THE NOVELS OF THOMAS HARDY: THE MAYOR OF CASTERBRIDGE

Thomas Hardy's The Mayor of Casterbridge recounts the life of Michael Henchard and the tragic events leading to his death. Having sold his wife, Susan, and their daughter, Elizabeth-Jane, to a sailor at a fair in Weydon-Priors in a drunken stupor, Michael takes an oath to abstain from alcohol for twenty-one years. He goes to live in Casterbridge and rises from a hay-trusser to the mayor of the town. Years later, Susan returns in search of her husband, oblivious of the latter's elevated social status. Hardy's novel keeps us on the edge, as chance and coincidence expose the hidden truths of the past, build and break friendships, unite and separate lovers, through a concatenation of fantastic circumstances. What happens to Susan and Elizabeth after they go on to live with the sailor? Will Mr. Henchard be reunited with his wife and daughter?