The Mayor of Casterbridge — Thomas Hardy | Coleman’s Notes A Level Student Guide
“A Man of Character” — but what happens when character itself becomes a tragic weakness?
Thomas Hardy’s The Mayor of Casterbridge traces the extraordinary rise and fall of Michael Henchard, a man whose impulsiveness, pride, jealousy and determination shape not only his own destiny but the lives of everyone around him.
The novel begins with one of Hardy’s most memorable episodes: Henchard, drunk and embittered, sells his wife Susan and their child to a sailor at Weydon-Priors.
Years later, Henchard has transformed himself. He is a prosperous corn merchant and respected Mayor of Casterbridge. But the return of his past — together with the arrival of the talented young Scotsman Donald Farfrae — begins to threaten everything he has built.
Through Henchard’s relationships with Farfrae, Elizabeth-Jane, Lucetta Templeman and Susan, Hardy explores the struggle between character and circumstance, past and present, fate and personal responsibility.
This Coleman’s Notes guide provides the detailed textual knowledge, literary analysis and examination preparation needed for confident A Level study.
Inside the guide
✓ Complete plot summary
✓ Detailed chapter-by-chapter analysis
✓ Casterbridge and key locations
✓ Character relationship guide
✓ Michael Henchard in depth
✓ Donald Farfrae in depth
✓ Elizabeth-Jane in depth
✓ Lucetta Templeman
✓ Susan Henchard
✓ Richard Newson and supporting characters
✓ Character, fate and circumstance
✓ Pride, jealousy and rivalry
✓ The past and its consequences
✓ Love, marriage and relationships
✓ Secrets, identity and deception
✓ Social class and reputation
✓ Community and public judgement
✓ Tradition versus modernity
✓ Chance, coincidence and tragedy
✓ Isolation and belonging
✓ Hardy’s use of setting and symbolism
✓ Irony, foreshadowing and narrative method
✓ Historical and literary context
✓ Key quotations and analysis
✓ A Level literary methods
✓ Structured essay plans
✓ Model answers
✓ Exam & Revision Questions
✓ Quick Recall revision
✓ Key episodes for close analysis
✓ Critical debates for A Level
✓ Exam technique
✓ Final revision checklist
Perfect for
A Level English Literature students • examination revision • essay preparation • teachers • tutors • independent learners
The guide helps students move beyond the events of Henchard’s dramatic life to examine how Hardy creates tragedy.
Is Henchard destroyed by fate — or by his own character? Is Farfrae simply Henchard’s rival, or does he represent a new social and economic order? How do secrecy, coincidence and the return of the past shape the novel? And how does Casterbridge itself become an essential part of Hardy’s tragic design?
The guide helps students turn these questions into clear, well-supported A Level arguments, connecting character and theme with Hardy’s narrative methods and historical context.
This is a digital product, available for download following purchase.
Individual Student Guide — £7.95
Also available — The Thomas Hardy Collection
Five comprehensive Coleman’s Notes® A Level Student Guides:
Tess of the d’Urbervilles • Far from the Madding Crowd • The Mayor of Casterbridge • Jude the Obscure • The Return of the Native
Complete five-title Thomas Hardy Collection — £34.95
Coleman’s Notes® — Understand • Analyse • Revise • Succeed
