However, Troy is not the only character with which Hardy uses Fanny to expose different sides of their characters. Gabriel Oak initially appears to be very solitary and self sufficient as we are told he lives alone on his farm where he looks after his sheep and makes a living from this. However, when he sees Fanny by the side of the road, he greets her, although he doesn’t know her, and then is sympathetic when she asks him for help, “she seemed won by his heartiness”, and the fact the he offers Fanny all his spare change shows how kind and generous he is. Also, when Fanny asks him to “let your having seen me be a secret”, the fact that he does never does tell anyone this, shows how he is very trustworthy, which contrasts with Troy’s character.
The way that Troy treated Fanny before his relationship with Bathsheba shows that Troy is superficial and the way he dismisses Fanny when she comes to see him at the barracks shows this. It is obvious that Fanny is in love with Troy, as she tells him this directly, “Frank I love you so.” Also, the fact that she walked most of the way to the barracks from Casterbridge shows how much she loves him but instead of sympathy for Fanny, Troy’s first thought is “well, you have to get some proper clothes.” Later in the novel, we see again how superficial Troy is when he says to Boldwood “I like Fanny best, but she’s only a servant.” This shows how important status within the community is to Troy because he has no living relatives so there is no pressure from family to marry well.
The way Troy treats Fanny also begins to show his underlying character. When Fanny is discovered to have run away to find her lover, Bathsheba says “any lover of hers might have come to the house if he had been a respectable lad.” This is beginning to establish Troy’s true nature for the reader and to show early on the flaws in Troy’s character. Hardy could have done this arguably to forewarn a reader of how Troy would be in his relationship with Bathsheba.
At the church, his pride prevented him from just accepting Fanny’s mistake in the name of the churches - an easy mistake to make given that the names of the churches were All Saints’ and All Souls’ - whereas he could have just simply married her the next day. When Fanny asks him about setting another date for the wedding, he says to her “I don’t want to go through that experience again for some time, I warrant you!” This shows as well his shallowness as he cared more about his hurt ego than for Fanny. This event foreshadows Troy’s selfishness and when later in the novel he effectively fakes his own death, we see this selfishness again as he doesn’t let anyone know where he is, or even if he is alive or not.
The way that Troy treats Fanny after his relationship with Bathsheba shows that in retrospect, Troy did in some ways love Fanny. Ironically, we see this the most after Fanny’s death when Troy gets a tombstone for Fanny and plants flowers on her grave, but the fact that the water from the gargoyle could wash away the flowers so easily, could signify how fickle Troy is and how easily his affections for Fanny were also ‘washed away’.
Fanny also allows Hardy to let a reader see that Troy is careless and inconsiderate. He doesn’t think about the consequences of his actions and the things he says. After Fanny has missed the wedding, Troy says to her “You fool, for so fooling me!” His over-reaction to Fanny’s mistake will prove an even bigger mistake later in the novel, as in the long term, if he had married Fanny, he wouldn’t have married Bathsheba, he wouldn’t have therefore provoked Boldwood and so eventually, he wouldn’t have been shot by Boldwood. This is also one example of the use of a ‘minor accident leading to a major incident’ which Hardy uses throughout the novel.
Earlier on in the novel when Fanny comes to see Troy at the barracks, Troy does not realise that is Fanny - his future wife - standing outside his window: “What girl are you?” He “doesn’t quite recollect” that he promised Fanny they would marry, even though “he said lots of times that he would marry her”. This shows how he doesn’t think of the consequences of his words. Fanny’s disastrous relationship with Troy could have been used to foreshadow the consequences of his relationship with Bathsheba. Similarly, the fact that in the few times that Fanny appears in the novel, she is in a gloomy and dreary atmosphere “If anything could be darker than the sky, it was the wall, and if anything could be gloomier than the wall it was the river beneath.” Her appearance in these depressing environments could also be foreshadowing the situation at her death.
When Troy and Bathsheba see Fanny on Casterbridge Highway, were are told that that “Bathsheba could see plainly enough to discern the extreme poverty of the woman’s garb, and the sadness of her face.” If Troy had really loved Fanny as he said he did, she would not have been in that condition. However, it is this meeting that is ultimately the cause of the collapse of Troy’s and Bathsheba’s marriage. When Troy stops to talk to Fanny but tells Bathsheba to carry on in the gig we can see that they are growing apart. It is Fanny’s death and Troy’s realisation that he did love her in retrospect that finally destroys the already deteriorating marriage between Troy and Bathsheba. This meeting allows Hardy to highlight the irony of her role: she is used to highlight Troy’s character, and highlight this as he is in a relationship with Bathsheba until Bathsheba herself realises Troy’s true nature. Once her role has been fulfilled for Hardy, he kills her off.
This same meeting also highlights Troy’s cowardice and shallowness, and is a turning point in the novel, as if he had at this point admitted to Bathsheba his involvement with Fanny or even that this woman was Fanny Robin, Bathsheba’s missing servant, then Fanny’s death and the subsequent events could have been avoided.
Fanny Robin is also used by Hardy to reveal different aspect of Bathsheba’s character to the reader as her death in particular shows the reader how Bathsheba has changed throughout the course of the novel. When she learns of Fanny’s death, she seems genuinely upset and does not seem to be relieved that her rival is dead. We can see that she has matured a lot and is less impulsive and calmer than she was when she was first introduced into the novel. This is shown in the respectful and caring way she treats Fanny after her death contrasting to the way she is first introduced to us - vainly observing herself in the mirror although “there was no necessity whatever for her looking in the glass. She did not adjust her hat, or pat her hair, or press a dimple into shape, or do one thing to signify that any such intention had been her motive in taking up the glass.” However, we can see she has changed as she tells a farm worker to “get the new spring wagon with the blue body and red wheels, and wash it very clean.” She also tells him to “Carry with you some evergreens and flowers to put upon her coffin - indeed a great many.” Although Fanny is ultimately what prevented the marriage between Bathsheba and Troy from working, Bathsheba doesn’t resent Fanny and continues to organise her funeral despite her connection with Troy which shows how Bathsheba has matured throughout the novel since if she hadn’t changed, she would probably have felt more sorry for herself than Fanny.
Although Hardy uses Fanny to create drama and suspense in the novel, and also highlight the different aspects of the natures of other characters throughout the novel, she also shows how differently society viewed women and their roles at the time that the novel was written.
Fanny is one of two main female characters in the novel and the way that both she and Bathsheba are presented throughout the novel reflect societies views on women and the way women were perceived at the time that Far From The Madding Crowd was written in 1874. They are arguably used by Hardy to present two very different kinds of women in two very dramatic situations and the ways in which the community react towards them.
Fanny Robin was a woman who had been promised marriage by the man she loved, but he did not feel the same way and he used her and took advantage of her dedication to him. At the time the novel was written, she would have been rejected by the community for pre-marital sex, however Troy would not have received this kind of prejudice. This means he can, and does, walk away from the situation, whereas Fanny can’t do this because she is pregnant, and this situation could arguably show Hardy’s implicit sympathy for women at the time the novel was written and possibly how he disagrees with the social criticisms on women.
Fanny is not portrayed as a very strong character, especially in comparison to Bathsheba, the other main female character in the novel, and after her death one of the farm workers says that “she was such a limber maid that ‘a could stand no hardship”. In fact, the first time we are introduced to her she is “lying in a bundle” at the side of the road. Also, nearly every time we see Fanny, she is either waiting for Troy or trying to find him, and this long and constant journeying shows the reader how much she loves and trusts Troy and could also signify the strain and exertion she experiences in her mental journey as she is continually seeking for Troy to reciprocate her feelings for him. This shows that although Fanny is portrayed and “slight and fragile”, she is very determined. We are told that she walked most of the way to the barracks which introduces this point. Another example of this determination is the way she deals with her pregnancy. She still carries on her search for Troy despite her condition. This is the complete opposite to Troy’s nature. This shows that Fanny is naïve. She does not realise Troy’s true nature and that he is simply using her. Her naïvity reminds us of her age - she was Bathsheba’s youngest servant. However, despite a misleading exterior, she is persistent. At the end of pregnancy, tired and starving, she still completes the journey to Casterbridge, although it eventually results in her death. To contemplate this journey in her condition must have required moral strength and determination and these were not qualities emphasised or encouraged in women at the time. We can see this in the way the farm workers react towards Bathsheba.
When Bathsheba takes over her uncle’s farm, she is not expected to have any part in the running of the farm and instead she is expected to take a bailiff to do this for her. However, when she chooses to fill this position herself, the workers are greatly shocked and Hardy writes that Bathsheba “had too much womanliness to use her understanding to the best advantage” but this view on women is greatly contradicted as throughout the novel we begin to get an idea of how stubborn and independent Bathsheba in fact is. It was a controversial view at the time that one of the heroes in the book could be so independent.
Throughout the novel we can draw some comparisons between Fanny and Bathsheba, other than the way the are regarded by the community. Both are strong willed although in different ways - Fanny is persistent in her search for Troy although the chances of him ever marrying her are non existent. Bathsheba runs her own farm and is stubborn. Both did or still do love Troy - they were both fooled by his charm and flattery and failed to see his true character. They are both susceptible to his flattery and charm and this shows again that women were seen as less intelligent and in some ways lacking in confidence with their need for complements and their susceptibility to them. However, Bathsheba unlike Fanny, gets over Troy and moves on in her life.
Throughout the novel, Fanny is present as a victim of fate and circumstance. Her life is controlled by fate and chance and this shows how her function for Hardy extends beyond the plot and the development of other characters. Arguably, it could be said that the fact that Fanny did not go to the right church was another turning point in the novel, for had she been to the right church, she and Troy would have married and we can assume that Troy’s marriage to Bathsheba would not have taken place so all the resulting events which took place such as Troy’s death and Boldwood’s prison sentence would therefore not have occurred. This shows that fate plays a big part for both theme and also in the plot throughout the novel. However, the use of fate has been used subtly so that the plot could seem more believable to the reader, for example, when Fanny mixes up the name of the churches, it is only later in the novel that we learn why this happens. Another example of fate in the novel is when Bathsheba and Troy see Fanny by the side of the road. If this event had not occurred, other events, such as the immediate collapse of Troy’s and Bathsheba’s marriage would not have occurred.
When first reading the novel, Fanny Robin does not appear important to the contribution of building up of character, developing themes or highlighting certain aspects of the natures of other characters in the novel, but when analysed and linked to sections and events later in the novel, her significance becomes evident.
If Fanny were not in the novel, it would be more difficult for Hardy to emphasise the prejudices against women at the time, as well as creating tension and suspense in the plot and highlighting the true nature of other characters, especially Troy. Therefore, a reader would not be as aware of the irony surrounding her role and so would not realise how implicitly her presence in the novel aided Hardy to highlight all these aspects.
