Gabriel Oak’s obsession with Bathsheba remains throughout the entire novel. He is greatly impressed with Bathsheba’s refined beauty and elegance. However, Oak has an admirable ability to control his emotions and consequently his obsession with Bathsheba is moderate, and to a certain extent – sensible. At no point does Oak neglect his duties and responsibilities, which therefore suggests he is in control of his obsession. This may be helped because of his genuine honesty towards Bathsheba. He tells her unmistakably and openly “You know, mistress, that I love you, and shall love you always”. Yet his love for his mistress is not blind, and after meeting Bathsheba for the first time he can already admit, “she has her faults – vanity”. Although Oak accepts that Bathsheba does not consider him as a companion, his affection for her persists. He initially does not approve of the relationship between Bathsheba and Boldwood, telling his mistress he is “a man of no conscience”. However, Oak’s fair and practical nature means he doesn’t allow his jealousy to cloud his judgement, and he acknowledges to Bathsheba that Boldwood would be a suitable companion. Continuing to put the well being of Bathsheba before his own, he is even prepared to leave for America to prevent any further suffering on Bathsheba’s part, telling his mistress “I have danced at your skittish heels long enough”. However, Oak’s perseverance and patience prevails as Bathsheba eventually responds truthfully to his feelings towards her and the couple marry happily at the end of the novel. This is one of the few obsessions in the book that has a positive outcome and perhaps this is purposeful as Hardy wanted to emphasise how dangerous obsession can be.
Farmer Boldwood’s stillness is the most striking part of his character. He is a serious man who leads a dignified life and is therefore deeply affected when his mistress Bathsheba sends him an unexpected Valentine. Although he appears reserved, Bathsheba’s maid Liddy warns her mistress that the insincere Valentine will “worry him to death”. Perhaps this is because it is common knowledge that a distant relative of Boldwood’s went mad and subsequently Boldwood cannot take things lightly. Boldwood has no real passionate feelings for Bathsheba before she sends him the Valentine, but when he receives the declaration of Bathsheba’s love, it sparks off the beginning of an intense obsession. Boldwood struggles to cope with the extreme emotions that sweep over him; his sheltered childhood in a society where different sexes were kept apart, means he is completely unprepared to deal with his obsession logically. He describes his feelings towards Bathsheba as being “as strong as death”. He neglects his farm, which had once been his priority and does not appear to be affected by the money he is loosing and the staff he will have to dismiss. Boldwood sees Troy’s death as an opportunity to have Bathsheba for himself. He plays on her guilt by reminding her of how she had led him on, and pressures her into promising to marry him six years after Troy’s death. When Troy reappears to everyone’s astonishment, Boldwood cannot handle the shock and is dismayed at the thought of loosing Bathsheba once more. Acting out of desperation, Boldwood kills Troy and attempts suicide. He is sentenced to life imprisonment and left unbalanced, in despair and completely dysfunctional. Although his obsession drove him to kill another man, Boldwood is the victim who suffers the most from an obsession that has ruined his life.
Comparable to Bathsheba, Sergeant Francis Troy’s main obsession is with himself. His callus and egotistical nature make him constantly determined to get his own way. Yet he is often not content when he gets what he is after and it seldom takes him long to set his mind towards striving for something else. However, this can sometimes lead to the beginning of another obsession. His pride causes him to overreact when Fanny confuses the church where the couple are supposed to be married. This is purely because of the humiliation she has caused him. Whereas most people would forgive someone easily for such an innocent mistake, Troy is so offended and shamed that he cannot bear to risk his reputation once more, even if it is for someone he loves. He turns his attention to Bathsheba as he thinks it is unlikely she will publicly humiliate him. The full extent of his shallow nature is revealed when Troy is married to Bathsheba but treats some of his servants with more respect than her. He abandons Bathsheba under the false pretence of drowning without taking her feelings into consideration and then returns to the farm oblivious of the pain he has caused. If he had not left Bathsheba for so long and been so untruthful towards her, it is unlikely Boldwood would have reacted in the way he did and Troy would probably have survived.
Fanny Robin is a relatively minor character in the novel, however she is involved in a complex subplot involving Troy. She was deeply in love with him to the point of obsession. In spite of the mistake she made in confusing the church where she and Troy were due to be wed, Fanny was determined to be with Troy. She arranged to meet him once more in a place of his choice, far away and difficult for Fanny to reach. She attempted the lengthy journey on foot but eventually her “steps became feebler” and it was clearly impossible for her to reach her goal. Her resolution to be with Troy was indubitably strong but the exhaustion and fatigue she felt was ultimately stronger. Willing and ready to be with Troy even if it killed her, a few of Fanny’s last words were, “If I could only get there! Perhaps I shall be in my grave before then”. Tragically, the next time Troy set eyes on Fanny she was, indeed, in her coffin. Therefore it is fair to say that obsession killed Fanny Robin.
An obsession can take over a person’s every waking thought; it can drive them and people around them to despair and can even cause them to kill another or themselves by simply trying to fulfil that obsession. These things happened in varying degrees of seriousness to every character in “Far From the Madding Crowd” which therefore suggests obsession is a key feature of the Novel. The variety of obsessions in the novel highlights the many different forms in which people can be obsessed.
