My first impression of Gabriel is that he is a happy and good-natured man who is closely linked to the natural world. He’s wrinkled, this shows he is getting older but also that he works outside a lot. When Hardy describes Gabriel’s moral colours as a “salt and pepper mixture”, he is satin that he is a good man but he has his faults. He is kind and good hearted but his fault would be that he is very naïve. He just expects Bathsheba to agree to marry him and doesn’t consider that she might not say yes. Also another slight fault would be he doesn’t know how to charm a lady.
The clothes that Gabriel wears shows us he’s a working man as he wears the same clothes everyday apart from on Sunday. On a Sunday he wears his best clothes to go to church which he doesn’t enjoy but sees it as something he must do. He’s described as a man, “ whose best clothes and seven and six penny umbrella are always hampering him”. this shows he is a rugged man who enjoys being outside and getting his hands dirty. He does not like being dressed in formal attire. He has a watch which was passed down from father to son, which suggest that he treasures his family possessions and values the past and family traditions. He is described as a very skilled and practical man. “He stood and regarded it … as a work of art.” this tells us that Gabriel relies just as much on the sun and the stars to tell the time as the watch. Also this illustrates to us that he is very in tune with nature and connects with the natural world easily.
He represents parts of rural England that Hardy loved, such as the solid, quiet virtues of rural England. Gabriel is a man of deep feeling and imagination. Seeing Bathsheba partly obscured by a clock at night, his imagination painted her beauty. He appreciated the beauty of the night sky, plays the flute and sings in the choir. The fact that he plays the flute represents a different side to Gabriel oak. It symbolises his gentle characteristics and his sensitive soul, which hasn’t been seen until now.
Hardy introduces Bathsheba by describing what Gabriel first sees her doing. He first sees her on a wagon because she has inherited a farm so she is moving house. “Oak saw coming down the hill towards him an ornamental spring wagon painted yellow.” the vehicle is described as a vehicle loaded with household goods and window plants.
First impressions of Bathsheba Everdene are that she is very vain. When something fell of the wagon the driver stopped to pick it up so Bathsheba took that time to look at her self in the mirror. “There was no necessity whatever for her looking in the glass.” this shows that she enjoys looking at herself and she does so when ever she gets the chance. Bathsheba is very aware of how beautiful she is and she will use it to her advantage when ever she can. It is vanity, which makes Bathsheba send Baldwood a valentine card.
The first looks of Bathsheba seem to show a lot about her personality. When we see for the first time she is wearing a scarlet red jacket. “The sun lightened up to a scarlet glow the crimson jacket she saw.” Hardy was showing Bathsheba’s fiery and flirtatious characteristics like the scarlet woman. Bathsheba doesn’t take to Gabriel very nicely when he pays the turnpike fee. She feels that she doesn’t need a man to look after her and believes she can fight her own battles. Also this refers back to Hardy showing Gabriel like the angel Gabriel because he is protecting Bathsheba. Bathsheba is not very impressed with Gabriel when he pays the turnpike fee because she is very independent and doesn’t like being treated like a charity. Bathsheba on the bible equivalent. In the bible King David loves a beautiful woman names Bathsheba. He gets Bathsheba’s husband killed so he could marry her. This represents her as someone who can easily get a mans affection and suggest she’s a temptress. This also shows that many men would do anything to be with her. Gabriel, Troy and farmer Baldwood all seem to have and obsession with her, Baldwood even kills Troy so he can get closer to Bathsheba.
The plot of Far From The Madding Crowd unfolds over three years. From December of the first year to January of the fourth year. The opening of the novel describes the natural world alive and changing. “The leaves simmered and boiled in the breeze.” This suggests that it is cooking alive and that it is changing. Just as the seasons change so does Gabriel and Bathsheba’s relationship. This tells us that it will be significant. Gabriel and Bathsheba meet in the winter; this is symbolic of their relationship because it is built to with stand difficult times. In the summer Troy and Bathsheba meet, this symbolises that they have a fair weather romance that can’t with hold hard times.
