In Chapters 4, 31, 38 and 56, how does Hardy, by showing us two different types of love, Gabriel and Boldwood's, make his own point about Sexual Love?

Authors Avatar

In Chapters 4, 31, 38 and 56, how does Hardy, by showing us two different types of love, Gabriel and Boldwood’s, make his own point about Sexual Love?

    Hardy makes many points about his opinion on love. He does this in various ways. At times Hardy shows us the love that Gabriel feels and the love that Boldwood feels and leaves the readers to come up with their own conclusion on which type of love is best However sometimes Hardy directly tells the reader his own personal opinion on which love is best. In my essay I am going to study in detail on how Hardy makes his point on the best type of love and about which love is not so good.

    In chapter 4, when Gabriel is getting ready to go see Bathsheba and ask for her hand in marriage, Hardy describes to the reader about Gabriel’s anxious behaviour and this suggests that Gabriel cannot wait to go and see Bathsheba, his eager manner suggests this. An example of this is when Hardy writes and tells the reader precisely about Gabriel’s actions, ‘However, he continued to watch through the hedge for her regular coming, and thus his sentiments towards her deepened without any corresponding effect being produced upon herself.’ This also shows that Gabriel is begging to fall in love with her and this type of love is considered to be good because he is going to her house for her hand in marriage. This shows us the historical and context of the novel. During those times these sudden proposals were common and perfectly understandable. In this case Hardy makes the point that it was difficult to know each other well and then get married, instead you were to get married and the get to know each other.  

    When Gabriel is walking towards Bathsheba’s house, he says, ‘I’ll make her my wife upon my soul or I shall be good for nothing.’ Here Hardy suggests that Gabriel’s only purpose now is to make Bathsheba his wife and it shows how much in love with Bathsheba Gabriel is. However this might also suggest to the reader that perhaps Gabriel’s love is not that good because he might be heart-broken if Bathsheba denies his proposal. Once again the historical context of the novel is shown because today nobody would say ‘I’ll make her my wife or I shall be good for nothing.’ Although at those times saying this was perfectly normal. To show how little they know each other Gabriel thinks that she will be in her outdoor dress even though she is indoors. He thinks this because Gabriel has only seen her in her outdoor dress. An example of this is when hardy writes, ‘In her outdoor dress.’ Even though they know hardly know each other nevertheless Gabriel is still going to propose to her.

    In the novel Hardy suggests Gabriel is totally in control of his feelings for Bathsheba because when Bathsheba refuses to marry at first Gabriel argues with her but in a light-hearted tone and he practically begs her to marry him. This is suggested because he says, ‘But I love you and as for myself, I am content to be loved.’ This shows how desperately in love he is with Bathsheba. Even so we realise that Gabriel can control himself and comes to terms with the reality that Bathsheba is not going to marry him and although he is devastated, he moves on and does not dwell on it. This is suggested when Gabriel says, ‘Very well, then I’ll ask you no more.’ The type of love that Gabriel feels for Bathsheba is that he only wants to see her happy even though it will cause him unhappiness, still he is willing to do this for the sake of Bathsheba. Hardy implies this by what Gabriel says, in chapter 5, ‘Thank God I am not married what would she have done with poverty now coming upon me.’

Join now!

    Boldwood’s love for Bathsheba is very different to the love that Gabriel feels for Bathsheba. At the beginning of the chapter when Boldwood is coming see Bathsheba Hardy writes, ‘But the argument now came back as sorry gleams from a broken mirror.’ Here Hardy talks about the fact that Boldwood’s love is only based on hope. Hardy mentions hope a couple of times at the beginning of the chapter, another example is, ‘That Bathsheba was a firm and positive girl/ had been the very lung of his hope.’ Here Boldwood thinks that because she is a ‘firm and ...

This is a preview of the whole essay