Henchard's Love affair with Lucetta in The Mayor of Casterbridge

Henchard is a kind of soft-hearted tragic protagonist of Hardy's novel The Mayor of Casterbridge. He is presented as a believable character in every step. No doubt he commits the greatest error by selling his wife and daughter. But everything happens out of his identical designing.

At the very beginning of the novel he is presented as a married man having a daughter and wife. He never tries to cheat his wife by keeping any kind of relation with any other women. But Lucetta Templeman is also another emotional figure. In her youth, She met Michel Henchard in her native Jersey. She wishes to marry him. Henchard on the other hand had his wife and a daughter for whom he had sold unconsciously. But when he couldn't get his wife and daughter for a long time he falls in love with Lucetta. Here the love of Henchard is not presented so badly.

It is not the crime of Lucectta who wants Henchard. She keeps her love affair with Henchard because she knows that Henchard is without wife and child. But the situation turns another direction when Lucetta knows that Henchard's previous wife and daughter has returned in Casterbridge. She is shocked with this sort of situation. After that Lucetta tries to be near with Farfrae. She again falls in love with Farfrae and marries him. But at the same time she constantly fears that Henchard will reveal their past relations with Farfrae. After all the letter between Henchard and Lucetta are read by the so many townspeople, which cause the death of Lucetta.

Again with the love affair with Lucetta Michel Henchard is victimized in the hand of the situation. After all, whether it is the field of married life, or it is the field of popularity, power, position and love in every field Michel Henchard once gets the highest position together with the extreme pleasure but after all he falls in lowest situation of its fall. Ups and downs in every field are Henchard's real identity. Sometimes he gets the full support of the love affair with Lucetta and no sooner it results in tragic end. Here also Henchard got a tragic end in the hand of luck as a result he is deceived. So the love affair of Henchard with Lucetta also proves Henchard as the puppet, here in the hand of his fate, luck and coincidence.