The Mayor of Casterbridge The Life and Death of a Man of Character

The Mayor of Casterbridge The Life and Death of a Man of Character by Thomas Hardy tells the same devastating story of Michael Henchard under a title that makes irony unmistakable. Henchard's rise in the town is shadowed by the shameful act that began his life over again, and the novel follows guilt, jealousy, and stubbornness undoing his position.

Hardy uses the subtitle to sharpen the tragedy, because Henchard is both impressive and self-defeating. The book studies the cost of trying to govern one's fate through willpower alone, especially in a world where memory and consequence never stay buried. The longer title leaves no doubt that character itself can become a source of ruin. The longer title sharpens the novel's sense of moral exposure.