The Mayor of Casterbridge

“In contrast with the harshness of the act just ended within the tent was the sight of several horses crossing their necks and rubbing each other lovingly as they waited in patience to be harnessed for the homeward journey.”

The appearance of the horses after Henchard’s fateful auction creates a clear division between the sellers and the sold. The horses are loving creatures who are exploited and sold by their owners. Henchard falls into the latter category, realizing that Susan bears the same natural loving qualities as the horses. The sight of the auctioned horses makes Henchard immediately reflect on his actions and the way he has reduced his wife to a saleable good. Rather than dehumanizing her, however, he has dehumanized himself.

“Straightforward dealings don’t bring profit—‘tis the sly and the underhand that get on in these times!”

Since the day of the fair when Henchard auctioned his wife and daughter, a sense of malaise has fallen over much of the countryside. The food tent was once a centerpiece of the fair, but it is now reduced to one caldron balanced over an open fire. This is a bad time, suitable for bad men like Henchard. Unsurprisingly, such bad times have allowed him to rise to power. Henchard is built for these immoral times, but a reckoning is about to be delivered upon him.

“He is not how I thought he would be—he overpowers me! I don’t wish to see him any more.”

Susan is horrified to discover that her husband has risen to such heights. This successful version of Henchard stands in stark contrast to the itinerant man with an alcohol addiction who sold her at a town fair, so much so that she feels overpowered.