Discussion Topic
Major and main characters in "The Mayor of Casterbridge"
Summary:
The major and main characters in "The Mayor of Casterbridge" include Michael Henchard, the protagonist whose rise and fall are central to the plot; Donald Farfrae, his business rival and eventual successor; Susan Henchard, Michael's estranged wife; Elizabeth-Jane, their daughter; and Lucetta Templeman, a woman with whom Henchard has a complicated relationship.
Who are the four major characters in The Mayor of Casterbridge?
Clearly I am only going to be able to give you a brief summary of four major characters, so I have also given you a few links below to the enotes study section of this novel that will be able to provide you with more information.
The mayor of the title of this novel is called Michael Henchard, who is the tragic hero that, in the opening chapter, sells his wife in a drunken rage and then goes on to become mayor of Casterbridge and re-marry his former wife. He is a strange mixture of good and bad, as he is very reliable and honest in his business dealings, but also sometimes is very cruel and can punish excessively.
Donald Farfrae is presented as being the opposite of Michael Henchard in many ways. He becomes Henchard's business manager, but brings with him a new set of ideas and change that...
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in many ways brings improvement but also has some disadvantages. Young and handsome, Farfrae is everything that Henchard is not, and Farfrae's success emphasises the failures of Henchard, creating a massive tension between these two characters.
Elizabeth-Jane is supposedly the daughter of Henchard and his wife that he sells in the opening chapter. As she re-enters his life, she is shown to be a beautiful and confident young lady who is depicted as being very sensitive and is eager to improve her position. However, we later discover that she is not actually Henchard's daughter. She becomes romantically involved with Farfrae and marries him.
Lastly, Susan Henchard, the mother of Elizabeth-Jane and former wife of Henchard, is presented as being a very passive character. She is sold in the opening chapters and does not resist this, seeming to be powerless to avoid a higher fate that others have decided for her. She does however exert herself to re-enter the life of Henchard to ensure her daughter's future and provision. The townspeople refer to her as "the ghost" which seems to consolidate her passive role in the novel.
Who is the main character in 'The Mayor of Casterbridge'?
The main character of the novel is Michael Henchard. He begins the novel as a farm labourer who controversially sells his wife and daughter in a fit of drunken despondency at his own poverty.
This dramatic opening event leads to Henchard swearing a vow to abstain from drink and to locate his wife and daughter who were bought by a sailor.
Despite his hard work, dedication to success and rising to the eminent position of Mayor of Casterbridge, the cyclical nature of the novel means that Henchard loses what he does gain and dies in financial and emotional poverty: ending his story as it began.