Consider the Rise and Fall of Michael Henchard
“Consider the fall of Michael Henchard. Is it of his own making?”
Will Gomm
In the novel ‘The Mayor of Casterbridge’ Michael Henchard brings upon his own downfall. He is the tragic figure of novel and the rises and falls that he finds himself in the middle of are completely of his own makings. Henchard’s downfall comes as the main result of his impulsivity. He is always too tired up living in the moment and fails to see the bigger picture around him; he acts to make decisions before he truly considers the consequences of them. This impulsiveness that Henchard shows leads to another one of his negative traits, his fierce temper. Henchard refuses to acknowledge that at times he is in the wrong and instead of acknowledging that he attacks the people around him to make himself feel superior to them, we see this in his slapdash treatment of Able Whittel and Joshua Jopp. The fall of Michael Henchard is entirely of his own making; he is impulsive, he shows poor business decision based on anger and revenge and finds himself in the pits as the tragic figure of the novel.
Henchard’s Impulsive actions and general aggressive demeanour contribute to his overall downfall as he cannot come to terms with the fact that there are times that even the great Michael Henchard is wrong. The most prolific instance of this is in Henchard’s dealings with Able Whittel, his brash decisions and poor judgement lead to his first confrontation with Farfrae. Henchard continuously warns Whittel about his time of arrival as he is always late and continuously says “Once more- be in time tomorrow morning. You see what’s to be done, and you hear what I say, and you know I’m not going to be trifled with any longer.” As a result of Whittle still coming late Henchard verbally abuses then humiliates him is front of all of Casterbridge but what he does after makes he seem like a little child who has thrown a tantrum. His dealings with Able Whittel are brash and he makes a poor judgement call and
Will Gomm
In the novel ‘The Mayor of Casterbridge’ Michael Henchard brings upon his own downfall. He is the tragic figure of novel and the rises and falls that he finds himself in the middle of are completely of his own makings. Henchard’s downfall comes as the main result of his impulsivity. He is always too tired up living in the moment and fails to see the bigger picture around him; he acts to make decisions before he truly considers the consequences of them. This impulsiveness that Henchard shows leads to another one of his negative traits, his fierce temper. Henchard refuses to acknowledge that at times he is in the wrong and instead of acknowledging that he attacks the people around him to make himself feel superior to them, we see this in his slapdash treatment of Able Whittel and Joshua Jopp. The fall of Michael Henchard is entirely of his own making; he is impulsive, he shows poor business decision based on anger and revenge and finds himself in the pits as the tragic figure of the novel.
Henchard’s Impulsive actions and general aggressive demeanour contribute to his overall downfall as he cannot come to terms with the fact that there are times that even the great Michael Henchard is wrong. The most prolific instance of this is in Henchard’s dealings with Able Whittel, his brash decisions and poor judgement lead to his first confrontation with Farfrae. Henchard continuously warns Whittel about his time of arrival as he is always late and continuously says “Once more- be in time tomorrow morning. You see what’s to be done, and you hear what I say, and you know I’m not going to be trifled with any longer.” As a result of Whittle still coming late Henchard verbally abuses then humiliates him is front of all of Casterbridge but what he does after makes he seem like a little child who has thrown a tantrum. His dealings with Able Whittel are brash and he makes a poor judgement call and