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.

Analysis of Piano and Bavarian Gentians by D.H Lawrence

PIANO

Lawrence then goes on to outline, that although he has achieved much of what he wanted to achieve as a man, in breaking out from his father's and his mother's bindings, in doing so he has lost something. Something ephemeral, priceless and dear. Most of us feel this. It is a necessary part of true maturity. Yet it hurts all the same.

Lawrence appears to accept that he is looking through rose-tinted spectacles, by his use of the word "glamour" for childish days. Glamour is accepted to be a sort of gloss - something which wears off and does not last. So here he shows that he is being realistic. This avoids sentimentality. Only at the end of the poem does he allow us to guess that, perhaps at some low point of depression or failure or guilt in his life - he may have felt such sorrow as to actually weep tears. Many people have things they wish they had done differently with their parents when growing up. It is only when we are adults ourselves that we realise how hard things may have been for them. He has prepared us for this sorrow by carefully setting the scene.

The question is how to speak of human emotion without slipping into sentimentality ourselves. Learning from Lawrence, we see that sentiment must never be gratuitous. It must be truly felt, simply expressed and speak directly. We can set the scene and evoke atmospheres by careful choice of word and rhythm, but if we indulge in passionate self-pity, sickly supplication and florid description we miss our target as our readers will be switched off.

If Lawrence's poem works, it may be because he speaks directly to our hearts about
a truth which we recognize.

The continuing conflict of the speaker's emotions is described as he enjoys his memories, yet he despises his continuing nostalgia. The author uses diction and tone in this poem to reveal the speaker's struggle as his feelings mix between his desire to be a man and his desire to return to his childhood, and rhyme and structure to keep the reader in tune with the flow of the poem. Lawrence names the poem "Piano" and thus one is poised to assume the piano is the key element of this poem; however, this is an example of a poet's encouraging the reader to search for a deeper meaning.

BAVARIAN

Lawrence's 'Bavarian Gentians' hypnotizes the reader with its rolling, flowing sounds, its gently rising and falling cadences, its almost soporific repetitions... as the soft and sweeping syllables wrap themselves around you, you become entranced, slipping into the world of "Pluto's dark-blue daze", falling under the spell of the gently spoken words...  thomas.  [Commentary]  This poem, written close to Lawrence's death, is much more meaningful if you know what a Bavarian Gentian looks like. It's a blue tubular flower and was one of the symbols that Lawrence claimed as his  own, along with the phoenix, dark sun, and rainbow symbols.  Here he relates the flower with the Persephone myth. Persephone, a daughter of Zeus and Demeter, was abducted by Pluto, King of Hades. For six months of the year she must reign as Queen alongside Pluto but is allowed to return to the surface for the other six. Persephone carries the flower torch-like into the underground to light her way to Pluto's chambers. Or rather it is Pluto's "blue-smoking darkness" which overtakes the light of day, her consciousness. "Black lamps from the halls of Dis." It is Death which has come, and the flower acts as guide into the "sightless realm." But like the phoenix, Persephone will once again be resurrected for she is a symbol of springtime rebirth. And although Lawrence's body is dead, his consciousness arises again each time we read his words.

Lucetta contrasted with Elizabeth-Jane from "The mayor of Casterbridge"

Q: How does Elizabeth-Jane contrast Lucetta in Thomas Hardy’s ‘The Mayor Of Casterbridge’?

   ‘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’ as it revolves around Michael Henchard, its male protagonist and at times its antagonist, however to successfully keep the book interesting and add the feminine touch Hardy gives the readers certain side-stories of some of the other characters in ‘The Mayor Of Casterbridge’, he achieves this through his portrayal of Elizabeth-Jane, Susan and Lucetta. Susan dies early on, and Lucetta compensates for Susan’s presence by adding a dramatic touch to the story.

     We tend to sympathize with Lucetta Templeman, as she has nothing going for her. She cures Henchard from him ill state of mind, which turned into a love affair. Lucetta sent Henchard love letters in her youth, thinking they would get married, but fate was against her. She was in a bad position initially, as neither was she financially secure, her aunt was sick and she could not marry and be with her lover, Henchard, because Susan, his former wife came back into his life. As a contrast to this, Elizabeth Jane’s life was becoming better. She moved from her low class life, to her Mayor stepfather, Henchard’s mansion, where she started dressing better and became more respectable. She also fell in love with Farfrae, but due to the increasing enmity between Henchard and Farfrae grew, hence Elizabeth Jane could not extensively pursue her love for Farfrae any further. Fate, yet again, playing its role against the mortal forces. Although, Elizabeth Jane was gaining respect and stature, being the stepdaughter of the Mayor, she was grounded and did not forget her old surroundings.

“Sober and discreet, she was yet so hearty, that her homespun simplicity afforded none of those piquant problems which are afforded by the simplicity that is carefully constructed by art. When she walked abroad she seemed to be occupied with an inner chamber of ideas, and to have slight need for visible objects.”

  Just as Farfrae acts as the foil for Henchard, Elizabeth-Jane is the foil for Lucetta. Elizabeth-Jane is all naturalness and no grandiosity; Lucetta is all grandiosity and no naturalness. Lucetta is almost always artificial and superficial – she worries more about appearances than what is going on beneath the surface. She even defines herself in terms of her clothes; when trying to choose what dress to wear, she says 'You are that person' (pointing to one of the dresses), 'or you are that totally different person' (pointing to the other) 'for the whole of the coming spring: and one of the two, you don't know which, may turn out to be very objectionable.’ To no ones fancy except herself, it was finally decided by Miss Templeman that she would be the cherry-coloured person at all hazards. 

According to Lucetta, you can change your personality and become a "totally different person" the same way you can change your dress. And she certainly is unpredictable, she is deeply in love with Henchard when she first meets him in Jersey, but when she comes to Casterbridge, she wants to marry him only to save her reputation. When she meets Farfrae, she falls head-over-heels in love with him and forgets about her promise to Henchard. Also the only reason she takes Elizabeth-Jane into her house was so that she could give an excuse to Henchard to come and woo her, but after learning that Henchard does not like Elizabeth-Jane anymore, she feels the need to throw Elizabeth-Jane out. Hence we can see how changeable Lucetta really is.  These antics of hers show just how self-centered and self-absorbed she really is. On the other hand Elizabeth-Jane is so grateful for Lucetta taking her into her house, that she willingly agrees to become Lucetta’s housekeeper also! “ I shall soon want somebody to live in my house, partly as housekeeper, partly as companion”. Elizabeth-Jane goes on to tell Lucetta that she is not an “accomplished person” and wonders why Lucetta is even taking her under her dwellings.

Lucetta, is portrayed as a flighty, coquette individual showing her caring side in a few instances,  feeling bad for the farmer who is leaving his lover, when Farfrae eventually gives him a job. Lucetta is very fickle minded and temperamental, as she wanted to come back to Casterbridge to marry Henchard, but instead she fell for Farfrae and ended up getting married to him. Her fickle mind and indefinite nature is also shown when she sends Henchard a letter in order to collect her letters, but never ended up arriving, on the Wednesday they planned. Eventually, Lucetta is the one with the wealthy, popular Farfrae, who is also elected Mayor and is a possible candidate to be knighted. Fate is on her side, but she is haunted by her past with Henchard that can practically ruin her marriage and her entire life of luxury and comfort with the love of her life. She tends to avoid situations because she runs away from Henchard when the drivers say that Lucetta and Elizabeth Jane both love Farfrae and she did not come to collect her letters from Henchard. Although, eventually, Henchard reads out the letters to Farfrae, not telling her it is from his very own wife, Lucetta. Lucetta can also be arrogant and rude, depicted when she does not accept Joshua Jopp’s application to work for Frafrae. Lucetta is also very manipulative, because when she is attracted to Farfrae, she uses Elizabeth Jane by keeping her at home, in order to avoid confronting Henchard. Lucetta is also arrogant and not socially alert, because she tells her own story to Elizabeth Jane, saying it from a third person’s point of view, whereas it did not take Elizabeth Jane long to figure that the woman in the story was Lucetta, herself. Lucetta has fate going her way, because at the end, due to his love for Lucetta, Henchard destroys the letters, even though he had an opportunity to expose her, many a time.

   Elizabeth Jane is a complete contrast to Lucetta. She is down to earth, rational and sympathetic. Elizabeth Jane came into wealth due to her stepfather, Henchard, but never took it to her head. She remained sensitive and acquired recognition subtly and slowly by dressing better and due to her caring nature, as portrayed in various incidents, even after she was poor and decided to leave Henchard in order to educate herself and please him. She faced a lot of losses in her life, her mother, Susan, her father, Newson were dead, and her step father, who confessed he was her real father, after which, she accepted the fact and even adopted his last name, but he abandoned her and was cold and distant towards her. Despite him criticizing her in public and being cold, she decided to mend ways by educating herself to please him. He still, did not accept her completely. Elizabeth Jane was very particular about being respectable, but turned out to be a hypocrite because she served in the Three Mariners when her mother and her did not have enough money to spend a night there. Elizabeth Jane was very empathetic and knew how to take things in her stride, because she even lost her lover Farfrae, after all the odds they had been through to be together, Henchard had finally offered Farfrae, Elizabeth Jane’s courtship, but Farfrae fell for Lucetta. Elizabeth Jane, although not well educated, but street smart and vigilant. When Lucetta was reciting her own story to Elizabeth Jane from a third person’s point of view, Elizabeth Jane figured it was Lucetta. Elizabeth Jane also knew Joshua Jopp was not the right man to manage Henchard’s business and even warned him about it. She also had a very caring and empathetic nature. Despite the way Henchard had treated Elizabeth Jane, she knew her duty as a daughter and when he took to drinking again, she wanted to save him the embarrassment and hence decided to warn Farfrae, showing her alert nature. Fate was not in favor of Elizabeth Jane, but somehow, her persistent nature to keep enduring the downs that she had with the loss of everything and everybody she had, and trying to please Henchard despite several failed attempts in the past, shows her struggle and determination to make things right, which Lucetta did not have. Lucetta merely avoided sticky situations, and people who caused these sticky situations, whereas Elizabeth Jane tried to mend them and make things right no matter how hard a toll they would take on her.

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. We cannot help contrast the difference in style between Elizabeth-Jane and Lucetta. Upon being taken under Henchard’s wing, Elizabeth-Jane had the privilege of wearing many fashionable clothes, but she did not know what to do with this privilege and was confused whether to embrace and show of her new found wealth or to be the same humble yet civilized woman she was. Lucetta on the other on acquiring her inheritance spent lavishly on dresses imported all the way from London and paraded around town with them on.

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." We see how Elizabeth-Jane is an observer to many scenes; indeed much of the interpretation is through her eyes. She is a shrewd evaluator of human behavior. It is she who warns Henchard not to employ Jopp, and because of her concern that her father would get into trouble warns Farfrae of Henchard’s vindictive nature. Whereas Lucetta cares only about people around her, who boost her image and self-worth and hence is not perceptive like Elizabeth-Jane. We see this when Lucetta is more engrossed in thoughts of Farfrae becoming knighted for his troubles of welcoming a member of the royal family than actually enjoying the festivities around that are so rare to Casterbridge.

Hardy sees ej as innocent, good and simple. She is portrayed as having positive qualities and her sensitivity and perceptiveness combine to make a stable but passionless figure. On the other hand Hardy does not describe Lucetta in detail because he himself knows that Lucetta is a flat character, who is self-serving and dandy and hence can’t help to avoid writing much about her psyche anyways.