The extreme drama of Henchard’s will is an example of hyperbole in The Mayor of Casterbridge. In Chapter 45, Hardy uses the pathetic and pitiful language of Henchard’s final words to really drive home how much of a failure Henchard’s life has become. This language is so self-pitying, however, that it also makes him seem faintly ridiculous to the reader. When Abe Whittle finds the will for Elizabeth-Jane and Farfrae after Henchard’s death, the “crumpled scrap of paper” reads:
MICHAEL HENCHARD'S WILL
“That Elizabeth-Jane Farfrae be not told of my death, or made to grieve on account of me.
“& that I be not bury’d in consecrated ground.
“& that no sexton be asked to toll the bell.
“& that nobody is wished to see my dead body.
“& that no murners walk behind me at my funeral.
“& that no flours be planted on my grave,
“& that no man remember me.
“To this I put my name. “Michael Henchard”
This long list of horrible requests not to remember him and to bury him in ignominy seem almost like exaggerated self-flagellation by a character as manipulative as Henchard. This list details that he wishes to receive none of the usual honors or services allocated to a dead person. Victorian Christian funerals in England were quite elaborate affairs involving many members of the community, from the “murners” (mourners) who would walk behind the coffin to the “sexton” who would “toll the bell” to signal a death to the town. Even in his death, Hardy seems to tell the reader, Henchard manages to make other people feel bad.
