Individual Will Versus Imminent Will- A Study of Thomas Hardy’s The Mayor of Caster Bridge

Abstract

The Mayor of Caster Bridge is a powerful artistic rendering of Hardy’s philosophy of role of chance and fate. It illustrates beautifully how there exists a conflict between an individual’s will and imminent will. There is a bitter conflict and the outcome of this clash is the tragedy of a number of major as well as of minor characters in Hardy’s fiction. An individual thinks that he or she can do anything, but the role of chance and fate is so powerful that it prevents all the happenings according to an individual’s will.