Redemption and Reconciliation in The Mayor of Casterbridge

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Redemption and Reconciliation in The Mayor of Casterbridge

In Thomas Hardy’s The Mayor of Casterbridge, rejection and reconciliation is a consistent theme. During the Victorian era, Michael Henchard, a common hat trusser, becomes Mayor of the town of Casterbridge, Wessex. However, his position does not prevent him from making a series of mistakes that ultimately lead to his downfall. Henchard’s daughter, Elizabeth Jane Newson, is affected by her father’s choices and is not spared any disappointing consequences. In the novel, the characters of Henchard and Elizabeth Jane both experience the pain of rejection in its different forms and discover reconciliation from that rejection.

Henchard and Elizabeth-Jane similarly endure rejection from those they have deemed important figures in their lives. Lucetta loses her feelings for Henchard and he takes second place to Farfrae. Henchard confronts Lucetta at her home regarding her intention to marry him. After the encounter, Lucetta rebelliously cries, “[H]e’s hot-tempered and stern, and it would be madness to bind myself to him knowing that. I won’t be a slave to the past—I’ll love where I choose!”(Hardy 250). Similarly, Elizabeth-Jane, upon seeing Farfrae in the churchyard, notices that she has lost his attention. “[W]hether or not he saw her he took no notice, and disappeared. Unduly depressed by a sense of her own superfluity she thought he probably scorned her”(207). Through the rejection Henchard and Elizabeth-Jane suffered from Lucetta and Farfrae, the father and daughter are communally bound in their care for the happiness of the two lovers but they also feel hurt and rejected by the marriage. More important than Henchard and Elizabeth-Jane’s rejection by their friends, is their rejection of each other. When Elizabeth-Jane and Farfrae are courting, Henchard foresees his stepdaughter easily leaving him under the influence of Farfrae. Henchard admits that “Farfrae would never recognize him more than superciliously; his poverty ensured that, no less than his past conduct. And so Elizabeth would grow to be a stranger to him, and the end of his life would be a friendless solitude”(381). However, Elizabeth-Jane is not influenced negatively by Farfrae. Henchard is rejected only when Elizabeth-Jane discovers the selfish lie her stepfather had told to keep Newson from her. Elizabeth-Jane is a...

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...bstacles of rejection yet both characters have the strength to reconcile these situations in some way. Henchard and Elizabeth-Jane are both rejected by those they care about; however, we see that these characters are also capable of rejecting each other. They are the victims as well as the instigators of rejection and in both positions they suffer grief. Both Henchard and Elizabeth-Jane similarly, in an introverted manner, handle and resolve the dereliction that they have experienced. Henchard silently tries to change how others regard him while Elizabeth-Jane reconciles herself without help from anyone. These character’s views on their situation are very different. Henchard wallows in a depressed state even after there is some reconciliation because he fears that he will suffer the same rejection again. Elizabeth-Jane, however, tries to be optimistic and trusts that better things await her. The theme of rejection and reconciliation, although carried through the novel by two very different individuals, follows the same patterns; however, the end results vary distinctly because of the character’s perspective on life.

Bibliography:

Hardy, Thomas. Mayor of Casterbridge.

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