Study Notes: The Mayor of Casterbridge by Thomas Hardy

Origins and the Fatal Transaction at Weydon-Priors

• Arrival at Weydon-Priors: In the late summer of the late $1820s$, a young man and woman, accompanied by a small child, approached the village of Weydon-Priors in Upper Wessex.
• The Man (Michael Henchard): Described as having a swarthy, stern aspect with a nearly perpendicular facial profile. He wore a brown corduroy jacket, a fustian waistcoat with white horn buttons, breeches, tanned leggings, and a straw hat with black glazed canvas. He carried a rush basket containing a hay-knife crutch and a wimble. His walk was noted for its "dogged and cynical indifference."
• The Woman (Susan Henchard): Characterized by mobility of face, appearing pretty in sunlight but showing an expression of apathy and "hard, half-apathetic" resignation when in shade. She carried a tiny girl in short clothes and blue knitted boots.
• The Environment: The village was in the midst of a fair. Most business was concluded, but the "frivolous contingent" of visitors remained. The air was thick with an "ochreous haze."
• The Furmity Tent: The couple entered a booth presided over by a "haggish creature" (later identified as Mrs. Goodenough). She served furmity—a mixture of grain, milk, raisins, and currants. Henchard discovered the proprietor would secretly "lace" the furmity with rum for an extra fee.
• The Drunken Auction: After consuming four basins of rum-laced furmity, Henchard became argumentative. He complained about his early marriage at age $18$ destroying his prospects, claiming he would be worth $1000\,pounds$ if free. Hearing an auctioneer outside selling horses, Henchard proposed selling his wife to the highest bidder.
• The Sale: After several mocked bids of $5\,shillings$ and a few guineas, a sailor entered the tent. He bid $5\,guineas$ and provided the cash in Five-Pound Bank of England notes and $5\,shillings$. Henchard accepted the money. Susan, taking the child, threw her wedding ring at Henchard, declared she would try her luck elsewhere, and left with the sailor.
• The Oath: Henchard woke the next morning in the empty tent, realizing the sale was not a dream when he found the money in his pocket and Susan's ring on the floor. Filled with remorse, he traveled $3\,to\,4\,miles$ to a church. Kneeling at the altar-rails, he swore a "gospel oath" to avoid all strong liquors for $20\,years$, one year for every year he had lived (he was $20$ at the time).

The Discovery of the Mayor of Casterbridge

• Return to Weydon-Priors: $18\,years$ after the sale, Susan (now in widow's mourning) and her daughter, Elizabeth-Jane (now $18$), returned to the fair.
• The Fate of Newson: Elizabeth-Jane believed her father was Richard Newson, a mariner lost at sea in November 184_, at age $41$. Susan revealed they were seeking a relative named Michael Henchard.
• The Furmity Woman’s Clue: Susan encountered the same furmity woman, now reduced to rags and a tripod fire. The woman recalled the sale and informed Susan that Henchard had returned a year later to leave word that he was living in Casterbridge.
• The Arrival at Casterbridge: The town was described as a "box of dominoes," compact and shut in by a square wall of trees (limes and chestnuts). It was characterized by its agricultural trade, with shops displaying scythes, reap-hooks, and beehives.
• The King’s Arms Hotel: Upon entering the town, they observed a public dinner. Michael Henchard was now the Mayor, sitting in the "chair of dignity." He was described as a man of heavy frame, $40\,years$ old, with dark bushy hair and a commanding voice. To Susan's shock, he drank only water, maintaining his oath with only $2\,years$ remaining.
• Public Dissatisfaction: During the dinner, townsfolk complained about "bad bread" resulting from "growed wheat" Henchard had sold. Henchard defended his business as an accident of weather and announced he had advertised for a manager to handle the corn department.

The Arrival of Donald Farfrae

• The Note: A young Scotchman, Donald Farfrae, witnessed the bread dispute. He sent a note to Henchard claiming to have a chemical process to restore "growed" (sprouted) wheat to a wholesome state.
• The Encounter at The Three Mariners: Henchard sought out Farfrae at the inn. Farfrae was on his way to Bristol to emigrate to the West (America). He demonstrated his process, which involved sifting, drying, and refrigerating the grain. While it could not fully restore the wheat, it could make "good seconds."
• The Job Offer: Henchard was so impressed by Farfrae’s scientific knowledge and personal charm that he offered him the position of manager. Farfrae initially declined but agreed the next morning after Henchard pursued him, saying, "I like thee well!"
• Joshua Jopp’s Rejection: Joshua Jopp arrived to take the manager position he thought had been promised. Henchard bluntly dismissed him, stating he was too late and had already hired Farfrae.

The Reconstruction of the Henchard Family

• The Meeting at the Ring: Henchard met Susan at "The Ring," an ancient Roman Amphitheatre. He confessed he previously believed she and the child were dead. Susan confessed she returned to him only because Newson was dead.
• The Plan of Deception: Henchard, fearing public disgrace, proposed that Susan and Elizabeth-Jane take a cottage as the widow Mrs. Newson. Henchard would then "court" and remarry Susan, allowing Elizabeth-Jane to enter his house as his step-daughter.
• The Remarriage: The wedding took place on a windless November morning. Henchard treated Susan with a "Martinmas summer" of kindness, though without romantic fire.
• Social Climacteric: Elizabeth-Jane began to flourish under Henchard's wealth, improving her appearance and pursuing education. Henchard insisted she change her surname to Henchard, though Susan was strangely reluctant.

The Estrangement of Farfrae and the Revelation of Paternity

• The Growing Rift: Farfrae’s popularity and commercial success began to eclipse Henchard’s. Farfrae introduced modern machinery, such as a horse-drill (an "agricultural piano"), while Henchard mocked its utility. After a public competition during a holiday where Farfrae’s event succeeded and Henchard’s failed due to rain, Henchard dismissed Farfrae from his service.
• Commercial Combat: Farfrae established his own corn and hay business on Durnover Hill. Henchard forbade Elizabeth-Jane from seeing Farfrae, though Farfrae remained interested in her.
• The Death of Susan: Susan’s health failed. On her deathbed, she confessed to Elizabeth-Jane that she had been the one to orchestrate the meeting between the girl and Farfrae via an anonymous note.
• The Secret Letter: After Susan's funeral, Henchard showed Elizabeth-Jane papers proving he was her real father (glossing over the sale). However, later he found a sealed letter from Susan "not to be opened till Elizabeth-Jane’s wedding-day." He opened it prematurely and learned the devastating truth: the original Elizabeth-Jane had died of illness $3\,months$ after the sale. The current Elizabeth-Jane was actually the daughter of the sailor, Richard Newson.
• Resulting Bitterness: Finding Newson's features in the girl’s sleeping face, Henchard began to treat her with coldness and cruelty, criticizing her dialect words (such as "fay," "dumbledores," and "leery") and her "handwriting like chain-shot."

Lucetta Templeman and the Shifting Affection

• The New Resident: A wealthy lady, Lucetta Templeman (formerly Le Sueur from Jersey), moved into High Place Hall. She was an old flame of Henchard’s from a business trip to Jersey. She came to Casterbridge to marry Henchard and rectify the scandal of their past intimacy.
• The Entanglement: Lucetta hired Elizabeth-Jane as a companion. When Henchard delayed visiting her, Lucetta instead met Donald Farfrae. The two fell in love. Henchard became jealous, eventually threatening to reveal Lucetta’s past letters to Farfrae unless she agreed to marry him.
• The Secret Marriage: Terrified of Henchard and the gossip of his past wife-sale, Lucetta secretly married Donald Farfrae at Port-Bredy while Henchard was away on business.

Henchard’s Financial and Social Ruin

• The Weather Gamble: Attempting to ruin Farfrae commercially, Henchard consulted a weather prophet named Mr. Fall ("Wide-oh"). Fall predicted "rain and tempest" for the August harvest. Henchard bought massive amounts of grain at high prices. When the weather stayed fine, prices crashed, and Henchard lost heavily.
• The Bankruptcy: Henchard was forced to declare bankruptcy. He surrendered his gold watch and his money-bag. He went to live in a cottage owned by the vengeful Jopp near the Priory Mill. Farfrae bought Henchard’s house, furniture, and business.
• The Return to Rum: Henchard’s $20-year$ oath expired. He began drinking heavily again and attended a Sunday gathering at The Three Mariners, where he forced the choir to sing the comminatory $109th\,Psalm$ against Farfrae.

The Tragic Conclusion

• The Skimmity-Ride: Jopp, having obtained Lucetta’s old love letters to Henchard, shared them at the "Peter’s Finger" inn in Mixen Lane. The residents organized a "skimmity-ride" (a shaming parade) with effigies of Lucetta and Henchard tied back-to-back on a donkey. Lucetta saw the effigy, suffered an epileptic seizure, and died while pregnant.
• The Return of Newson: Richard Newson arrived in Casterbridge, having not been drowned after all. Henchard, in a desperate attempt to keep Elizabeth-Jane, lied and told Newson that she was dead. Newson left in grief.
• The Final Deception Revealed: Elizabeth-Jane and Farfrae became engaged. Henchard, sensing his luck was over, left Casterbridge. Newson returned and revealed Henchard’s lie. Elizabeth-Jane was reunited with her true father and married Farfrae.
• Henchard’s Death: Henchard returned on the wedding night with a gift—a caged goldfinch. Elizabeth-Jane rejected him for his lies. Henchard retreated to a desolate moor and died in a mud cottage. He was found by Abel Whittle.
• The Will: Henchard left a scrap of paper requesting:     1. That Elizabeth-Jane Farfrae be not told of his death.     2. That he be not buried in consecrated ground.     3. That no sexton toll the bell.     4. That no one see his dead body.     5. That no mourners walk behind him.     6. That no flowers be planted on his grave.     7. That no man remember him.
• Elizabeth-Jane’s Epilogue: She lived a life of "equable serenity," having learned the secret of making limited opportunities endurable and accepting that happiness is but an "occasional episode in a general drama of pain."