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    The Mayor of Casterbridge
    The Mayor of Casterbridge
    The Mayor of Casterbridge
    Audiobook11 hours

    The Mayor of Casterbridge

    Written by Thomas Hardy

    Narrated by Simon Vance

    4/5

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    About this audiobook

    Set against the backdrop of peaceful southwest England, where Thomas Hardy spent much of his youth, The Mayor of Casterbridge captures the author's unique genius for depicting the absurdity underlying much of the sorrow and humor in our lives.

    Michael Henchard is an out-of-work hay-trusser who gets drunk at a local fair and impulsively sells his wife, Susan, and baby daughter. Eighteen years later, Susan and her daughter seek him out, only to discover that he has become the most prominent man in Casterbridge. Henchard attempts to make amends for his youthful misdeeds, but his unchanged impulsiveness clouds his relationships in love as well as his fortunes in business. Although Henchard is fated to be a modern-day tragic hero, unable to survive in the new commercial world, his story is also a journey toward love.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherTantor Media, Inc
    Release dateMar 30, 2010
    ISBN9781400186136
    Author

    Thomas Hardy

    Thomas Hardy was born in 1840 in Dorchester, Dorset. He enrolled as a student in King’s College, London, but never felt at ease there, seeing himself as socially inferior. This preoccupation with society, particularly the declining rural society, featured heavily in Hardy’s novels, with many of his stories set in the fictional county of Wessex. Since his death in 1928, Hardy has been recognised as a significant poet, influencing The Movement poets in the 1950s and 1960s.

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    Reviews for The Mayor of Casterbridge

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    • 4/5
      This was the first English classic I had to read at school, way back when. I raced through it, despite its thickness and some passages I didn't understand. I was absorbed with the cast of characters, descriptions of the English countryside, and I can still remember the intricate plot, quite vividly as though I had read the book only yesterday. (I don't think I have the time and patience to reread it now!) One can perhaps find parallels between the mayor and in men who have fallen from grace in modern society.
    • 2/5
      If ever there was a book that made me want to eat my shoe, it was The Mayor of Casterbridge. Although I have nothing against villain protagonists, there is a difference between 'evil' and 'must be hit over the head with a shovel before he can procreate'. That said, the book somehow managed to salvage itself- the last few chapters were so well written that I was forced to put away the matches and the gasoline. Part of the reason I had so much trouble getting into the book was the way it was written. Thomas Hardy (he of the magnificent moustache) wrote it in serialized form, which leads to 6 chapters of nothing followed by 1 chapter in which there is a major plot twist.
    • 4/5
      I first read The Mayor of Casterbridge in my early teens, and I remember my shock at what happens in the opening chapters. It was interesting to revisit this novel as an older reader and see if what I remembered was accurate. For the most part it was, even down to the pennies that Susan Henchard lays by to weight her eyelids when she dies. This was rather heavy reading for a young teen, and it certainly made an impression on me. The storyline is well-known. In a moment of drunken anger, Michael Henchard sells his wife Susan and daughter to a passing sailor at Weydon Fair. He then goes on to become a well-respected corn dealer in the nearby town of Casterbridge. Susan believes that the sale is binding and lives with the sailor as his wife. But when she learns the truth of the matter, she sets out to make things right with her husband, for the sake of her daughter. And thus begins a saga of deception, twisted relationships, and self-destruction. Credit for the original comparison between The Mayor of Casterbridge (1886) and Victor Hugo's Les Misérables (1862) goes to my friend ncgraham, whose passing observation on that score gave me a new perspective as I read. The parallels in this story to Les Misérables are really stunning. Toward the end, I noticed that Hardy calls some of the impoverished Casterbridge people "misérables." Intentional allusion? Both stories follow the life of a man who suffers from a foolish act all his life. Somehow this man becomes the guardian of a young girl not his daughter, and that girl is the light of his life. And in both stories, her romantic relationship pulls her away from her adopted father and results in a separation between them. But unlike Valjean, Henchard never is redeemed. Elizabeth-Jane does not appear in time to speak with him on his deathbed as Cosette does with Valjean. And Henchard's life is not particularly inspiring and beautiful like Valjean's — in fact, it's quite the opposite. I think the difference is because God is not a character in His own right in Casterbridge as He is in Les Misérables. Everything is determined by human passion, by chance and coincidence, and we're left feeling as if the floor could give way at any moment. Step on a rotten bit and you'll fall through — and there's no one there to catch you. It's grim.I am unsure what Hardy is really trying to portray in this story. One line in particular stood out to me, about "Nature's jaunty readiness to support unorthodox social principles" (312). Is Hardy supporting these unsanctioned relationships because Elizabeth-Jane was produced by them? Or are the social issues just a backthought to the engrossing character of Henchard? I felt a sense of futility as I read; there were so many chances for Henchard to give up his destructive course, but he never can. As with the other Hardy books I've read, this isn't a novel that I will ever really love. It's a good story, but ultimately it left me feeling frustrated. I suppose that means I cared about the characters, but I don't know that I really did. This novel never even comes close to the overarching greatness that is Les Misérables, but it's worth a read at least.
    • 3/5
      Hoofdthema: ondergang van een man die schijnbaar zijn eigen leven had gemaakt; het verleden is niet weg te moffelen, komt onvermijdelijk weer boven; het lot beheerst ons leven; maar ook eigen inbreng: namelijk trots doet Henchard verder neergaan, terwijl Farfrae door zijn open geest wel stand houdt; dus realisme, in een romantische setting. Maar ook onwaarschijnlijke verhaalovergangen (plotse verschijningen, ?) Opvallend: organische optreden van het leefmilieuVrouwenfiguren eerder zwak uitgewerkt, cfr engelachtige Elisabeth. Ook Farfrae is nauwelijks geloofwaardig. Einde eerder beklemtoning menselijke zucht naar warmte.
    • 4/5
      I was worried that I would find this to depressing. It was not as depressing as Tess of the D’Ubervilles. I checked and men auctioning off their wives was a real thing. I did enjoy this book
    • 4/5
      Michael Henchard is one of my favorite protagonists (second only to Thomas Sutpen, with John Yossarian a close third). A beautifully constructed and fully realized character.
    • 5/5
      There is so much to enjoy in this book from the moment Henchard sells his wife for 5 guineas. The reader knows that this act will come back to haunt the hero as it does time and time again. It is a tragedy that there is a flaw in a make up of the hero. The deteriorating relationship between Henchard and Farfrae is excellent too, the wheel of fortune turning. The ending is stark and sad but expected. Its is just a brilliant book.
    • 5/5
      The version of the book shown here is not the one I read, but my copy, with no notes, footnotes, or any other editing is so old that it does not show up on the GR profile. That being said, here is my review.
      This is a great book. I have read and re-read three other Hardy classics, Tess, Madding Crowd, and Jude, but had not touched him for many years. (The copy of the book I read is copyright 1969 and cost $0.50!)
      I regret not reading this earlier, but am very happy I was egged on to do it by a “Book Buddy” and have read it now.
      The story of a man who “sells” his wife while in a drunken stupor moves through plot twists and turns worthy of anything I have ever read. The plot of this book is well and more fully described elsewhere, so I will not do it here, but I will go on to say a few other things about the book.
      The selling of his wife becomes a huge shame and a deep secret of Michael Henchard, the man who later becomes a wealthy merchant and mayor of Casterbridge. Henchard’s is not the only secret, however, and others who have them find them to be prisons of their own making. Henchard as well as another major character named Lucetta fear the consequences of their secrets and lies so much that they allow them to rule their lives. In the end, the secrets, of course, are revealed, but the feared consequences have already taken place before that time.
      Aside from Hardy’s brilliant handling of this theme of the impact guilt and shame on people’s lives, both the “guilty party” and those around them, he also deals with the very human foible of misinterpreting events and the motives of others. Those misinterpretations lead to huge difficulties throughout the novel, just as they do in real life. Each and every one of us has had the experience of interpreting something a person has said or done in ways the other person could not possibly have intended. The fact that this is so universal is why classic literature transcend time: they present universal unchanging truths.
      Reading 19th century novels is often difficult. The authors rely upon vocabularies much richer than those used today and their writing styles are very formal, often difficult to read, usually seeming overly wordy, but the stories they write and the insights into human behavior they offer are worth the difficulty of wrestling through their style and diction.
      As I read 19th century writers, I am always stuck by their deep understanding of human psychology, of social psychology and of human motivations and fears. It is probably so surprise that Sigmund Freud was a product of the 19th century, but for alll of his notoriety, his understanding of human psychology is no match for those of the novelists of his day.
      I have often felt that the reading curriculum of university English Majors ought to also be the curricula of Psychology Majors.
    • 4/5
      The urban setting makes this novel very different from the author's earlier work. There are fewer trees and hills to look upon, and so the plot takes precedence over description. The story moves quickly and smoothly, and only at times did I feel like Hardy was fast-forwarding through difficulties by using reported dialogue to cover complicated scenes that I think he wasn't up to actually writing. But that only happened once or twice. Otherwise the structure of the novel is sound and without many obvious flaws. The quality of the writing tended to diminish at around the 2/3 point, but it still ended well, as all the different strands came together.I didn't find the self-improvement scheme of Elizabeth to be all that realistically described, and I didn't think the character of Henchard to be all that well-realized - often relying on repeated details of his superstition, for example, to hammer home the point that he actually has character - but otherwise I found the unintentionally awful Farfrae to to be lovingly drawn, the moral ambivalence of the narrator to be effective, and for the overall tragedy to feel like it mattered.
    • 5/5
      Classic. The truths revealed in this classic novel are haunting.
    • 5/5
      This book is beautifully written and is more of a character driven story than a plot driven. Henchard in a episode of drunkenness auctions of his wife and daughter. Takes a vow to never drink for 21 years to make amends for what he has done. He becomes a successful businessman and is made Mayor of the town of Casterbridge. Into his life enters a Scotsman that he loves, his wife and her daugher, Elizabeth-Jane. Of course there is also the "other woman". I especially enjoyed the first pictures that Hardy creates where we see the man, woman, child walking into the village, tired, with no place to lay their heads and rest. Love this quote, "one who deems anything possible at the hands of Time and Chance except perhaps, fair play." "when I was rich, I didn't need what I could have hadand now I be poor I can't have what I need." "simple sorry is better than looming misery." Love how Hardy paints this picture of late summer/fall "...hedges, tress, and other vegetation, which had entered the blackened green stage of colour that this doomed leaves pass through on their way to dingy, and yellow, and red. I love observing nature and this just range so true to me. And the book arrived at the end of fall here in Minnesota. So very fitting picture. Hardy uses references to other literature, frequently using the Bible such as Jacob in Padan-Aran and excerpts from Greek mythology, Bellerophon. Austerliz (Napoleonic War), Character of fate - even sober Henchard is "vehement gloomy being who had quitted the ways of vulgar without the light to guide him on a better way." Henchard is a man who is isolated/lonely; he is separated from his wife by death, his friend by estrangement and his daughter by ignorance.
    • 4/5
      The Mayor of Casterbridge rates 5 stars for all the compelling descriptions, yet only 4 for the plot which does tend to go on and revolve back around itself too many times.How welcome it would have been if young Elizabeth-Jane had just taken off back to the seaside to live with Captain Newsome until or if she decided to marry!That would have left her sad and deceitful ex-father and her tepid ex-love to sort life out between them.
    • 5/5
      My first ever visit to Dorchester prompted me to read my first ever Thomas Hardy novel - very few other writers are so closely associated with a specific town or city; the fictional town in this novel's title is based very closely on Dorset's county town. I loved this novel, and will certainly be reading more Hardy. The plot is simple yet at the same time captivating and timeless. Michael Henchard, an itinerant farm labourer, while drunk one day sells his wife and baby daughter to a sailor at a fair. He wakes up sober and immediately regrets his choice, forswearing alcohol for 21 years and going off to search for them, but it is too late. The ramifications of this moment of madness ring throughout the years and affect Henchard's life and those of his family and others. This is a story about fortune's wheel and how it can bring one man up and cast another man down. Marvellous stuff, full of colourful incident and some quirky minor characters.
    • 3/5
      Very readable and enjoyable story about the varied character of Henchard and Farfrae his reflection.
    • 3/5
      was this like 'Home and Away' in its day? Flawed characters and much drama in their relationships and business dealings.Looking forward to visiting 'Hardy country' as this novel was certainly very evocative of place and time.
    • 5/5
      I don’t entirely know how I got to my age without having read Thomas Hardy before. Quite probably it was because when I was about 14 years old, and we had a newfangled gadget called a Betamax Video Recorder, my Dad bought home Tess of the D’Urbervilles for us to watch - I found it unbearably dull and therefore assumed that Hardy’s novels would be too! I was quite wrong, because from the opening scenes I loved this and was totally engaged.

      Under the influence of alcohol, and following a row, Henchard sells his wife at a country fair to a bidding sailor and the wife, Susan and their daughter leave with him. On waking the next day Henchard regrets his actions but is too late to take her back. He resolves not to drink again for the number of years he has been alive – 21 - and heads for the nearest town, Casterbridge, determined to make amends and to try to become a better person.

      The story then jumps ahead 20 years and Henchard is now a successful hay merchant and the town’s mayor. He befriends a Scotsman who is passing through on his way to America and persuades him to stay on and work for him. But Henchard’s past soon catches up with him when his wife and daughter return, seeking him after the sailor’s death and the world that Henchard has built up starts crashing down.

      I would definitely like to try some more Hardy – although I’m still not sure about Tess!
    • 3/5
      Not Hardy's best - some nice characterization, but contrived plot.Read Apr 2006
    • 5/5
      Mayor of Casterbridge is the wickedly funny and deeply affecting account of the train wreck that is Michael Henchard's life. Much of the humor comes from the Greek chorus like interludes in which some the the local lower class give their take on the doings if their "betters." Yet, this a tragedy of character. Henchard just can't seem not to hoist himself on every possible one of his petards, sometimes taking a somewhat innocent victim such as Lucetta with him. His combative sense of inferiority constantly eggs him into rivalry with both those seem such as Farfrae and unseen such as the sailor Newsome, Elizabeth Jane's father. His need to control and own people and things ultimately leaves him alone. All if the major characters are sympathetically drawn, finely shaded and colorful. The setting is splendidly golden. The honey hues of the stone, the grains, the sunlight wash over the story at times affecting a healing balm. The ancient ruins of Casterbridge underpin themes of wrongheaded malignant rivalry over vaunting pride, and plain old spitefulness as old as Hector and Achilles, Oedipus...you get the idea. Indeed, Henchard is a deeply flawed hero in the classical mode. There is never a dull moment in the Hardy's masterful treatment of his subject. This is just plain old good stuff. Fun, dramatic. cringe worthy, fascinating storytelling at its best.
    • 5/5
      [edit]I loved this book, I am a complete convert to Thomas Hardy and am saddened to think I have left it this long before delving in! He has a wonderful way of painting a picture with his words! You all of a sudden can see exactly what he is saying even though the language is so unlike the way we would talk today, I love it!Henchard arrives in town with his wife and baby daughter with very little money and no job, After a very stupid drunken act he throws his and his families lives into a downward spiral that he never escapes. He moves to Casterbridge and over the years things seem to be on the up for him, but as I said he can never make right the mistake he made and he is to live a nightmare for what he did. A great story, very well thought out and written, a brilliant book.
    • 3/5
      I first read The Mayor of Casterbridge as part of a summer reading program when I was about 15 years old . At that time I wasn’t much of a reader but the story stuck with me for 45 years! A voracious reader today, I rarely reread books (too many yet to read to waste time rereading), but decided ample time had passed to merit another go!Loved it the second time around too! Despite the cumbersome 19th century discourse, the narrative flows effortlessly from one sub-plot to the next, engaging the reader in much the same way a TV soap opera does for a viewer.And what soap opera! The drunkard Michael Henchard, having shamefully sold his wife and child to a sailor, turns his life around. Eighteen years later, just as he is about betroth his less than reputable girlfriend, who should show up but the abandoned wife and child. Henchard, now respectable, does the right thing and ‘marries’ her and truly seems to enjoy spoiling their lovely daughter, Elizabeth-Jane. Ah, but his happiness turns bitter when the wife dies and he finds a secret note confessing that Elizabeth-Jane is indeed the sailor’s progeny, their own offspring having died shortly after he deserted them. Feeling unloved, Elizabeth-Jane moves in with her step-father’s ex-girlfriend, Lucetta, whom she mistakenly believes is highborn. Lucetta, in the meantime has fallen for Henchard’s handsome, young protégé Mr. Farfrae, and whose affections she proceeds to steal from Elizabeth-Jane. Oh what a tangled web we weave!Need I go on? You get the picture! If you are in the mood for a classic, The Mayor of Casterbridge is a fun one even though the prose is far removed from 21st century vernacular.
    • 4/5
      after reading Tess I was intrigued but careful curious. This book moved a long just fine. Lots of story lines. Believable action of characters. Women more independent than in Tess. But again, very very tragic.
    • 4/5
      I've been wanting to finish this for quite a while and finally did it. What to make of it? It reads to me much like a soap opera with twists and turns of the social variety that prevent final resolution until the very end. However, I liked it.
    • 3/5
      Thomas Hardy schildert den Werdegang von Michael Henchard vom armen, dem Alkohol zugeneigten Heubinder zum geachteten Mitglied der Gesellschaft, den schließlich die Schatten der Vergangenheit einholen. Er setzt dabei seine Figuren prächtig in Szene und entwickelt deren Charaktere in meisterhafter Weise. Greifbar wird auch die Athmosphäre der ländlichen Kleinstadt Casterbridge im frühviktorianischen England.Schwächen hingegen weist der Handlungsverlauf auf: Zu gekünstelt wirken die Wendungen, fast schon wie eine Seifenoper aus frühviktorianischer Zeit. Einerseits gelingt es Hardy dadurch zwar, eine stete Spannung aufzubauen und den Leser zu fesseln, andererseits verprellt er diesen auch durch allzu seichte und durchschaubare Handlungsknicke.Erwähnenswert ist auch das Glossar der Ausgabe, dass in lobenswerter Weise die zahlreichen Anspielungen Hardys auf die Literatur- und Kunstgeschichte sowie das alte Testament erläutert. In völlig unverständlicherweise Weise und entgegen der ansonsten tadellosen Übersetzung und der erwähnten Erläuterungen bleibt hingegen eines des Schlüsselereignisse des Romans, eine Schandparade zur öffentlichen Demütigung zweier Hauptprotagonisten, nicht nur unerläutert sondern auch unübersetzt ("Skimmity" bzw "Skimmington-Ritt"), was den grundsätzlich ausgezeichneten Eindruck, den die vorliegende Ausgabe macht, deutlich schmälert.
    • 5/5
      Oh Mr. Hardy - canst thou ever forgive me for doubting thee?The book is finished. My heart is sore. In my grief I can't bear to put it back on the bookshelf yet. Let it stay beside me on the bedside cabinet just a little while longer.How wrong was I in my original assessment of Hardy's prose. I wept whilst reading this book. WEPT! Real tears! And not just once either. Hardy initially cut to the chase with alarming alacrity, and it almost put me off continuing as I felt he had divulged the plot before I was engrossed enough to care much for the characters. More fool me. That was merely the tip of the iceberg, for the tale that developed was to have more twists and turns than a doorknob.And the characterisation - oh, like nothing I've read before. Mr. Henchard was the most unpleasant of protagonists - harsh, proud, stubborn, jealous, cold, pompous - yet the whole way through the novel I was rooting for him, willing him on, desperately hoping he'll say the right thing here, do the right thing there. In the same way that my husband's wayward driving compels me to pump an imaginary brake as a passenger, so too Henchard's repeated mistakes had me constantly silently screaming "Stop! Look out! Take care!".I'm now 5 books into my 50 book target. How I fear the 45 others shall now pale by comparison.
    • 5/5
      Such beautiful writing and an unusual story. There is simply no way to know how it will end so you know you have to finish quickly.
    • 5/5
      A truly outstanding book, and perhaps my favorite work of 19th century British literature.The author's style is engaging, with interesting story lines and character development that flow seamlessly throughout. Mr. Hardy has that rare ability to capture the reader's attention and maintain it with wonderfully intertwined twists and turns that make for a compelling novel. Highly recommended.
    • 4/5
      Truly a triumph of Hardy's later works. Despite each of the main characters' personality flaws, one cannot help but become attached to their outcomes and trials. Hardy proves his mastery of the human condition in literature within the pages of this book, showing readers the perils of being obstinate, jealous, and vengeful. In contrast, readers are also shown how life can be nothing but misery for those who are meek and remain quiet when ill-treated. I do not agree that this is a parable regarding the evils of alcohol, as Michael Henchard, the main character, is not suffering because of his past drunkenness or due to the effects of remaining sober before returning to drink. This is a novel about human character and there is no teetotaller messages to be found. There really is not a dull moment throughout this novel and the parallels between the time periods are similar enough to keep even strictly anti-"Classics" readers entertained.
    • 4/5
      Set almost entirely in a town, this novel seems to have fewer of Hardy's lyrical descriptive passages than other of his works I have read. The story reminded my of the Greek tragedies - despite all good intentions, the main character Michael Henchard is doomed by his very personality.

      The book opens with Henchard getting drunk and selling his wife and child to a stranger. He regrets this once he sobers up but it is too late. Years later, when he has become successful & is mayor, his wife returns with her daughter. His life goes downhill from this point. Henchard's fiery temper and somewhat proud temperment lead him into situations that his better nature regrets every time it seems like he might get things going his way again. For example, his lie to the sailor Newsom about Elizabeth-Jane being dead is ridiculous (and he knows it) but he can't bear to admit to either the sailor or Elizabeth-Jane that he needs her.
    • 4/5
      I was surprised how much I liked this book. Ok, it's a classic, the font is tiny, and it looked like a long hard read. The story is about Mr. Henchard, who in a drunken state, sells his wife and infant daughter. Twenty years later, the wife and daughter decide to look for him and discover that he has become so successful that he is the mayor of Casterbridge. Really interesting plot and great characters.
    • 3/5
      I had to read this in senior English. It was OK. I'm not looking forward to reading more Hardy, much of which is in the 1000 Novels list along with annotations that detail the gloomy, twisted rural plotlines.