The role of fate in Hardy's The Mayor Of Casterbridge

                The Mayor of Casterbridge – Thomas Hardy

   ‘The Mayor of Casterbridge’, is a novel written by the famous English novelist Thomas Hardy (1840-1928), and is set in somewhere around 1830, when England was on the dawn of the Industrial Revolution. Hardy describes this novel as ‘A Story of Character,’ however an important characteristic in all Hardy novels is the significant, and often changeable and unfriendly role of Fate, Nature and significant roles of characters. Even the hastiest reading of ‘The Mayor of Casterbridge’ reveals a structural pattern that relies heavily on coincidence and fate.

     One example of Hardy’s art is his intermingling of Fate and another character, we see from chapter 20-28 how Hardy uses Lucetta Templeman, the woman from Jersey who had nursed Henchard when he was sick and who had eventually fallen in love with him.

     We first get to hear of Lucetta when Henchard tells Fafrae about the woman whom he met at Jersey one autumn when he was ill. He tells him how she nursed him back to health, and how because of their loneliness both of them eventually got intimate. We see one of Lucetta’s earlier character traits of being a caring and nurturing individual. This all changes once she amasses wealth, and we can see this change in her treatment regarding Elizabeth-Jane. A scandal arose out of this intimacy that in turn considerably damaged her reputation. In order to keep her reputation intact, Henchard had promised he would marry her, as he believed that Susan was now dead. However with the reappearance of Susan in his life, at the particular time he is presented with a dilemma and writes to Lucetta urging her that they cannot pursue their previous arraignment, but if anything changes in his relationship with Susan, he will again begin to woo her.

     After Susan dies and learns that Elizabeth-Jane is not really his daughter, Henchard is filled with loneliness and seeks out Lucetta’s company to fill this newfound void in him. Meanwhile, Henchard has not been reinvited to reapply as alderman but Farfrae has, and this increases the tension between the two men and Henchard now sees Farfrae as ‘a treacherous upstart’.

    At this time Elizabeth-Jane visits her mother’s grave and sees a mysterious lady. This same lady over hears Elizabeth-Jane complaining about the treatment given to her by her father. The lady, who we get to know later on as Lucetta, comforts Elizabeth-Jane and after conversing with her invites her to live with her as her companion in a house in town which she has just bought.

  Lucetta’s motives in asking Elizabeth-Jane to live with her are revealed in her agitation with Elizabeth-Jane when she discovers Elizabeth-Jane has not told her father neither about the move nor the address. The reader becomes aware that Lucetta’s motives are to attract Henchard to the house. Hardy uses a flashback technique to reveal what had happened the night before. Lucetta had written to Henchard telling of an abrupt change in her position as she is now to be called Templeman and not Le Sueur also Lucetta suggest marriage to Henchard to visit her the next day, but the egotistical and self-centered man that he is, gets put off, and feels annoyed at being treated this way. In fact he does not pay Lucetta the pleasure of visiting her the next day. Lucetta has learnt about the difficulties between Elizabeth-Jane and her father, and has presumed that this is the reason for Henchard’s unconcern towards her and as a result decides that she must get rid of Elizabeth-Jane. From this sudden change in mind we see the true colours of Lucetta, the malicious, cunning and shrewd side has come to surface. It seems that she will do anything irrespective of its consequences (Elizabeth-Jane’s feelings) to achieve her goal.

     We can see Hardy’s use coincidence and fate when he twists and intermingles characters to support his theme of the perverse nature of fate. Farfrae is introduced to Lucetta by chance as Farfrae comes to High Place Hall to call upon Elizabeth-Jane. Lucetta on seeing Farfrae finds him attractive. Although Farfrae has come to High-Place Hall to see Elizabeth-Jane it is ironic that he is attracted to Lucetta, as she is to him. She and Farfrae have a long chat, even touching on some personal subjects, even though they have just met each other. Lucetta fears that her past will be revealed. She requests Farfrae not to believe the gossip about her, ‘If they tell you I’m a coquette, which some may, because of the incidents of my life, don’t believe it, for I am not’. Lucetta trying to keep a good impression with Farfrae hints to the readers that she may be interested in having a relationship with the young man from Scotland. From the above illustration we can see how much of an importance Lucetta gives to appearances; she does not want Farfrae and people in general to think badly of her and to not fall for the latest gossip.  A few minutes later, Henchard arrives to meet Lucetta, Lucetta tells the servant to send him away and to tell him she has a headache. She came to Casterbridge to try to get Henchard to marry her, but now that he is ready and willing, she is no longer so sure if she wants to marry him anymore.

     One day the women go visit the market as there is some talk of a new seed-drill being introduced into Casrebridge by Farfrae. Henchard makes some small talk with them and points out that the new machine for sowing seeds that Farfrae has brought to town will never work and makes a few insulting remarks on Farfrae's business sense. Clearly, Henchard is still jealous. After this they see Farfrae and stop to chat. Lucetta is very flirty with him. Elizabeth-Jane notices, and wonders about this. Lucetta explains that they'd met the other day, then changes the subject by remarking on how cold and distant Henchard was to his own daughter. Here we can see Lucetta’s deceitfulness as she quickly changes the topic to avoid suspicion on Elizabeth-Jane’s part. The illustration that truly shows us what is in Lucetta’s mind regarding love is when she confides in Elizabeth-Jane a “hypothetical” story of a ‘friend’ who has promised her love to one man, but is now attracted to another. This very revealing as it now instills in the reader and maybe also in Elizabeth-Jane, Lucetta’s true feelings. From the “market” episode we also see Lucetta’s dandy dress style, which according to the villagers, looked similar to the new colorful seed-drill that Farfrae had introduced. 

  

     The next day, Farfrae comes to visit. He hardly notices Elizabeth-Jane at all and he only has eyes for Lucetta. This hurts Elizabeth-Jane's feelings, but sadly she knows that she has no control of the situation. She figures Farfrae must be the second man in the story Lucetta told her about "her friend." The following day, Henchard comes to see Lucetta. He says he's ready and willing to marry her, but Lucetta says it's too soon after Susan's death. He adds that it's a little awkward for him to marry her now that she's so wealthy – everyone will think he's after her bank account. Just then, Farfrae rides by the window on horseback. Lucetta's face lights up as a result, and Henchard notices, but he doesn't see Farfrae. He just thinks Lucetta is playing hard to get, and he doesn't know why.  Once he leaves, Lucetta tells herself that she is in no way obliged to marry Henchard. This is the biggest indication that Lucetta will not marry Henchard. Elizabeth-Jane sees that both Henchard and Farfrae are falling more in love with Lucetta every day. She feels like a total third wheel whenever one of the men is there visiting.

    Henchard and Farfrae meet by chance in the street one morning, and Henchard stops Farfrae to chat. Henchard reminds him of the secret he'd told him a long time ago – about the young lady whose reputation was ruined and whom he'd been planning to marry before Susan reappeared Henchard still doesn't mention the lady by name. He says he has offered to marry the young lady but that she has refused. Farfrae says hey, Henchard has done his duty and doesn't owe the young lady anything anymore. Henchard agrees, but he doesn't want to let it go. He figures there's someone else, ‘a rival’, and he's not the kind of guy to back down.  The next day, both Henchard and Farfrae visit High-Place Hall at the same time. Henchard realizes Farfrae must be his rival, which drives him crazy. Henchard decides to take out his anger against Farfrae by trying to out-compete him in business, so he hires a new manager. He looks up Joshua Jopp, the man who had wanted the job originally. Jopp is still out of work, and Henchard hires him on the spot. He tells Jopp that his big plan is to out-compete Farfrae and drive him out of business. I think Hardy uses the symbol of Henchard and Farfrae vying for the bread and butter in Lucetta’s drawing room- almost a religious scenario. This contrasts with the superstitious visit of Henchard to Fall.

The turning point in the whole Henchard, Lucetta and Farfrae, distorted love triangle comes when Henchard follows Lucetta to her meeting with Farfrae and overhears some of their conversation. He returns quickly to Lucetta’s house, arriving before her, and makes her promise to marry him using Elizabeth-Jane as witness. Henchard wins our sympathy over his loss over the corn and Lucetta’s duplicity, but it does not justify his cave man approach to marriage. The way in which the rival waggoners fight over Henchard’s upset load of hay is parodied later with the fight between Farfrae and Henchard and ironically Henchard looses everything both in the corn business as well in earning Lucetta’s love, to Farfrae. This is how rivalry in business has now turned to rivalry in love.