The Mayor of Casterbridge · Chapter
The Sale of a Wife explained
In late summer, before the nineteenth century had reached one-third of its span, a young couple—Michael Henchard and his wife Susan—approach the village of Weydon-Priors with their infant daughter.
What happens
In late summer, before the nineteenth century had reached one-third of its span, a young couple—Michael Henchard and his wife Susan—approach the village of Weydon-Priors with their infant daughter. They walk in strained silence, Henchard reading a ballad sheet to avoid conversation. At a furmity tent, Henchard, growing drunk, jokingly offers to sell his wife. The crowd initially treats it as a jest, but when a sailor named Newson appears and offers five guineas, the transaction becomes real. Susan, weary of her husband, agrees, and the sailor pays the money, taking Susan and the child away.
Themes in this chapter
Fate and Consequence
Henchard's drunken decision to sell his wife sets in motion a chain of events that will haunt him for the rest of his life, illustrating how a single impulsive act can determine one's fate.
Deception and Truth
The initial pretense of a joke masks the grim reality of the transaction, highlighting the blurred line between jest and genuine intent.
Gender and Power
Susan is treated as property, bought and sold by men, reflecting the powerlessness of women in marriage and society at the time.
Characters to notice
- Michael Henchard
A hay-trusser of fine figure and stern aspect, Henchard is drunk and cynical, offering his wife for sale at the furmity tent.
- Susan Henchard
Henchard's wife, carrying their child, initially implores him to stop but eventually agrees to the sale, showing grim resignation.
- Richard Newson
A sailor who arrives at the tent and purchases Susan for five guineas, taking her and the child away.
- Elizabeth-Jane Newson
The infant daughter carried by Susan, who is taken away with her mother by the sailor.
Key passages
“I am a good experienced hand in my line. I’d challenge England to beat me in the fodder business; and if I were a free man again I’d be worth a thousand pound before I’d done o’t.”
Henchard boasts of his skill as a hay-trusser, claiming he could earn a fortune if he were free from his marriage.
This early statement reveals Henchard's resentment of his domestic ties and his pride in his trade.
“For my part I don’t see why men who have got wives and don’t want ’em, shouldn’t get rid of ’em as these gipsy fellows do their old horses.”
A man in the tent suggests that unwanted wives should be sold like old horses, a sentiment Henchard eagerly adopts.
This dehumanizing comparison sets the stage for the wife sale and reflects the coarse attitudes of the time.
“Now, who’s auctioneer?”
Henchard calls for someone to act as auctioneer for the sale of his wife.
This marks the transition from drunken jest to a formalized transaction.
“If you touch that money, I and this girl go with the man. Mind, it is a joke no longer.”
Susan warns Henchard that accepting the sailor's payment will make the sale real and final.
Susan's firm declaration underscores her desperation and the irreversible nature of the act.