Characterization

In the opening scene of Thomas Hardy's novel The Mayor of Casterbridge, Michael Henchard (who later becomes the titular mayor) makes the worst mistake of his life. He sells his wife and infant daughter in an auction.

At this point Henchard's not a mayor, but an out-of-work hay-trusser. He and his wife Susan are wandering around, looking for work. Their relationship is clearly pretty strained—rarely do they even speak to each other. They decide to stop at the town of Weydon-Priors, where there's huge fair going on. Here Henchard gets obscenely drunk, and this exacerbates his worst qualities: his short temper and his impulsiveness. He argues loudly with Susan, and with other fairgoers laments the “ruin of good men by bad wives.” The scene escalates quickly and culminates in the sale of Susan and Elizabeth-Jane, the daughter, to a sailor from out of town. Shortly thereafter, Henchard passes out.

Upon awakening the next morning, Henchard immediately regrets the events of the previous day. In the nearest church, he swears not to drink at all for 20 years. The next several months he spends in search of Susan and Elizabeth-Jane, but to no success. Despite his remarkable persistence, Henchard does eventually give up the search and turns, penniless, to the town of Casterbridge.

Here the novel fast-forwards 18 years. Henchard has become the mayor and also fantastically wealthy. But, as Henchard himself says, “the Mayor of Casterbridge is not so thriving in his mind as it seems he might be from the state of his pocket.” He has struggled with a tremendous sense of guilt.

It's at this point that Susan and Elizabeth-Jane arrive in Casterbridge in search of Henchard, the sailor having drowned at sea. In hopes of atoning for his past actions, Henchard is eager to welcome them back into his life. “Judge me,” he begs Susan, “by my future works.”

He promises to remarry her, and in courting her proceeds to pay her excessively frequent visits. In addition to making amends, he also hopes to “castigate himself with the thorns which these restitutory acts bring in their train; among them the lowering of his dignity in public opinion by marrying so comparatively humble a woman.” In addition to atonement, he also is seeking punishment for his past wrongs.

BUT... Henchard knows he can never fully atone for his past wrongs. In the interim between selling Susan and accepting her back into his life, he promised to marry another woman. He is equally obligated to both women, but must chose one over the other....