Henchard

Michael Henchard - At the end of The Mayor of Casterbridge, the ruined Michael Henchard wills that no one remember his name after his death. This request is profoundly startling and tragic, especially when one considers how very important Henchard's name has been to him during his life. After committing the abominable deed of selling his wife and child, Henchard wakes from a drunken stupor and wonders, first and foremost, if he told any of …

…it is Henchard who insists on creating the competition that he eventually loses. Although Henchard loses even the ability to explain himself—"he did not sufficiently value himself to lessen his sufferings by strenuous appeal or elaborate argument"—he never relinquishes his talent of endurance. Whatever the pain, Henchard bears it. It is this resilience, in the end, that elevates him to the level of a hero—a man, ironically enough, whose name deserves remembering.