The book 'Far from the madding Crowd' is about a young woman, Bathsheba, who experiences many types of relationships.

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Literacy Essay – Year 10 Coursework

The book ‘Far from the madding Crowd’ is about a young woman, Bathsheba, who experiences many types of relationships. As a result of this she eventually falls in love for the first time with Gabriel Oak, a fellow farmer, at the end of the novel. Hardy chooses to raise many other issues, apart from love, within the storyline including the stereotypical roles of men and women of that time.

The social situation of Hardy’s time was one of severe male dominance. Women had no power or control over anyone or anything, least of all themselves! They were made to feel worthless as a result of being abused and manipulated to think that they were dependant on the man. Women were not untitled to a realistic education therefore they were unable to work in such highly paid professions as the males. I feel this would of made the women of the time even more dependant on the male as it was a mere impossibility for a woman to live a ‘normal’ wealthy life without the male role bringing money into the family.

When it came down to marriage women were referred to as ‘things.’ They were not allowed a say about who they were to marry and also what social class they were marring into. Men were seen as superior, they could marry whoever they felt fit however young or old. If a woman were to refuse marriage the consequences would have been extremely serious. In most severe cases rape or violent beatings was the result.

After reading the novel, I assume that Thomas Hardy disagrees with the way women were perceived. The main characters display this analysis clearly. Hardy shows Gabriel and Bathsheba subvert stereotypical roles as when Gabriel proposed marriage upon Bathsheba she refused him “ I don’t want to marry you…I don’t love you.” I feel this is quite obscure, considering the time and setting, as again women, stereotypically, would not of had the right to refuse a mans marriage proposal. “Il ask you no more,” Gabriel’s lack of persistence shows how different he is from the expected male. He also shows huge respect towards Bathsheba, which is unlike most other men of the time; they only had respect for themselves.

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Bathsheba is a portrait of a successful woman farmer who wins respect by her firmness and charisma “some women only require an emergency to make them fit.” The contrasting lady rides in the uncustomary way and avoids marriage as she despises the thought of being dominated “ I hate to be thought men’s property.” Again Hardy is portraying Bathsheba in the male role, as women would not of acting in this confident way. This makes the book so much more interesting because you feel anxious because she is behaving in a manner she should not.

In Bathsheba’s view men ...

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