Concept Of Mistake And Fate In Thomas Hardy's Novel The Mayor Of Casterbridge

When Michael Henchard sells his wife and child at a state fair he feels in instantly regretful and vows to become sober to make up for his wrongdoings. Henchard often looks back to this moment throughout Thomas Hardy’s novel, The Mayor of Casterbridge. This story is about a series of mistakes that the main character Henchard makes which he always blames one a greater force. The narrator in “Going and Staying” by Thomas Hardy shows the temporal and shortness of things in life and its cruelty in our lives. It tells us that the most beautiful things dissolve as fast as they appear. “Fate” by Ralph Waldo Emerson shows that fate controls an individual’s life for better or for worse, therefore that person’s life is dictated by the idea of fate. The ideal principle is to find the balance between liberty and fate.

The short story “The Triple Warning” by Arthur Schnitzler tells the story of a young man who goes hiking one day with plans to climb a nearby mountain. He seems like an ordinary person, but during the day, a Voice warns him that three things will happen before it’s over: he will commit murder, dishonor his country, and he will die. The author wrote this to challenge free will and to make the reader think about his/her own fate and if they have any control over it. When faced with challenges most will justify their unfavorable outcomes on fate. However, fate is not entirely to blame for one’s misfortunes, whether it is a little bump in the road or a huge pothole; most everyone will go out of their way to avoid taking responsibility. This can be seen in the novel Mayor of Casterbridge by Thomas Hardy, the main character, Henchard, tries to outdo his rival Farfrae in business and personal ways. When Farfrae makes a huge profit on his corn harvest Henchard begins to think that some power was working against him (Hardy 189). Henchard is superstitious, and so many dismaying things happen to him that he can’t help but wonder whether some force outside himself might be conspiring against him. Of course, it isn’t some abstract idea of fate that’s causing Henchard’s misfortunes; it’s his own mistakes. The reader realizes that Henchard has always made questionable decisions from the first few pages of the book. His most arguable mistake was selling his wife, Susan, and child to the highest bidder at a state fair. A drunken Henchard says, “I’ll sell her for five guineas to any man that will pay me the money, and treat her well; and he shall have her for ever” (Hardy 11). No one speaks up, perceiving the whole situation to be primarily a joke. Susan and Henchard have never had an intimate relationship due to the fact that Henchard views his wife and child as property. This shows that Henchard has continuously mistreated Susan in public. However, Susan feels as though Henchard has crossed a line this time. Selling his wife is were all of Henchard’s issues are rooted, every decision that goes wrong he blames on selling his wife and because it’s in the past there is nothing that he can do to change it. Henchard believes that there could be someone controlling not only himself but his actions, ‘I wonder,’ he asked himself with eerie misgiving; ‘I wonder if it can be that somebody has been roasting a waxen image of me, or stirring an unholy brew to confound me! I don’t believe in such power, and yet – what if they should ha’ been doing it!’ (Hardy 189). He contemplates if he could be a voodoo doll and the person controlling him is doing it for their own enjoyment. Henchard is once again attempting to assign responsibility to someone other than himself and causing him to question whether or not he has any power over his life. With the assumption that everyone’s path in life is already decided the majority choose to give up and let life take its course, believing that nothing they do will have any effect.

The poem “Going and Staying” by Thomas Hardy represents how time will wait for no one, “Then we looked closelier at Time, And saw his ghostly arms revolving To sweep off woeful things with prime, Things sinister with things sublime Alike dissolving” (Hardy lines 11-15). Time is a carousel, it continues to turn without regard to anyone’s actions or feelings. The “ghostly arms” control everyone’s personal lives and cannot be persuaded, because it only has one job; to keep the carousel spinning. This supports the concept presented in “Fate” by Ralph Waldo Emerson that fate is not something that can be controlled, it controls you. Fate is once again described as a greater force instead of as a person, “Obeying time, the last to own The Genius from its cloudy throne” (Emmerson lines 11-12). Fate can be a dangerous thing. Life is usually never about laughter and happy smiles, it is a battle everyone fights. Fate itself is the enemy, it has a mind of its own and does what it wants. It won’t listen to you, you can try and change it, but fate is a part of us and that won’t change.

In the short story, “The Triple Warning” by Arthur Schnitzler the author challenges his reader’s thoughts on multiple topics. With them, he deeply examines humankind’s relationship with the cosmic powers; the voice on the mountain says, “Go not through this forest, youth, unless thou wouldst commit murder” (Schnitzler line 6). When the youth goes hiking the voice is posed as all-knowing, the youth was confused but disregarded it as a spirit. Later on during the story the youth says, ‘So it appears that I have committed murder without knowing it!’ ‘Thy careless foot has crushed a worm,’ the answer thundered back” (Schnitzler lines 15-16). This makes the reader wonder if anyone is really free and if anything they do matters. At the same time, we’re forced to challenge the idea that there will be extensive consequences for the most trivial actions, putting daily life in a new perspective. Few can see through fate and view the bigger picture without the distractions, most blame their misfortunes on anyone but themselves which often clouds one’s judgement.

In The Mayor of Casterbridge there is one person who can clearly see events clearly. This person is pointed out in the literary critisicm ‘Thomas Hardy and the Role of Observer’ by Julie Grossman. The daughter of Micheal Henchard, Elizabeth-Jane, has a special talent in seeing thing without an obstructed view, “Elizabeth-Jane, in The Mayor of Casterbridge, is probably the closest to an observer who ‘sees’ things as they really are” (Grossman). Grossman shows how Elizabeth-Jane’s observations are an extended metaphor for divining the truth. She says that Elizabeth-Jane is able to view the events as how they are and not being influenced by anyone or anything. Her opinion throughout the story offers a clean view on what she sees. In The Mayor of Casterbridge Hardy reveals Elizabeth-Jane’s inner thoughts, “But her strong sense that neither she nor any human being deserved less than was given, did not blind her to the fact that there were others receiving less who had deserved much more” (Hardy 331). She reflects on the unfair distribution of happiness. Her reflection alleviates Henchard’s obsession with the worth of his name and reputation, however she still doesn’t understand why someone would put themselves through pain to become well known and liked. When faced with difficult decisions many choose to only look at the issue from one view point causing them to act irresponsibly. Henchard is once again faced with the problems of his past, “The retort of the furmity-woman before the magistrates had spread; and in four-and-twenty hours there was not a person in Casterbridge who remained unacquainted with the story of Henchard’s mad freak at Weydon Priors Fair, long years before” (Hardy 215). Henchard wonders if it’s purely coincidence that that the woman who got him drunk the night that he sold his family would show up years later in the town he now lives in. Ralph Waldo Emerson makes and interesting point in his poem “Fate”, “Deep in the man sits fast his fate To mould his fortunes, mean or great” (Emmerson lines 1-2). It seems although the man is making his own fate and the outcomes are based on what he chooses in life however life will take it’s course being driven by fate and unfairness. No living being can understand the nature of fate and each and every individual has to surrender to fate and has to understand that his life is controlled by fate and fate alone.