prospect that his wife could return. This is evident when he offers to marry Lucetta out of mere obligation and expectation that their past would not be revealed, though he repeatedly tells her that they run the “risk of Susan being alive” (Hardy 89). Ironically, or perhaps because of Fate, the inconvenient arrival of Henchard’s estranged wife and daughter threatens to destroy his reputation. His oath to evade alcohol for twenty one years develops into a constant reminder of his shameful past and the return of Susan and Elizabeth-Jane allows his past to catch up with him. Similarly, the first choices that Henchard makes regarding the growth of wheat pursue him when foods such as bread start to become scarce. When Michael makes a bad decision in the way he chose to cultivate wheat at the beginning of his life in Casterbridge, the consequences are destined to catch up with him, Fate constantly redirecting its path so that Henchard becomes unable to escape his past actions. As W. Eugene Davis explains in his essay over The Mayor of Casterbridge, when a resident of Casterbridge questions the scarcity of wheat, “Michael’s response is to evade the question…[failing]…to accept responsibility” for his actions (Davis 320). The wheat symbolizes his constant struggle to forget his drunken actions, but, because of the dire situation, Henchard’s past catches up with him regardless of any measures he takes to prevent it. All the hardships endured by Michael Henchard, though often brought on by his own perseverance of fame and fortune, contribute to his dying wish “that no murners walk behind [him]…& that [he] be not bury’d in consecrated ground” (Hardy 366). This signifies that the truth can never be buried and despite Henchard’s will, he cannot be forgotten because of the reputation and gossip that revolves around him throughout his life. Regardless of the premeditated measures Michael Henchard asks to keep his past a secret from the community and, more importantly, the council of Casterbridge that determines one’s social status, his past is revealed through a serious of miraculous and unpredictable chain of events, further proving the notion of an inescapable history.

Lucetta, a naïve woman, has the reputation of often being guided by her passion for men and is consequently incapable of evading her past. Living in Jersey, her intimate relationship with Henchard during his sickness becomes rather publicized, and with his past pursuing him, Lucetta is left to bask in her mistakes, from society’s standards, and search for a new life in order to escape her past faults. Though Lucetta inherits a large amount of money from a wealthy relative and relocates to Casterbridge, her past actions follow her through several different dealings, implying that not even a big sum of money can prevent this yarn of lies from unraveling. Through a woven web of relationships, Jopp, Michael Henchard’s business advisor, reveals his recognition of Lucetta and her life in Jersey. As a favor prescribed by Henchard, Jopp, with the supposed intention of returning Lucetta’s love letters, instead reads the private letters aloud, unaware of the consequences. A seemingly insignificant character that spent little time in Jersey, he proves that escaping one’s past is nearly impossible because of the connections that people hold with one another as well as the role one person can play in each character’s life. After being made a mockery in the town, Lucetta becomes aware that the humiliation associated with such a scandal will kill her and that Farfrae, her ignorant husband, “will never love [her] any more” (Hardy 307). The dispute does not faze Michael Henchard after previous scandals have already tarnished his reputation. The end results, a female unable to withstand the brutal outcome and harsh retaliations of the effigy, yet a strong perseverant man bearing the weight of these consequences, is a persuasive statement about the idealized picture of a weak-minded, feeble women unable to survive hardships further proving the social expectations and perceptions acknowledged in this novel.

Hardy’s personal philosophy regarding the role of Fate and Choice in human life is evident throughout the novel. The novel questions whether or not the Choices one makes is controlled by Fate or, rather, do the Choices contribute to ones Fate. The role that Fate plays in Michael Henchard’s life is brought on by the interaction with other characters as well the choices he makes. The inconvenient arrival of Susan and Elizabeth-Jane to Casterbridge, Henchard’s wife and daughter, puts a strain on his life as mayor and the authority he holds in the town. The appearance of his alienated family shows his lack of control over his life and the role each person plays in it. Simon Gatrell concludes that every decision Michael makes to further his power in society is determined by Fate, though “being a man, Henchard has the freedom and the opportunity…to attain power” (Gatrell 1). Richard Carpenter explains in his novel Thomas Hardy that the most obvious role of Fate in Michael Henchard’s life comes at a vulnerable time for him:

He buys enormous quantities of grain in expectation of a bad harvest, only to have the weather stay good so that the price is low and he has to sell at great loss to meet his debts. But the “curst conjuror” to whom he had gone was right after all: the weather turned, the price went up, and Henchard was further ruined;… (Carpenter 106)

This depicts that despite the decisions Henchard made regarding the sale of grain, he is bound to lose a large sum of his money. Though the ‘curst conjuror’ predicts bad weather, Henchard chooses to be impatient and sell quickly. As such, Michael is immediately doomed to deteriorate his reliability as a wheat merchant. After the incident concerning grain, nothing seemed to go Henchard’s way. For example, just as Henchard starts to form a relationship with his alleged daughter, he discovers their lack of kinship. When Farfrae marries Lucetta, he is inadvertently ‘winning’ the unspoken competition that occurs between himself and Henchard. Both play a role in Michael Henchard’s destiny with Lucetta unintentionally assisting Farfrae in his triumph over Henchard and Farfrae by marrying the two women Henchard cares most about, Lucetta and Elizabeth-Jane. As Michael Millgate concludes in his novel Thomas Hardy, each character “function[s]…as [a] surrogate” in order to further and solidify Michael Henchard’s Fate (Millgate 230). As the novel concludes, Henchard begins to come to terms with his destiny. This is evident when the old furmity woman reveals his past, and instead of denying it, he chooses to accept the consequences of his actions, realizing that because of his pre-determined fate, his secrets were bound to be revealed.

A complex story with several subplots, though all intertwined with predetermined destinies, as well as a number of themes to carry, the novel delivers the message of Hardy’s personal philosophies that Fate, choice, and social expectations lead to a tragic end. Hardy’s portrayal of Henchard reiterates that no one person can escape their destiny, but because of Michael Henchard’s fall from power and fortune, one is able to accurately grasp and further understand the life and death of Michael Henchard.

Works Cited Page

Brackett, Virginia. “Hardy, Thomas.” Facts on File Companion to the British Novel: Beginnings

through the 19th Century. Vol. 1. New York: Facts on File, Inc., 2006. Rpt in Bloom’s Literary Reference Online. Facts on File, Inc. (27 February 2012).

Brackett, Virginia. “The Mayor of Casterbridge.” Facts on File Companion to the British Novel:

Beginnings through the 19th Century. Vol. 1. New York: Facts on File, Inc., 2006. Rpt in Bloom’s Literary Reference Online. Facts on File, Inc. (9 April 2012).

Carpenter, Richard. Thomas Hardy. Twaynes English Author Service. Sylvia E. Bounan, ed.

Boston: Twaynes Publishers, 1964.

Davis, W. Eugene. “The Mayor of Casterbridge.” Rpt in Twentieth-Century Literary Criticism.

Ed. Paula Kepos. Vol. 32. Detroit: Gale Research, 1989. 319-322. Literary Criticism Online. Gale. ATASCOCITA HIGH SCHOOL. (27 February 2012)

Gatrell, Simon. “The Mayor of Casterbridge: The Fate of Michael Henchard’s Character.”

Thomas Hardy and the Proper Study of Mankind. Simon Gatrell, ed. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1993. Rpt in Bloom’s Literary Reference Online. Facts on File, Inc. (27 February 2012).

Hardy, Thomas. The Mayor of Casterbridge. New York: New American Liberty, 1999. Print.

Millgate, Michael. Thomas Hardy. St. Martin’s Press: New York, 1994. 228-231.