Another characteristic shown is confidence with businesslike skills. An example of this would be when she takes it upon herself to sack her bailiff. “I have formed a resolution to have no bailiff at all”. Bathsheba’s confidence continues to be shown with her decision to pay the workers herself in chapter ten.
Bathsheba has a lot of confidence in herself. “In short I shall astonish you all”. This is said shortly after her decision to have no bailiff when she is convincing the staff that she can manage. The speech shows her self-confidence shining and her belief in her own ability. Towards the end of the novel we see her find an even balance between the overconfidence which she showed through the beginning of the novel which made her appear full of herself, compared with when she had little or no confidence and relied on Frank Troy, to finally become a person who can cope on her own but realises she cannot do everything to the best of her ability without assistance.
Before we see her lose her self confidence she shows she believes in herself by going to the Corn Market, making her the only woman present. One thing bothers Bathsheba; the fact that Boldwood is the only person who does not take notice of her. This lack of attention shows us how she craves to be the centre of attention; you could even go as far as calling her an attention seeker. She will do silly antics in an attempt to attract people’s attention. For example the Valentine’s Day card. Bathsheba tries to make herself popular with everyone especially men; this seems to be her biggest desire. In chapter thirteen she mischievously sends a Valentine card to Boldwood to attract his attention. This starts Bathsheba’s change. She wants people to notice her and does not sit around waiting she takes action for herself. The sending of the Valentines card shows her vain characteristic.
A big characteristic she shows throughout is impulsiveness, she does things without thinking. The Valentine’s Day card is an example of this; another example of this earlier in the book is when she chases Gabriel Oak after he had been wrongly informed that many men wanted her hand in marriage; though she did not want to accept his proposal. She did not think that her actions would show this until after the conversation her and Gabriel had.
Many of her actions are on impulse she doesn't think things through first. Later on however she takes time to think about Fanny’s grave and she decides to clean it up and replant the bulbs on it. This also shows she can be selfless. When Gabriel gives her advice early in the novel she decides she doesn't like what he has to say. She sacks him whilst she was angry and acting highly impulsively. This demonstrates how she doesn't want to face the truth even though she values his opinion; later in the novel after the “drowning” of Frank Troy she relents asking him for his thoughts. Her whole relationship with Frank Troy is on impulse. She hears rumours about his wild ways but doesn't believe them. She is following her heart instead of using her head. This shows determination and stubbornness. Her determination can have positives and negatives. Her stubbornness drives Gabriel away even though he tries to protect her. It stops her from coming to her senses and not marrying Frank Troy, which she comes to regret later on. She has already shown impulsiveness and this is a decision she makes on impulse. Her decision to marry Frank could be called stupid. At the beginning of the story Bathsheba’s Aunt describes her as a good scholar but “too wild”. Bathsheba and Frank’s marriage was very unsatisfactory. Frank used Bathsheba for her money which he gambled away at races and used to free himself from the army. She displayed poor judgment of his character; even though she was not stupid she may have been naive. He ended up gambling a lot of her savings away. There is also his thoughtless stubbornness as the night of the storm. He gets all the men workers drunk against better judgement. She was dominated by Frank Troy. She could have married Gabriel when he first proposed to her. She would have easily been happy and in love with him but she is selfish and petty. She only denies him because she does not think he is on the same level as her, she looks down on him. She had no intention of marrying Gabriel but continued to keep him working at the farm because she enjoyed the attention he pays her. Although Gabriel knows at this stage that Bathsheba will not marry him but he wants to be around her.
Bathsheba falls for Frank Troy a man who shows her his whole attention, but later on realises this is not a good thing. She has the tables turned on her later in the story when things get heated between her and Frank, and he tells her he doesn't love her. Earlier on she had denied Gabriel’s proposal because she did not love him. After this her character grows. She has a better knowledge of understanding and is more aware of others feelings.
Her feelings are now changing to selflessness rather than the selfish. Her first display of this is replanting Fanny’s grave and getting the broken guttering fixed so that it will not happen again. Later when Boldwood kills Frank Troy she decides to have him buried with Fanny. This indicates bravery and courage. She is publicly acknowledging Frank’s relationship with and love for Fanny. This I quite humiliating for her but she puts her feelings aside.
Bathsheba shows bravery when Gabriel Oak’s life was in danger. Again after her wedding night when all of the men get drunk with her husband Frank and leave the ricks unprotected, she helps Gabriel when she could have easily walked away. This could be showing selflessness. Though they are Bathsheba’s ricks that are in danger of being ruined, and her money that will be lost. Her act certainly shows bravery.
One of the last acts of selflessness we see is when after Frank Troy’s apparent death she agrees to marry Boldwood. She fears refusing his marriage offer will make him go crazy. She does not want to marry him because she does not love him, but she does not think of herself. On the same day she stops thinking of herself, after Troy dies. She could have left him after everything that had gone on and he has done to her, but she does not and she prepares his body for burial. At the beginning of the story I do not think she would have done this.
The biggest change is Bathsheba’s attitude towards love. When Gabriel asks for her hand in marriage Bathsheba likes the idea, and therefore leads him on without meaning to. Bathsheba’s marriage to Gabriel shows she has changed because she is marrying for love. It’s her experience with Troy that changes her attitude to love and marriage. It is her life experiences which change her attitudes and characteristics throughout the story. She falls in love with Frank Troy an unsuitable man, just like people do in the 21st Century. Bathsheba has a lot of qualities of women today; she is quite unlike a Victorian woman. It was not a decision women would take in Victorian times to run a farm, let alone without a bailiff. Women nowadays regularly start businesses on their own. Also because in Victorian times the women were meant to act in a more conventional way, it was hard for Bathsheba to stick to her ways but her stubbornness and determination allowed her to. She liked her independence although women in her days did not usually have independence; they relied on their husbands for money but we see Bathsheba being relied on for her money by Frank Troy. Although legally it would have become his by marriage so he was not doing anything wrong. This is not something women in her day would normally have done. Many women are guilty of infatuation in the 21st Century but not so in Victorian days. 21st century women fall for unsuitable men all the time but it is relatively easy for them to leave, where as in Victorian times it was almost impossible for them to leave; they would not have received any assistance and would have been looked down upon. Bathsheba did not leave Frank Troy but neither did she take him back when he returned. But she did not have much choice because she was still getting to grips with him returning from the “dead” when Boldwood shot an killed him. She could be described as a forerunner for the 21st century woman; her personality is like a modern woman more than a Victorian one. Natural confidence is shown throughout, very unlike a typical Victorian woman. 21st century women are rarely described as hiding behind their men.
The bravery and impulsiveness shown when she travelled to Bath at night was something else that only a wild unruly woman would have done. In the 21st century however many women go out alone and do things on impulse daily.
