The Mayor of Casterbridge Thomas Hardy

The Mayor of Casterbridge” demonstrates the novelist’s idea and belief that nature controls man, and that he is helpless before its powers. The novel is based on an objective, empirical presentation of human beings. Therefore, “Thomas Hardy” shows through the events that human behavior is controlled by instinct, emotion, or social and economic conditions. The hero of the novel faces many misfortunes and all the time is in battle with fate. He almost loses everything in the battle, and it is up to him to continue or to give up.

In “The Mayor of Casterbridge”, coincidences and unforeseen circumstances work in concert with the protagonist’s tragic character flaws, and fate is loosed upon him and will push him to his miserable end regardless of what he does or does not do. Once “Michael Henchard” yields to the choice to sell “Susan” and the baby despite all the protestations and efforts to bring him to his reason, his fateful end is sealed. This leads to the twin theme of how personal choice interacts with fate