Far From The Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy (Summary)

 

Far From The Madding Crowd

by Thomas Hardy

(Summary)

 

Far From the Madding Crowd is Hardy’s fourth novel. This novel is in line with happy, meaningful and conventional endings, with the marriage of the female protagonist Bathsheba to the hero, Gabriel Oak who has been in love with her right through the narrative. This is a love story where constancy in love, gets its just reward.

SUMMARY

The novel presents the charm of rustic life and the simple, guileless character of the rural people. The inter weaving of the story with the scenic description gives the novel an easy momentum and makes it one of the great pastoral novels of English literature.

The story runs smooth with no complexity from the beginning to the end in a straight line, involving the three suitors of Bathsheba - simple Gabriel Oak, Sergeant Troy and the frustrated middle-aged wealthy farmer, William Boldwood. It ends with the happy marriage of Bathsheba and Gabriel Oak.

This novel was written towards the end of the 19th century and a few years later, it was adapted as a play for the stage and much later for film. The merit of Hardy’s novel rests on his picturesque realism, enhanced by his sensitive understanding of his characters. Hardy displays a romanticized version of rustic life in the descriptions of Wessex. His protagonist, the rustic shepherd Gabriel Oak, with his love of the flute and love for his sheep is a contrast to the playboy image of Sergeant Troy and the wealthy farmer Boldwood.

The plot is simple. Gabriel Oak is the owner of a small farm of 200 sheep, and as the novel opens, he is seen tending to his sheep. He leaves his farm and goes in search of a job where he meets Bathsheba, a beautiful young woman who happens to be in a wagon near a toll gate close to his field. He notices her smiling at her own image in a mirror even as she bargains over the toll charges. Oak steps in and pays the amount and the woman drives away without a word.

Despite his attraction for her, Oak is sharp in the observation he makes to the gate keeper that she has one fault: “Vanity”.

Bathsheba Everdeen is an attractive young woman, highly independent and educated, who in a male dominated rural world of the 19thcentury has the boldness to work in a farm on equal terms with men. She is without fortune at the beginning, but soon after, she inherits her uncle’s prosperous farm and in a world where managing farms and estates is in the domain of men, she proves she is no less than anyone of them.

One of the incidents that brings Oak closer to her is when she saves him from fire that engulfed his hut when he was asleep. He had fallen asleep in his shepherd's hut with the hearth lit and windows closed. When the hut catches fire, he almost dies of suffocation but Bathsheba breaks in and saves him. He thanks her and asks her name. Not only does she refuse to give her name, she also challenges him to find it out for himself. There are a few more occasions when he spots her without her knowledge and he slowly realizes that he is in love with her. He proposes her, but she refuses saying she is not in love with him. When he asks her a second time and she again refuses, he agrees to drop the matter, though he declares he will always love her.

Bathsheba leaves for Weatherbury after inheriting her uncle’s farm. Meanwhile, disaster strikes Gabriel Oak as one of his young sheep dogs unwittingly chases his flock of sheep into a huge chalk pit where they drown. Gabriel loses all his life’s savings that he had invested in his sheep. He loses not only the sheep, but, since many of them were pregnant ewes, all their unborn lambs.

He leaves his farm in Newcombe Hill and goes to find a job in Weatherbury in response to an advertisement asking for a bailiff to work in a farm. But he could not get the job as the hiring employers learn that Oak himself had been an owner of a sheep farm and therefore will not be the suitable person to be employed as a farm hand. Oak is not disheartened and tries to earn money by playing his flute.

Yet another fortuitous event takes place. Oak falls asleep in a wagon that was going to Weatherbury, where Bathsheba has settled. When he wakes up and slips out of the wagon, he sees something on fire at a distance. He finds a straw-rick on fire. As a shepherd, Gabriel has the knowledge to extinguish a farm fire and with his quick action and response, he succeeds in putting out the fire. The mistress of the farm in a veil comes to him and thanks him and asks him how she should repay his services. He tells her that she could hire him on her farm to give her a helping hand. The woman lifts her veil and Oak is delightfully surprised to recognize her as Bathsheba. She engages him on her farm.

Oak is accepted by the farm labourers as he easily mingles with them. He learns from others that Bathsheba was left penniless by her father, but her uncle has made her his heiress. He also learns that she is a strong woman who has decided to manage the farm by herself and displays her strength when she dismisses her bailiff for stealing barley from the farm. He also hears that one of her young servants, Fanny Robin has mysteriously disappeared and is suspected to have committed suicide. Bathsheba asks her workers to find Fanny, or get information about her as to who her lover is with whom she might have fled. She comes to know vaguely that Fanny had a soldier sweetheart.

A third fortuitous event takes place when Oak has an unexpected meeting with a poorly dressed young woman as he walks back to the inn where he stays. The sparsely clad woman is Fanny Robin who pleads with him not to tell anyone that he has seen her. On seeing this pathetic, poorly clad woman, Gabriel offers her a shilling. Bathsheba receives a visitor in her farm: he is Boldwood, a middle-aged farmer. Though she does not meet him immediately, she comes to know that he is a wealthy man, kind, and fond of children. He resists all female attempts to impress him and shows no interest in women.

Bathsheba wins the approval of all the male farmers by her firm standing and she proves a match to her competitors in the market where she sells her grains. She lets the men talk, but in arguing on prices she holds her own firmly like any experienced dealer even though she is a woman in a man’s world. But there is an elasticity in her firmness which makes her far removed from obstinacy and at the same time there is a naïveté in the way she reduces the price. Boldwood is the only man who does not focus his attention on her. In a whimsical gesture, Bathsheba sends him a Valentine card with a seal that says “Marry Me”. But she does not affix her signature.

Boldwood is puzzled as to who could have sent the Valentine card. At that time, the mailman hands him an envelope which he opens to find that the mail is for Gabriel Oak. Seeing Gabriel Oak walking across the field, he hands him the letter with apologies for having mistakenly opened it. Gabriel reveals to him the contents of the letter which is from Fanny Robin. The letter says that she is going to marry Sergeant Troy. Even though Fanny had requested him to maintain secrecy about her, Gabriel informs Boldwood as the latter is genuinely concerned about Fanny.

Boldwood feels skeptical as he knows Troy to be untrustworthy. Boldwood then shows Gabriel, the unsigned Valentine card and asks him if he can identify the sender. Gabriel recognizes the writing, and Boldwood is puzzled and bewildered when Gabriel tells him that it is from Bathsheba.

In a twist of fate, Fanny fails to turn up at All Saints’ Church, where she is supposed to get married to Sergeant Troy, a dashing, handsome soldier, as she mistakenly waits for him in a different church, All Souls Church. Troy, who is waiting for Fanny feels embarrassed as the congregation at All Saints’ Church - mainly comprising inquisitive women begin to move out.

Troy is infuriated by his humiliation before the old women who wait to witness his wedding and takes out his rage on poor, confused Fanny. He is noncommittal to Fanny’s plea to get married the next day. She is terrified to see his fury, the first hint at his real nature. For the first time Boldwood meets Bathsheba in the market and finds her beautiful. Hardy describes this meeting thus: "Adam had awakened from his deep sleep, and behold! there was Eve, and for the first time he really looked at her." Bathsheba becomes aware of having made an impression, but regrets her capricious, impulsive action of sending him a Valentine card. Hardy briefly shows the new awareness of Bathsheba and Boldwood for each other. Boldwood is naïve and he fails to notice Bathsheba’s caprice and intentional frivolity in sending him the Valentine message with the two words ‘Marry Me’. So also, Bathsheba does not realize how her careless and impulsive act will have tragic consequences.

Boldwood meets Bathsheba when she is in the fields with Gabriel Oak. Though Boldwood does not speak to her, Oak intuitively senses that Boldwood is deeply in love with Bathsheba. He also suspects her to have done something impish that may lead to future complications. A few days later, Boldwood overcoming his shyness, suddenly proposes to Bathsheba. Her response was quick: “Mr. Boldwood, though I respect you much, I do not feel - what would justify me to accepting your offer.” Boldwood tells her that despite his age, he will make a better husband who cares for her than any young man. Bathsheba asks for six weeks’ time to give him her final answer.

Hardy, who is famous for weaving his tale through a series of twists, brings in Sergeant Troy, the third suitor to seek Bathsheba’s hand. He is untrustworthy, a charmer, a flatterer, and a liar.

After rejecting the offers of Oak and Boldwood, Bathsheba is captivated by the charm and ardent wooing of Sergeant Troy. Troy initially has no intention of marrying Bathsheba and true to his nature, merely pursues her lightheartedly. She is flattered by his pretentious solicitousness and is completely taken in by him, revealing herself to be rather gullible and guileless. It is her own vanity that makes her think he is sincere. Boldwood is upset as he knows Troy as a seducer of women. Boldwood is angry and launches into a long, distraught harangue with Bathsheba:

"Bathsheba, sweet, lost coquette, pardon me! I've been blaming you, threatening you, behaving like a churl to you, when he's (Troy) the greatest sinner. He stole your dear heart away with his unfathomable lies! . . . I pray God he may not come into my sight, for I may be tempted beyond myself . . . yes, keep him away from me." This sounds ominous as Boldwood shoots Troy towards the latter part of the novel.

But at this point, in the story, he tries to bribe Troy and offers him 500 pounds to marry Fanny and leave Bathsheba. Boldwood is shocked when Troy pockets the money but does not marry Fanny, driving her to a penniless state and death. Boldwood approaches Troy once again and in order to protect Bathsheba’s honour, makes yet another offer of 500 pounds if he leaves her.

Troy teases him by showing a newspaper announcing Bathsheba’s recent marriage to Troy. Derisively Troy tells Boldwood: “Yours is the ridiculous fate which always attends interference between a man and his wife.” Bathsheba’s vanity, Boldwood’s naive and artless nature, and Troy’s libertinism and profligacy come together to spell disaster for Bathsheba. She settles for the glib, suave soldier in place of the anxious and clear thinking Boldwood and the truthful and steadfast Gabriel Oak.

Gabriel Oak is honest, fair in his judgement and has the courage to confront Bathsheba and warn her about Troy. Though he is almost certain that she will not listen to him, he deems it his duty to speak. He begs her to be discreet: "Bathsheba, dear mistress, this I beg you to consider - that, both to keep yourself well honored among the workfolk, and in common generosity to an honourable man who loves you as well as I, you should be more discreet in your bearing towards this soldier." She dismisses his advice with a foolish comment that Gabriel Oak’s remarks were born out of his frustration over her refusal to marry him. Oak’s honest response that he has stopped thinking about the possibility of marrying her hurts her. Bathsheba is upset not only by his frankness, but more so by his indifference to her.

In a fit of anger, Bathsheba dismisses Gabriel Oak from her service for meddling with her personal life. But he agrees to go only if she hires a good bailiff in his place. When she does not do so, Gabriel refuses to leave the farm. As luck would have it her lambs are taken ill and the only one who can cure them is Gabriel Oak. Bathsheba immediately recalls him to join back.

While Oak experiences anxiety over Bathsheba’s relationship with Troy, Boldwood, very unlike the dignified, Boldwood at the beginning of the story displays great anger. Hardy gives us a hint of the potential violence in him.

Troy, a charming liar ensnares Bathsheba. He indulges in flattery to woo and win her. He exhibits his skill with his sword, and Bathsheba is overwhelmed, and falls in his trap. What Troy asks her in jest to accept him, she takes it seriously and agrees. Troy feels trapped by his own foolish jest. Her falling for Troy, a handsome, charming, chivalrous, skillful swordsman blind her to the deceit of the artful dodger. The strong self-reliant woman who has never had such an encounter with someone who is clever and who manages to win over the opposite sex by fake charm, suddenly loses her strength and shows herself to be a weak and helpless woman. Hardy writes:

"Bathsheba loved Troy in the way that only self-reliant women love when they abandon their self-reliance. When a strong woman recklessly throws away her strength, she is worse than a weak woman who has never had any strength to throw away. One source of her inadequacy is the novelty of the occasion. She had never had practice in making the best of such a condition. Weakness is doubly weak by being new.”

Except for the perceptive Gabriel, no one notices her infatuation for Troy. In the absence of Boldwood who has gone out of town, Gabriel feels responsible to protect her from Troy and

advises her to be more discreet in her bearing towards the soldier. Bathsheba does not wish to think ill of Troy, does not want to believe the stories about him, and fights against the possibility of their truth.

Bathsheba marries Troy, and Gabriel is uneasy as he feels that in the near future she will regret her hasty decision. Boldwood is angry that Bathsheba has preferred the untrustworthy Troy to his own constancy and loyalty in love. Troy returns to the farm after giving up soldiering. He celebrates his marriage by drinking with all the farm hands except Gabriel who refuses to get drunk. It happens to be a stormy night. While Troy and all the farm workers are in a heavy drunken stupor, Gabriel goes to Bathsheba’s farm and saves the hay ricks from the storm.

Bathsheba also goes out in the night and meets Gabriel at work. Gabriel asks her to leave but she stays and gratefully says “you are kinder than I deserve. I will stay and help you.” Bathsheba abruptly confesses the reason for her trip to Bath; she had intended to break off with Troy, but jealousy of a possible rival and her own distraction had led her to marry him instead. Bathsheba’s impetuous and hasty actions lead her to disaster. Three men - Troy, carefree and reaping the advantages of being master of a farm; Boldwood, angry, hurt and experiencing severe emotional tension and Gabriel, remaining loyal to her despite her refusal to accept his proposal – change her life.

Their marriage starts crumbling. Troy’s claims to Bathsheba’s money to cover his gambling losses hint at the disquietude that has set in. He accidentally comes across Fanny, feels guilty for abandoning her after having an affair with that timid young woman, and leaving her pregnant. Troy's concern for her is real. Fanny is another victim of his inability, or his refusal, to live by anything but impulse. Impulse dictated his marriage to Bathsheba, which now is obviously crumbling.

Fanny dies and both Boldwood and Bathsheba who had been her employers in the past, feel duty bound to give her a decent burial. The farm labourers know that Fanny had run away to follow a soldier. Only Boldwood and Gabriel are aware that the soldier was none other than Sergeant Troy. Gabriel sees the coffin with a scrawl on the lid saying ‘Fanny and child”. Gabriel erases the last word to save her honour.

Bathsheba becomes aware that Fanny had died in childbirth. She had earlier seen Fanny’s golden hair in Troy’s watch case. Intuitively, Bathsheba arrives at the truth about who Fanny’s lover was. She shows her pity for the mother and child by placing flowers around their bodies. Troy's emotion and remorse at Fanny’s death, reinforce her realization that her marriage is over.

Troy who always desires fun and excitement gets bored with the life in the farm. He feels some remorse for his flirtation with Fanny and leaving her to take a forlorn path that ends with her death and also that of his child she was carrying. He feels a savage aversion to Bathsheba and leaves her, seeking solitude. He goes for a swim, is carried away by the deeper currents of water but is rescued by a passing ship.

Though news of Troy drowning reaches Bathsheba, she refuses to accept it, as deep within she believes he is alive. She has no emotions left for him and goes about her daily duties. Bathsheba is remorseful but somewhat relieved when Troy disappears. His clothes are found on the shore of a bay where he had gone for a swim. The circumstantial evidence points to his death, but Bathsheba knows intuitively that he is alive. After much persuasion she agrees to wear mourning clothes as Troy’s widow. Boldwood continues to seek her hand but she says she cannot accept him before the seven-year period of mourning is over. Boldwood who was earlier known for his farming and managerial skills is reluctant to work and take charge of his farm. Gabriel accepts his request to attend to his farm after consultation with Bathsheba, whose farm he is already managing.

Six years pass by, and Boldwood approaches Bathsheba to marry him as per her promise (that she would marry him after the seven year mourning period, when the law will declare her legally widowed). Troy returns and interrupts the Christmas party that Boldwood is giving prior to his marriage. Shocked at his return, the infuriated Boldwood loses cool and shoots him. Troy is buried beside Fanny, his wronged love. Because of his insanity, Boldwood's sentence is eventually commuted to internment at the pleasure of Her Majesty, the Queen. Gabriel, who has served Bathsheba patiently and loyally all this time, marries her at the story's conclusion. The augury is that, having lived through tragedy together, the pair will now find happiness.