far from the madding crowd
Far From the Madding Crowd
by Thomas Hardy
SETTING
In his novels, Hardy firmly establishes the imaginative world of Wessex as the setting for the drama of his main characters. Far from the Madding Crowd is set against the landscape around Norcombe Hill and the village of Weatherbury. The pastoral setting of the novel is emphasized by such rustic occupations as sheep washing, sheep shearing, and the buying and selling of sheep at the Annual Fair at Greenhill. References are also made to farming, harvesting, haymaking, and the transactions at Casterbridge market.
LIST OF CHARACTERS
Major Characters
Bathsheba Everdene - the heroine of the novel who is extremely susceptible to flattery and jealousy. She has a deeply emotional nature and a highly romantic temperament. She is also endowed with self-confidence, efficiency, a sympathetic nature, dignity, and maidenly purity. and candor.
Gabriel Oak - the hero of the novel and the bailiff of Bathsheba. His striking qualities are his devotion and loyalty to Bathsheba, his sense of duty, his simplicity and straight-forwardness, his capacity for endurance, his self-respect, kindness and sympathy and above all his modesty, humility, and his sense of humor.
Sergeant Troy - a dissembler, a philanderer and a flatterer who lives in the present. He is a selfish man with social charm and a sinner who is incapable of remorse. He hides his love affair with Fanny and marries Bathsheba.
Farmer Boldwood - a man who has a wild and uncontrollable passion for Bathsheba. A strong gentleman who is fair in all his dealings, he is endowed with a sympathetic nature. There is a streak of insanity in his nature.
Fanny Robin - an innocent woman noted for purity and concentration in love, used by the philanderer Troy.
Minor Characters
Joseph Poorgrass - a self-conscious, modest, bashful but humorous rustic and a carter on Bathsheba's farm. He has a taste for strong drink.
Jan Coggan - a respectable, young rustic who can narrate interesting anecdotes with a sense of humor. He is middle-aged, twice married, and a master shearer.
Henery Fray - an amusing rustic character. He is a farm hand who aspires to be Bathsheba's bailiff.
The old maltster - another amusing rustic character.
Cain Ball - under-shepherd to Gabriel Oak
Matthew Moon - another general farm hand
Laban Tall - a young farm hand, henpecked by his older wife. He later becomes the clerk of the parish.
Mrs. Hurst - Bathsheba's aunt
Liddy Smallbury - Bathsheba's maid
Jacob Smallbury - Bathsheba's farmhand
Bill Smallbury - Bathsheba's farmhand
Maryann Money - Bathsheba's chairwoman
Mrs. Coggan - a maid employed by Bathsheba.
CONFLICT
Protagonist: Gabriel Oak, a devoted lover of Bathsheba, he waits patiently through the years for the approval of Bathsheba.
Antagonists: The antagonist is winning the love of Bathsheba. The first obstacle is Bathsheba's pride and vanity, which makes her reject Gabriel in the belief that he is not good enough for her. The second obstacle is Sergeant Troy, who hides his love affair with Fanny Robin and marries Bathsheba. The third obstacle is Farmer Boldwood who has an uncontrollable obsession for Bathsheba and plans to marry her if Troy does not reappear.
Climax: In chapter fifty-two, the climax occurs when Troy makes his reappearance at the party hosted by farmer Boldwood after he has been thought dead. Boldwood, driven to insanity by his obsession for Bathsheba, kills Troy. This frees the path for Gabriel to marry a much-matured Bathsheba, who now recognizes his genuine worth and goodness.
Outcome: The story ends in a comedy for Gabriel, for he finally marries Bathsheba. Unfortunately, it is Troy's death at the hands of Boldwood that clears the way for Gabriel to realize his dream.
PLOT (Synopsis)
Far from the Madding Crowd narrates the story of the love of three men, Gabriel Oak, Farmer Boldwood, and Sergeant Troy, for the same woman, Bathsheba Everdene. Gabriel Oak is the protagonist of the novel, and the other two men are his antagonists, standing in the way of his marrying Bathsheba.
Bathsheba unexpectedly comes into possession of her rich uncle's farm and property. The shepherd Gabriel serves the young and spirited Bathsheba with unselfish devotion. He is the first to fall in love with her. He proposes marriage to her even before ...
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PLOT (Synopsis)
Far from the Madding Crowd narrates the story of the love of three men, Gabriel Oak, Farmer Boldwood, and Sergeant Troy, for the same woman, Bathsheba Everdene. Gabriel Oak is the protagonist of the novel, and the other two men are his antagonists, standing in the way of his marrying Bathsheba.
Bathsheba unexpectedly comes into possession of her rich uncle's farm and property. The shepherd Gabriel serves the young and spirited Bathsheba with unselfish devotion. He is the first to fall in love with her. He proposes marriage to her even before she acquires her uncle's property and is rejected. Bathsheba depends greatly on Gabriel's support but does not regard him as a suitor. Another of her admirers is the neighboring farmer, Boldwood; but Bathsheba does not love him either. The dashing Sergeant Troy loves one of Bathsheba's servants, Fanny Robin. However, after a misunderstanding, he deserts the woman. Eventually, she dies in childbirth in the workhouse. Meanwhile, Troy has captivated and married Bathsheba, but he soon begins to neglect and mistreat her.
When he hears of Fanny's death, he leaves the farm. Soon Bathsheba receives a report that Troy has been drowned. Actually, Troy is alive. Believing that Bathsheba has become a widow, Boldwood, during a party, urges her to marry him some time in the future. Troy reappears at the party, and Boldwood, driven to madness by his reappearance, shoots him. Boldwood is tried and pronounced insane. Gabriel and Bathsheba are at last married.
PLOT (Detailed)
The main plot of Far from the Madding Crowd grows out of characters, and the sub-plot grows out of natural situations. Bathsheba Everdene is a charming and beautiful woman who, prompted by her vanity and pride, rejects the proposal of marriage offered by Gabriel Oak, for she thinks she is better than he. Oak, ironically, proves to be indispensable to her through the thick and the thin of her life. Nonetheless, the immature Bathsheba overlooks the worthy Oak and becomes infatuated with Sergeant Troy, a philanderer. She marries him, although he is already involved with Fanny. By the time of her marriage, Bathsheba has already set the tragic wheels of fate in motion by her foolish encouragement of Farmer Boldwood. When he ignores her, she sends him a valentine to attract his attention. He takes seriously the seal, "marry me," that she adds to the card. His life becomes an obsessive pursuit of this woman he loves.
Bathsheba's life is ruined by her marriage to Troy. She resents his selfish ways, his gambling, and his refusal to work on the farm. When Bathsheba learns about his affair with Fanny, it is too late. The girl and her child are already dead, and Troy deserts her. When Bathsheba is ready to accept her mistake in encouraging Boldwood and marry him out of pity and duty, Troy dramatically reappears on the scene. Appropriately, the deranged Boldwood, who is still obsessed with Bathsheba, shoots him. The death of Troy and the incarceration of Boldwood allow Bathsheba and Gabriel to finally acknowledge their love for one another. At the end of the book, they marry quietly, and the villagers rejoice.
The plot of the novel actually centers on the fortunes and misfortunes of Gabriel Oak, the protagonist of the novel. In the beginning, he is on his way to becoming a prosperous sheep farmer. He suffers financial reverses when his sheep fall to their deaths. He loses his farm and goes to work for Bathsheba, first as a shepherd and then as her bailiff. He devotes his life to pleasing the mistress of the farm, for he loves her deeply. By means of hard and dedicated labor, Gabriel regains his chance at prosperity, although he does not prosper on a personal level with Bathsheba. Nonetheless, he supports her through her adventures with Sergeant Troy and Farmer Boldwood. In the end, due to his goodness and faithfulness, he wins her as his wife.
The rustics provide comic relief throughout the plot. They act as the chorus by providing comments on important happenings in the novels. Above all, they provide us with comedy of character, comedy of situation, and verbal humor, all of which gives some relief to the building tension in the novel. They also contribute significantly to the pastoral atmosphere of the play.
THEMES
Major Theme
The major theme of the novel is that true love persists and wins. Three men, Gabriel Oak, Sergeant Troy and Farmer Boldwood, love Bathsheba Everdene. Gabriel Oak loves her dearly, but his initial love petition to Bathsheba is rejected. Troy is a philanderer who charms Bathsheba, hides his love affair with Fanny, and marries Bathsheba. The marriage is an unhappy one and is terminated by Boldwood's shooting of Troy. Boldwood's love for Bathsheba has been an obsession bordering on insanity. Gabriel Oak's patience and true love enable him to win Bathsheba, who realizes the true worth of Gabriel at the end of the novel.
The central theme of the novel is the value of true love. Bathsheba Everdene is a charming woman who suffers from vanity and pride. Three men come into her life. First she rejects Gabriel Oak as too common for her. Next, she trifles with the feelings of Farmer Boldwood until she makes him fall deeply in love with her. Then she rejects his proposal of marriage. Then she falls into the trap laid by Sergeant Troy, a philanderer who has already had an affair with innocent Fanny Robin. He hides his love of Fanny and marries Bathsheba, largely because she is a beautiful woman, a challenge for his ego, and a wealthy businesswoman. The marriage is marred by conflict between the two caused by Troy's spendthrift ways and lack of concern for the farm. When Bathsheba learns about Fanny, the marriage is virtually over. Troy tells his wife that he never loved her and leaves town. Obviously, Troy's love was not true love. Farmer Boldwood, still obsessed by Bathsheba, comes back on the scene after Troy's disappearance and manipulates Bathsheba into a promise of marrying him in six years. Bathsheba does not love Boldwood, but agrees only because she feels guilty about her earlier treatment of him and worries about him going insane. This certainly is not true love. On the night Boldwood plans to give Bathsheba an engagement ring, Troy reappears at the party Boldwood is giving. Unable to cope with the thought of losing Bathsheba once again, he shoots Troy. This opens the way for the loyal Oak's marriage to Bathsheba, who by now has overcome her vanity and is mature enough to recognize the true love offered by Gabriel Oak.
Minor Themes
One minor theme of the novel is developed through the rustic characters that show that humor is good for the soul. These rustics provide comic relief to the tragic tension of the novel and act as the chorus, commenting on the major events. They provide comedy of character, comedy of situation, and verbal humor arising out of their handling of the language.
Another minor theme is that nature provides a solace to the soul. This theme is developed through the character of Gabriel Oak who lives in peace and harmony with nature, working the land, telling time by the stars, noticing the scurrying of insects and animals, appreciating the beauty of the landscape, and sensing the weather. Because he is at peace with who and what he is, Gabriel, unlike Troy and Boldwood, can wait patiently for Bathsheba. In the end, he wins his true love, largely because he has served her well on the land.
The next theme is that nature provides great solace. Gabriel Oak is the personification of this theme. He is a natural farmer, totally in love with the land and in tune with nature. He finds peace in the harmony of the landscape, the harvesting of crops, and the beauty of a starlit night. He truly lives in communion with nature and "far from the madding crowd." The novel's title is taken from Gray's Elegy, Written in a Country Churchyard. The poem describes the country people who have led a life of peace and harmony "far from the madding crowd's ignoble strife." In this novel, Hardy, with great care and detail, describes the rural countryside of Wessex. He paints a picture of the landscape, with its hills and plains. He notices the peace and quiet of the neighborhood, the insects and animals and they scurry on their way, the growth of crops, and the stars in the night sky. He portrays the villagers as self sufficient and unhurried. By nature, they are kind and helpful to one another. In the midst of this beauty and serenity he places his protagonist Gabriel Oak, who throughout the novel truly lives "far from the madding crowd's ignoble strife."
MOOD
The essential mood of the novel is serious and tragic. This mood, however, is often relieved by the comic mood, provided by the rustic characters in the novel.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
THOMAS HARDY
Thomas Hardy was one of the leading novelists at the close of the nineteenth century. A gloomy realism is projected in most of his novels. Hardy lived an isolated life in his native district, Dorsetshire, and the surrounding region, the Wessex of his novels. His work is devoted to provincial life in general and to rural life in particular. His concern is for the bonds which unite women and men with the countryside in which they live. The setting is the land with its woods, fields, heaths, and downs. It is so real that it assumes the position of a character in his novels. The best example is the Egdon Heath in The Return of the Native.
Thomas Hardy was born on June 2nd, 1840 at Higher Bockhampton near Dorchester, England. He was the eldest of four children. His father was a stone mason. As a child, Hardy was plagued by ill health, which obstructed his early school education. His mother initially taught him at home; later he attended the local school. In his early years, Hardy's mother encouraged him to read classical literature, including Dryden's "Virgil". He was also encouraged to play the violin and often performed at local weddings and dances. In 1849, he entered a school in Dorcestshire. At sixteen he was apprenticed to John Hicks, an architect. Although architecture was his profession for several years, he simultaneously studied Greek and Latin. It was during this period that he also began writing poetry. In 1862, he moved to London and worked for Arthur Bloomfield, a well-known architect. Five years later, after his return to Dorset, he wrote his first novel. In 1874 he married Emma Lavinia Clifford. Far from the Madding Crowd was published in the same year of his marriage.
By the time he married Emma, Hardy had given up his architectural profession and concentrated on his writing; he gradually gained recognition in literary circles and later became popular with the public. Two of his later novels, Tess of D'Urbervilles (1891) and Jude the Obscure (1896) created furor in the public over their content. As a result, he resolved to give up writing novels and devoted himself exclusively to poetry. "Wessex Poems" was his first poetic collection, published in 1898. His wife Emma died in 1912; since they were childless, Hardy was quite lonely and married his secretary, Florence Dugdale, in 1914. Until his death in 1928, he concentrated mainly on writing and revising his verses.
Freedom of the individual is curtailed, sometimes even destroyed by Fate in most of Hardy's fiction. Mysterious and all-powerful forces guide the affairs of his characters, which do not become bitter but accept their fate with calm resignation. The importance of fate is best seen in novels like The Return of the Native (1878), The Mayor of Casterbridge (1886), and The Woodlanders (1887).
Hardy's true mastery, however, lies in the creation and wonderful description of the natural surroundings; and the places he creates in his novels exert a deep and constant influence on the characters.
LITERARY/HISTORICAL INFORMATION
The editor of "Cornhill Magazine" asked Hardy to write a novel. That novel would be a pastoral tale about a female farmer and a shepherd. He would call the novel Far from the Madding Crowd. When Hardy submitted only an outline of the story rather than a completed manuscript, the editor withdrew his offer. Hardy continued to write the novel and published the book in 1874. It became his first novel to be popular with the public; and it also brought him some financial success.
Even though Far from the Madding Crowd is one of Hardy's early novels, his philosophy of life is clearly reflected within its pages. Hardy believed that human beings are essentially tragic creatures that are destined to suffer. Gabriel Oak definitely suffers in the novel. His hopes of becoming a prosperous shepherd-farmer are frustrated and his love for Bathsheba is not fulfilled for a long time. Fanny's premature death at childbirth is tragic. Boldwood and Sergeant Troy meet with tragic deaths. Bathsheba's life is wrecked almost completely by her marriage to Troy. Obviously, all the characters in the novel suffer a great deal, partly on account of their shortcomings and of the circumstances in which they are placed. The only characters that are happy throughout the novel are the rustic characters that provide relief through their humor.
HARDY'S USE OF ALLUSIONS
One distinct feature of Hardy's style is his use of allusions-- classical, literary, and biblical. Throughout this novel, there are many Biblical allusions. The name of Bathsheba is an obvious example. David, the well-known shepherd from the Old Testament, falls in love with a woman named Bathsheba, who is already married to one of David's high-ranking soldiers. David sends her husband into a battle that he knows will kill him; after the battle, David marries Bathsheba. In another Biblical allusion, Boldwood's first glimpse of the breathtaking beauty of Bathsheba is compared to Adam's first view of Eve. Classical allusions also abound in the book. Bathsheba is compared to Venus and there are mentions of Jove and Cyclops. Finally, there are literary allusions. For example, Gabriel's first view of Bathsheba is compared to Satan's first view of Paradise in Milton's epic Paradise Lost.
HARDY'S USE OF FATE
Hardy's view of life is essentially tragic, caused by the hand of Fate (or chance) in human affairs. Sometimes, fate operates through natural occurrences. In Far from the Madding Crowd, Gabriel must work feverishly to protect Bathsheba's harvest from a terrible storm. Although Gabriel succeeds in overcoming the fate of the storm, Boldwood is not so lucky and loses all his crops. Gabriel Oak also loses his fortunes through an occurrence of natural fate; his sheep fall off a cliff to their deaths, and Gabriel must sell out to repay his debts.
