The Role of Henchard’s Character in Loss and Profit of His Business in the Novel the Mayor of Casterbridge

Abstract

To identify and explore the role of Michael Henchard’s character in loss and profit of his business in Thomas Hardy’s novel The Mayor of Casterbrdige, a qualitative research method is used in this study. The novel portrays the protagonist’s journey from being a poor helpless hay trusser to a successful mayor and businessman of the town who finally ends up meeting a miserably tragic downfall at the end of the plot. The article discusses whether Henchard was driven by fate to the misery or was that his own decision making ability (character) that was flawed. The text of the novel is used as primary source of data collection. Many other research articles, journals and books served as secondary sources for data collection. After a diligent analysis of the textual data the researcher reaches to the conclusion that the novel is a great presentation of indeterminism. Through the protagonist’s character Hardy has depicted the philosophy of ‘Character is Fate’ in a very artistic and realistic manner. As per findings of the study it is strongly recommended that other scholars may work on the role of fate in Hardy’s characters, the impacts of genetics on his characters’ lives and his profound philosophy of pessimism and nihilism are yet to be discovered areas where further research could easily be carried out.