Michael Henchard Timeline and Summary

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• Twenty-year-old Michael Henchard is traveling with his wife and baby daughter, looking for work.
• They stop for dinner. He gets drunk, decides having a wife is a drag, and offers to sell her.
• A random sailor buys her for 5 guineas.
• Henchard regrets what he did the next day. He can't find his wife or daughter.
• He swears not to drink alcohol for twenty years.
• He moves to Casterbridge and starts working as a hay trusser (harvester).
• He eventually attains success as a hay and grain merchant and becomes the mayor of the town.
• He travels a lot for business and gets sick while he's in Jersey.
• A young lady feels sorry for him and helps nurse him back to health.
• She falls in love with him and doesn't worry about what anyone will think.
• Henchard goes back to Casterbridge, and the young lady keeps sending him love notes.
• She asks him to marry her since everyone in Jersey thinks they were sleeping together and her reputation is ruined.
• He's about to agree when his wife Susan comes back with her daughter.
• He hires a new manager, Farfrae, to take care of his business.
• He remarries Susan.
• Henchard becomes jealous of Farfrae and fires him.
• Susan dies, and Henchard finds out that Elizabeth-Jane isn't his real daughter, but rather the daughter of the sailor.
• Henchard sends Elizabeth-Jane away.
• The young lady from Jersey, Lucetta, comes to Casterbridge after hearing of Susan's death.
• She still seems to want Henchard to marry her, and he's ready and willing to do so.
• Henchard figures out that Lucetta must be in love with another man.
• Henchard's business fails and he declares bankruptcy.
• He finds out that Lucetta has married Farfrae on the sly.
• He gets hired as a day laborer for Farfrae. He's even more jealous of him now.
• He challenges Farfrae to a fight. He wins, but can't bring himself to kill his former friend.
• Henchard tries to help Lucetta after the skimmity-ride, but no one trusts him anymore.
• He makes up with Elizabeth-Jane and they move in together again.
• Then the sailor, Captain Newson, comes back, and Henchard lies to him to make sure Elizabeth will stay with him.
• Henchard worries that Newson will return and Elizabeth-Jane will find out that Newson is her real father.
• When Elizabeth-Jane is about to marry Farfrae, Henchard makes up an excuse to leave town.
• He wanders around for a few weeks and then dies before Elizabeth-Jane can find him.