The Mayor of Casterbridge · Chapters

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Chapter companions for The Mayor of Casterbridge by Thomas Hardy.

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Chapter 1
The Sale of a Wife
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.
Chapter 2
Chapter II
Michael Henchard awakens after selling his wife and child at the fair. He finds his wife's ring and the sailor's banknotes, confirming the events were real. After a period of regret and anger, he takes a solemn oath in a church to abstain from alcohol for twenty-one years. He then searches for his wife and child but fails to find them, eventually settling in Casterbridge.
Chapter 3
III
Susan Henchard, now calling herself Mrs. Newson, returns to the fair at Weydon-Priors with her daughter Elizabeth-Jane, eighteen years after Henchard sold her. The fair has declined, and Susan seeks information about Henchard's whereabouts from the old furmity woman, who recalls that Henchard said he was going to Casterbridge. Susan decides they will go there.
Chapter 4
IV
Susan Henchard, burdened by her past and the secret of her marriage to Michael Henchard, decides to seek him out in Casterbridge in hopes of improving her daughter Elizabeth-Jane's prospects. She reveals nothing of the true story to Elizabeth, who remains unaware of her mother's earlier life. They travel to Casterbridge, observing the town's old-fashioned character, and upon arriving, overhear Henchard's name mentioned, confirming he is still there. Susan resolves to make private inquiries before revealing herself.
Chapter 5
V
Elizabeth-Jane and her mother Susan arrive in Casterbridge and observe a public dinner at the King's Arms hotel, where they discover that Michael Henchard is the Mayor. Through conversations with locals, they learn of Henchard's reputation as a powerful businessman and a strict teetotaller bound by a gospel oath. Henchard faces public criticism over bad bread made from his wheat, which he deflects by announcing his search for a manager. Susan, overwhelmed by seeing her estranged husband, expresses a desire to leave, while Elizabeth-Jane is intrigued by her newfound relative.

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The Sale of a Wife

Chapter II

III

IV

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