The Mayor of Casterbridge

I read Tess of D'Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy earlier this year, so I was curious to see if his novel, The Mayor of Casterbridge, was as good. I liked The Mayor of Casterbridge a lot. It is such a great intriguing novel with lots of drama. I thought Michael was pretty despicable and only wanted what he couldn't have. As soon as he got love from Susan, Lucetta, or Elizabeth-Jane, he treated them badly. I believe by the time he dies, he feels remorse for his actions and writes in his will, "And that no flours be planted on my grave. And that no man remember me."

I think the women in the novel aren't portrayed as great role models. Elizabeth-Jane bugs me, because she seems like an blissful idiot. Lucetta is immediately deemed a manipulative hussy, because of the letters she wrote to Henchard and she seems to drag both Donald and Michael along, weighing her options. Susan seems frigid and lifeless. She stays with Newsom all those years out of "obligation" and immediately returns to Henchard without knowing if Newsom is truly dead or alive.

I don't think love is as important as sex or revenge to these characters. The character seem to marry more for money, duty, lust, and obligation rather than love. Michael doesn't really love Susan, or he wouldn't have sold her at the fair and blamed it on the alcohol. He lusts after Lucetta, when she is being courted by Farfrae. Farfrae really only loved Elizabeth-Jane and backed off after he didn't feel she had as much passion or personality as Lucetta.