The Mayor of Casterbridge: Character Mind Map & Summary
Thomas Hardy’s The Mayor of Casterbridge: the key characters, Henchard’s rise and fall, the secrets, famous lines and the exam facts.
The Character Mind Map
Tap any name to open the details.
Michael Henchard
A young hay-trusser who, drunk on rum-laced furmity at a country fair, sells his wife and baby daughter to a sailor for five guineas. Ashamed, he swears to drink no alcohol for 21 years and rises to become Mayor of Casterbridge. But his temper, pride and past come back to destroy him.
Fate: dies alone in a hut on Egdon Heath🏡 The Family
Wife & daughterSusan HenchardThe wife he sold
Role: Returns years later with her daughter; she and Henchard remarry quietly.
Dies, leaving a secret letterElizabeth-JaneSusan’s daughter
Role: Modest and thoughtful. Henchard believes she is his child, but she is really the sailor Newson’s daughter (his own baby died).
Marries FarfraeRichard NewsonThe sailor who bought Susan
Role: Thought lost at sea; returns alive to claim Elizabeth-Jane. Henchard lies that she is dead.
⚖️ The Rivals
Business & loveDonald FarfraeA clever young Scotsman
Role: Henchard’s corn-business manager and friend, then his rival. He takes over Henchard’s business, house, lover and, finally, the office of mayor.
Becomes mayor; marries Elizabeth-JaneLucetta TemplemanHenchard’s former lover
Role: Nursed Henchard in Jersey; later rich, she marries Farfrae instead. The townspeople expose her past in a “skimmington ride”.
Dies after the shock🌾 The Town
Witnesses of the pastThe Furmity WomanThe old seller from the fair
Role: Arrested years later, she reveals in court that Henchard once sold his wife, which ruins his reputation.
Abel WhittleHenchard’s workman
Role: Once humiliated by Henchard, he still cares for him and stays with him at his death.
Memory Hook: Rise, Fall & the Rival
Henchard and Farfrae change places completely.
Henchard’s Downfall
How he loses everything, step by step.
Famous Lines & Facts
What examiners usually ask about.
Quick Summary
The plot in five stops.
Stage 1The Sale
- At Weydon-Priors fair, drunken Henchard sells Susan and their baby to Newson for five guineas.
Stage 2The Mayor
- Years later, Susan and Elizabeth-Jane find Henchard, now Mayor. He hires Farfrae and remarries Susan.
Stage 3Rivalry
- Henchard and Farfrae fall out. Susan dies; her letter reveals Elizabeth-Jane’s real father. Lucetta arrives and marries Farfrae.
Stage 4Ruin
- The wife-sale is exposed; Henchard goes bankrupt. The skimmington ride kills Lucetta.
Stage 5Alone
- Newson returns; Elizabeth-Jane marries Farfrae. Henchard dies alone on Egdon Heath.
Must-Know Exam Facts
Quick points for UGC NET, SET and PGT.
Title & Date
The Life and Death of the Mayor of Casterbridge: A Story of a Man of Character, serialised in The Graphic in 1886.
Setting
Casterbridge is Hardy’s version of Dorchester, the market town at the heart of Wessex.
Tragic Hero
Henchard is often compared to a hero of Greek or Shakespearean tragedy, especially King Lear.
Old vs New
Henchard’s rough, instinctive methods lose to Farfrae’s modern, scientific business.
Genre
A tragic character study, driven by coincidence and secrets.
Key Themes
Character and fate, guilt and the past, pride, change and isolation.
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