George Meredith once wrote: “In tragic life God knows not/No villain need be!” Passions drive the plot: / We are betrayed by what is false inside. What he implied is that it is not so much the circumstances as the character of the protagonist that often lets him down and allows emotion to take over rational thought. Meredith's lines can very well be applied to the protagonist of Thomas Hardy's novel, commonly known as the Mayor of Casterbridge, Michael Henchard, who has all the elements of a traditional tragic hero. In Hardy's novel - The Mayor of Casterbridge, Henchard is undoubtedly the tragic hero whose undoing may be due to his own character flaw – his impulsiveness and reckless anger; However, the way his life is reduced to rubble can also be attributed to circumstances as well as the malevolent forces of nature and fate. As mentioned, Henchard is the tragic hero of the novel and his character has both positive and negative aspects that are highlighted. through various incidents in the novel. Henchard's character is very significant and this point is mentioned in the title of the book itself in which Hardy emphasizes that his novel is "the story of a man of character". Throughout the novel, his unstable temperament forces him into a ruthless competition with Farfrae who soon strips him of his pride, reputation and possessions, while his insecurities lead him to cheat on the only person he started to like: Elizabeth-Jane. His impulsiveness and temper are evident on three occasions: first when he sells his wife to Newson, then in his unsympathetic behavior towards Whittle who oversleeps, and finally when he fires Jopp. Yet Hardy insists that Henchard is a worthy man and that he has a certain middle of paper ...... as responsible in some way for the wheat and will be responsible for the bad harvest later, which bankrupts Henchard. . Fate sends the child who sings Farfrae's praises to Henchard, and Henchard becomes aware of the true feelings the people of Casterbridge have for Farfrae. Ironically, Henchard discovers that Elizabeth-Jane is not his own daughter the same day he revealed to her that he was her father! This is the wicked game that fate and nature play together with Henchard. Therefore, Hardy does not primarily hold Henchard's character solely responsible for his downfall, as many factors beyond his control (primarily fate) played a central role in his downfall. Character is destiny, but destiny also determines your true character and this is very evident in the case of the Mayor of Casterbridge, Michael Henchard, who was a "man of character ».’