Literature review : Far from the madding crowd by Thomas Hardy

Three bitter romances, a headstrong girl and sheep farming is all that this book is about.

Plot

The heroine Bathsheeba Everdeen is left all alone in this world except for an aunt and an uncle by the death of her parents. Bathsheeba is taken under the roof of her aunt where a young shepherd Gabriel Oak falls for her. But she denies his courtship and leaves the farmer into bitterness. While Bathsheeba’s streaks go high with her late uncle leaving a will favouring her to inherit a large farm, the wheel of fortune turns against farmer Oak. With his sheep lost he has no other way but to sell the farm and go job hunting to overcome poverty.

Meanwhile Bathsheeba who is way rich now manages her affairs all by herself. Oak by chance arrives at her village and is given a shepherd’s job at Bathsheeba’s farm. Her beauty brings many suitors and just for the sake of fun, she sends a valentine to a respectable farmer in the neighbourhood, William Boldwood causing him to fall head over heels for her.

But Bathsheeba’s fate was to love a sergeant Francis Troy, who hails from a well to do family but gone awry and who has fallen in ranks. He was a pretender, loving her only for her money and beauty. It leads in their secret marriage, a brief honeymoon period, Boldwood’s stupor and death of Troy’s former fiancée and their unwanted child. Matters go haywire after the death of Fanny Robins, the fiancée and Troy runs away. He is perceived dead by everyone but not by Bathsheeba. She is again courted and stalked by Boldwood and just when she consents to marry him at the end of 7 years at which Troy will be legally declared dead, the sergeant returns resulting in his death by the hands of Boldwood.

The story culminates in Bathsheeba realising the love of Oak, a rich man by now and marries him. A happy ending.

Analysis

Bathsheeba, full of vigour of life and beauty, by the recklessness of her nature takes spur of the moment decisions and falls in many difficult situations. By the goodness of Gabriel Oak, she escapes most of them and finally winds up her life with him. Had she did this at the beginning, a lot of tragedies could have been avoided. But no, this was not to be. For she gained lots of wisdom from bitter experiences that she had faced from her romantic endeavours as well as from her sole management of a farm. In short, the story is the gradual progress of Bathsheeba from a reckless village girl to an intelligent women.

Farmer Oak on the other hand is an idol of loyalty. He is knowledgeable and maintains difficult situations with praiseworthy composure.

All in all, a spicy story set in a quiet neighbourhood with interesting plot and twists.

13 thoughts on “Literature review : Far from the madding crowd by Thomas Hardy”

  1. We must take care when reviewing classics, they’re over our heads in many cases. I’d gotten as far as the farmer’s gung-ho dog running all his sheep over a cliff, being saved by Bathsheeba then given a job because of his troubles his hopes dashed thanks to that dog, having to begin at the bottom again… I’d put the book down and not finished. I think I’ll pick it back up.
    In these times it’s hard enough dealing with deceit, deceitful people, in relation to Bathsheeba in this case men, but in those times it was more surprising though there were many. Reminds me of a book I’d read about the most evil women who’d committed crimes but didn’t get as severe a sentencing or judgement as they should or might have because of the thinking of the times – women being a weaker sex and not capable of such things so it must’ve been something else.
    Judging an apple by other apples is one thing but judging an apple according to oranges sweet or sour doesn’t work. The era it was written is a different world from ours. Points were left out – the review came across as too simple like a white-wash.
    Thanks for the reminder… I’ve taken the book off the shelf to continue reading.

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    1. Criticism is always welcome.
      Not only the era it was written, but the social background itself is totally different from mine.
      Pardon my ignorance, but I didn’t know that it was a classic when I first read it. To be honest, it sounded too plaintive for me. The review also might have carried some of that first impression.
      I guess I should be more careful about my reviews. Thank you for your honest comment. Point noted

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      1. Bathsheba is trying to be an independent woman, something unheard of, Farmer Oak did ask for her hand …. she did say she could see being married if there were no husband … comical – figure that – it sounded too plaintive as in sorrowful… too much melancholia?

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        1. Half way through the story, I expected that the protagonist is Bathsheba. She is expected to be a strong women, however her fickle mindedness and her immature decisions prove otherwise. Towards the end, the story moves towards ‘every woman needs a man’ and that’s when I realized that I don’t like the story much. Yes, Bathsheba is trying to be an independent woman, and she fails at it.

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          1. Maybe, I did see her vanity when she chases after Gabriel when he wanted to ask for her hand. Strikes me as a double-edge sword one would rather not encounter but, like I’d said I hadn’t finished it yet so onward…

            Ha -these days it would be every woman needs a man, every man needs a woman, every man needs a man, every woman needs a woman…

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          2. PS – FYI:
            Thomas Hardy OM was an English novelist and poet. A Victorian realist in the tradition of George Eliot, he was influenced both in his novels and in his poetry by Romanticism, especially William Wordsworth. en.wikipedia.org

            Born: June 2, 1840, Upper Bockhampton, Dorset, England, UK
            Died: January 11, 1928, Dorchester, Dorset, England, UK
            Nationality: British

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