Mayor of casterbridge depicts the philosophy of Thomas Hardy illustrate from the text.

Hardy’s philosophy on life and character is clearly voiced through Elizabeth-Jane and the ending she chose to endure. The ending of the novel orchestrates some of Hardy’s perennial themes revolving around the discords of human experience, change, the death of the individual, and the survival of the species.

The mayor had tried to create his own destiny by producing a character that is fixed and permanent. However, the world, as Elizabeth-Jane acknowledges, is one of evolution and change, and so Henchard can no longer survive in this world, as he is non-adaptable. Elizabeth-Jane, on the other hand, develops a philosophy of endurance, quiet pessimism, and making “limited opportunities endurable”, which is presented as the key to survival.