Gabriel is a very experienced person, he understands the workings of nature and notices minute details that others would easily overlook, he cares for all of Mother Nature’s creatures and shows the reader a great deal of devotion to the land and his fellow man.
On finding that a storm is imminent, Gabriel’s first reaction is to save the produce and harvest of the farm, and he instinctively does this without being asked by either Troy or Bathsheba as he knows that it is the right thing to do. Whilst he is at Laban Tall’s house in search of the keys to the granary, he confuses his wife into thinking that Laban has returned from Troy’s party. This in turn shows that Troy has affected more than just the men in the barn.
Whilst Gabriel is out in the rain and thunderstorms risking his life to save the farm, the rightful owner, Troy, is drunk and fast asleep in the barn. Bathsheba finds Gabriel struggling to put the canopies into position; her immediate reaction is to lend him a helping hand. Bathsheba helps Gabriel for two main reasons, because she is concerned that the harvest could be lost and because she wants to stay loyal to Gabriel and to show him that she still cares. Bathsheba’s devotion can be seen when she runs out into the yard and says:
“O, Gabriel! - and are you? I have come about them. The weather awoke me, and I thought of the corn. I am so distressed about it - can we save it anyhow? I cannot find my husband. Is he with you?”
This also shows that Troy has caused confusion and has sent Bathsheba into worry. Troy clearly shows a minimal amount of devotion to the land, he is so busy drinking and partying away the profits that he forgets all about his own farm. Gabriel clearly shows no liking for Troy in any way, they both sit on opposite ends of the ladder when it comes to the well being of the farm. I believe that had Troy been sober and conscious at the time of the storm, he still would not have felt himself responsible to save and secure any of the produce; it would have been someone else’s problem.
Gabriel leaves the barn and returns home where he goes straight to his room to sit and meditate so that he can try and clear his mind of Troy and the other men; this also allows him to have some time to himself. Gabriel never really liked Troy, as he was able to win the woman that he loved without loving her in return. He feels as though Troy may have used Bathsheba to take over the farm. By meditating he allows himself to escape Troy’s world and to return to being himself.
The only reason that the men stay at Troy’s party is because they want to make a good impression and also to ensure a winter’s work. Had any man refused to stay and get drunk with Troy, they would most likely have lost their jobs, and would be stuck through the winter. Had Bathsheba, Gabriel or Boldwood held the party, the men would have been free to come and go as they pleased, without the risk of losing their jobs or fear of letting anyone down. This all goes to show the kind of person that Troy is, the way that he is very conceited and feels that he has the authority to push people around as he is better than them.
The weather and setting of the storm clearly projects the feelings and moods of the characters. While Gabriel is outside struggling to secure the farm, the thunder symbolises his anger. It shows how he could erupt at any minute because of Troy, yet the calm, quiet breaks in the thunder shows us that he is calm and tolerant, and the fact that he is risking his life for Bathsheba.
The rustic characters are very important to the event of the storm, they give Hardy a background to show us the real person that Troy is. If there were only Gabriel, Boldwood and Bathsheba on the farm it would be very difficult to show Troy’s selfishness as one of them might have stood up to and challenged him. As the rustics are at the bottom of the farms hierarchy they are a lot more responsive to Troy’s orders and suggestions.
When Troy holds the party in the barn, he makes the reader think that he is not as bad as they might have first thought, he has gone to the trouble of setting up a big party and has invited everyone that is linked with the farm. It is only when he starts to force the men into drinking more than they can handle, when he becomes too forceful it is then that the reader’s opinion of Troy begins to change. Bathsheba tries to reason with Troy to save the men. She says:
“No-don’t give it to them-pray don’t, Frank! It will only do them harm: they have had enough of everything.”
In doing this, Bathsheba clearly knows that Troy has gone too far, she can tell that the men can not handle any more alcohol. At this point Troy is only getting started, he does not care for his men, and he just wants to have a good time. In fear that Bathsheba could do something to ruin his party he immediately orders all of the women and children to leave so that he can get the men as drunk as he wishes.
Troy shows a typical Victorian male attitude to women by making them all leave the barn, by doing so he shows his true power and ability to manipulate people to suit himself. The majority of Victorian men see women as lower than themselves, not as equals. Troy knows that he has the ability to make them do what ever he wishes.
The morning after the storm Gabriel meets Boldwood on his detour back to the farm, Boldwood seems very distant as he struggles to hear and understand what Gabriel is saying to him. Gabriel is shocked to find that the wise and experienced farmer Boldwood has overlooked the ricks on his farm, they been left unprotected and vulnerable to the storm throughout the night. It can clearly be seen that Boldwood is not himself by his reply to Gabriel asking whether his ricks had been protected:
“O yes.’ Boldwood added, after an interval of silence: ‘What did you ask, Oak?’
I agree that the characters are judged by each other and by the reader through their devotion to the land as the most devoted characters prevail in the end. Gabriel Oak, the most respected and caring of the land, has the trust of the whole farm, the reader and nature. Bathsheba, a caring and devoted businesswoman, is only looking for the opportunity to manage her own farm and to look after the crops. She is again liked by all and obsessed by Boldwood, in the end she too prevails as she ends up in love with a man who truly cares for her, her feelings and the farm. Boldwood, a very mature and experienced farmer who cares dearly for his farm, is lead astray by a joke valentine’s, after he discovers that Bathsheba sent the card he becomes obsessed with her and loses all care for his farm and land. Troy, an untrustworthy, lying, selfish and conceited soldier who only has time for himself ends up in the worst possible position, he has no love for the land and does not even care about the farm, he is hated by almost all of the characters and eventually by his own wife. At the end of the novel his sinful lifestyle takes its toll as he is brutally murdered by Boldwood. Boldwood who lost what little devotion he had also ends up dead, though his ending does not come as a result of a sinful life, but an obsession that drove him to madness, and finally to the grave.
