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REVIEW: Far From the Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy

Dear Reader:

Once upon a time (more specifically, late 2010), my quest for self-improvement led me to Thomas Hardy. “Self,” I said to myself, “you’ve been trying all sorts of classic authors, you’ve tackled a few Russians. But you’ve never read Thomas Hardy. Why not give him a shot?” So I did. I don’t remember the process of elimination that led me to my fateful choice; I only remember thinking that I knew enough about Tess of D’Ubervilles to be fairly sure that it would piss me off. I ended up reading Jude the Obscure .

Big mistake. HUGE mistake. If ever a book perfectly combined soul-crushing boredom with spirit-withering depression, it’s Jude. Man, that book was boring. Man, that book was depressing. (“Done because we are too menny.” Shudder.) How does a book simultaneously manage to be both incredibly dull and astoundingly grim? I don’t know. But that book managed it. I hated it. (Strangely, looking at my log, I still gave it a C, which either means I was a REALLY easy grader five years ago, or more likely I feel like an asshole giving bad grades to classic works. I mean, clearly I’m the problem for not better appreciating this very boring, very depressing classic work of literature.)

Anyway, where were we? Recently I got it in my head that I should give Hardy another try. I remembered that back when I bitched to anyone who would listen about Jude the Obscure , a friend insisted that I should read Far From the Madding Crowd . So I did.

Our main characters are Gabriel Oak and Bathsheba Everdene. At the beginning of the novel, Oak is a shepherd who lives very simply and saves for a better future. He meets Bathsheba when she comes to the area to live with her aunt. They form something of a friendship, but when Gabriel proposes, Bathsheba turns him down. She doesn’t have feelings for him and has a desire to remain independent. She’s also proud and seems to see herself as above Gabriel, though she’s also very poor. Soon after, she leaves town, and Gabriel suffers a reversal of fortune: all his sheep die and his plans for a more comfortable future go up in smoke.

The two meet again in Weatherbury, where Bathsheba has inherited an estate from an uncle, and Gabriel is looking for work. Despite some initial discomfort between them, Gabriel ends up hiring on as Bathsheba’s shepherd, and does an excellent job.

Meanwhile, Bathsheba has another suitor, a handsome and wealthy but rather uncharismatic farmer named Boldwood. Boldwood is drawn to Bathsheba after she sends him a valentine on a lark. Boldwood takes the valentine far more seriously than Bathsheba intended it, and falls desperately in love with her. Bathsheba, to her credit, does feel terrible about leading Boldwood on, but she doesn’t have any more desire to marry him than she did Gabriel. She wants to run her farm on her own, making her something of a rare specimen of womanhood to the locals.

However, eventually Bathsheba’s head is turned by the dashing Sergeant Troy, who anyone can tell is bad news. For one thing, he’s already been seen trifling (apparently) with Fanny Robin, a young woman who was briefly in Bathsheba’s employ before running off. Even Bathsheba seems to know that Troy is no good, but she’s drawn to him anyway.

For whatever reason, Far From the Madding Crowd was a lot less boring to me than Jude the Obscure . (It was also nowhere near as depressing – though it has its moments – but the reasons for that are less obscure.) I think the prose and the characters were both less ponderous; Far From the Madding Crowd was originally published in serialized form and the writing reflects that. It’s not cliffhanger-y, necessarily, but there’s a degree of dramatic tension that I don’t recall there being in Jude.

Hardy had quite a fondness for rural life, and at times I did skip over paragraphs lovingly detailing the hay ricks (note: I have no idea what a hay rick is) and the countryside and the dew on the leaves and blah blah blah. I like his writing better when he’s recreating the local dialect in the voices of the workers who populate the area and work for Bathsheba and Boldwood. I often didn’t understand entirely what they were talking about, but the general flavor usually came through.

Bathsheba is sort of a mixed bag as a character – on the one hand, she’s sympathetic as a woman trying to make it in a mans’ world and deal with the expectations and limitations that are forced on her. On the other hand, it’s hard not to see her as flighty; she spurns two good men in favor of one bad one. Hardy’s views on the essential character of women weren’t exactly advanced, I don’t think, and Bathsheba as a character reflects that.

The three men drawn to her each manage to be sympathetic: Gabriel Oak is the pattern card of an upstanding, hardworking, loyal and steadfast man. His last name is a good indicator of his character; he’s solid and sturdy and also a bit unbending. Sure, he’s no romance hero: he’s not dashing or tempestuous in his passions. But it’s clear from the beginning that he’s a good guy. Boldwood seems to have some similar traits: steadiness of character combined with a somewhat uninspiring personality. But his mad pursuit of Bathsheba reveals some hidden depths. On the one hand, his doomed loved for Bathsheba gives Boldwood an air of tragic romanticism; on the other hand, it reveals him to be, well, kind of crazy.

Troy was the one who managed to surprise and intrigue me. I didn’t like him; he’s too selfish and shallow for that. But he could easily have been a cardboard villain, and he’s not. In some ways, in his pursuit of the easy life and comfort, Troy ends up being his own worst enemy.

The ending of Far From the Madding Crowd has a certain rightness to it, a symmetry that I found pleasing. It’s not super-romantic but it’s a far cry from the dreary despair of Jude the Obscure . My grade for this one is a B+.

Best regards,

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has been an avid if often frustrated romance reader for the past 15 years. In that time she's read a lot of good romances, a few great ones, and, unfortunately, a whole lot of dreck. Many of her favorite authors (Ivory, Kinsale, Gaffney, Williamson, Ibbotson) have moved onto other genres or produce new books only rarely, so she's had to expand her horizons a bit. Newer authors she enjoys include Julie Ann Long, Megan Hart and J.R. Ward, and she eagerly anticipates each new Sookie Stackhouse novel. Strong prose and characterization go a long way with her, though if they are combined with an unusual plot or setting, all the better. When she's not reading romance she can usually be found reading historical non-fiction.

FYI, a hay rick is the way hay used to be stored in a huge (but scientifically constructed) heap in the corner of a field. They were often thatched to keep the rain out. You’re welcome.

This is the only Thomas Hardy I’ve read. I know enough about Tess, Jude and The Mayor Of Casterbridge to want to stay far, far away from their depressing pages. I liked Far From The Madding Crowd, though. You’ve nailed the description of the characters; none of them are perfect, yet all of them are intriguing.

I, too, found Bathsheba a bit flighty. I can’t recall, off the top of my head, any 19th century male author who has written a female character I’ve loved. Are there any likable women written by men of that era?

You found “Jude” boring? I find that sad. Just sad. This book is considered the first “modern” novel, shifting from Victorian mode, as well as being thought Hardy’s best (It’s 29 on the Guardian’s top 100 list). Yes, it is angry and even radical for its time, but it’s not a modern romance. What did you expect?

Yes, “Madding” ends on a perhaps an upper note? but it wasn’t the point of the book that the heroine would end up “safely” married. The three very different men and what Bathsheba sees in them is more to the point. Yes, I do indeed like “Madding” too, and it makes a good movie (the 1967 version), but “Jude” is my favorite novel by far.

@ Jean : Okay I get it – people are passionate about books, but this comment seems kind of “judgey” to me and not about the book, about the author of this review. Sometimes people don’t like books you loved. It’s okay. They can like it or not. “What did you expect?” after the comment about modern romance doesn’t seem well played to me. We don’t know what she expected and that’s not necessarily our business. It didn’t work for her. But your comment reads like a romance novel /romance reader slam to me.

Is Bathsheba Everdene the best character name ever, or what? ITA with your assessment of Jude the Obscure. It was a DNF for me, and I’m a Hardy fan. My favorite is Tess of the D’urbervilles, and if you haven’t read it, don’t wait any longer. It’s great. Even if the hero is name Angle Clare, the book is still good. What’s with hardy and names? They’re either off the chart good or so goofy it makes the reader wonder what he was smoking.

@ Jo : Have you not ready any books by Anthony Trollope? His novels are crammed with memorable women characters. The thing I like most about him is that he liked women and wasn’t afraid to show them as strong, independent, intelligent creatures worth listening to. Lady Glencora, Madame Max, Lily Dale, Madeline Vesey-Neroni, and Alice Vavasor are just a few of the names that come to mind. I started reading Trollope in the 1980s after seeing the BBC adaptation of the Barchester novels and have never had a period of time when I wasn’t reading or rereading one of his books. Currently Dr. Thorne is on deck, and Martha Dunstable is the standout female character. I highly recommend watching the adaptation, then dive into his wonderful world. You’re in luck if you like him. He wrote 47 novels, plus travelogs, biographies, criticism, etc. No lack of material.

Am I the only one who ever wondered if the Valentine said, “I Choo Choo Choose You!”

@ Kilian Metcalf : I never got around to reading Anthony Trollope. I will definitely be checking out the BBC adaptation. Thanks!

@ Jane Lovering : Thank you!

@ Jo : Even the 19th century authors that write with some depth of understanding about female characters (maybe Tolstoy?) I think are limited by the societal perspectives they’re rooted in.

@ Francesca : Ha! That would be awesome.

@ Jean : I dunno; it bored me. My comments weren’t meant as an indictment of the novel; I even admitted (somewhat jokingly) that the problem was probably with me.

I definitely wasn’t expecting a modern romance with Jude, but OTOH I have no interest in reading material that is relentlessly grim. I expect 19th century classics to be dense, but there have been plenty that I liked very well in spite of the “boring” parts.

@ Kilian Metcalf : Bathsheba Everdene is an awesome name.

I am wary of Tess because of the whole “girl gets ruined and is therefore DOOMED” trope. I’ll get to it someday.

I might try The Mayor of Casterbridge next, though. I’m familiar with that story from a Michael Winterbottom film called “The Claim” which changes the setting to an American western mining town in the 1860s. It’s a very striking, evocative movie, though I don’t know how true it is to the original story.

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The Literary Edit

Review: Far From the Madding Crowd – Thomas Hardy

Having read – and thoroughly enjoyed – Tess of the D’Urbevilles towards the end of 2014, I was keen to read Thomas Hardy’s second entry in the BBC Top 100  as soon as possible. Voted the nation’s 48th best loved book of all time, Far From the Madding Crowd was Hardy’s fourth novel and originally appeared anonymously as a monthly serial in Cornhill Magazine.

Hardy offers the reader a rich and atmospheric backdrop to the tale as he describes the landscape that shepherd, Gabriel Oak, inhabits before introducing Bathsheba Everdene, the main protagonist with whom three different suitors fall in love.

Having inherited a farm from her uncle, Bathsheba is handsome, determined and independently wealthy and thus considered highly desirable by a number of men, namely shepherd Gabriel Oak, handsome soldier Sergeant Francis Troy and another farmer, William Boyd. Each of the suitors are very different in character, and suffer rejection at the hands of Bathsheba, who is determined to marry for love alone rather than any sort of material benefit a marriage may grant her.

As the novel progresses, the lives of Bathsheba and her suitors are cleverly woven and interlinked against a backdrop of rural Dorset that is as key a part of the novel as any of its central characters. Far less tragic than Tess of the D’Urbevilles, Far From the Madding Crowd highlights Hardy’s beautiful writing and masterful story-telling, making it plain to see why it was his first major literary success.

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Book Review

Far from the madding crowd.

• Thomas Hardy
• Drama , Historical , Romance

Readability Age Range

• Adults, high school students
• First published in 1874 by Corn Hill Magazine. Editions are now published by Oxford University Press, Penguin Classics, New Canadian Library and Harper Collins Publishers, among many others.

Year Published

This book has been reviewed by Focus on the Family Thriving Family , a marriage and parenting magazine. It is a classic romance of the 19th century.

Plot Summary

Gabriel Oak is a 28-year-old sheep farmer of modest means who has just acquired a herd of 200 sheep of his own. Quiet, but well-liked, Gabriel spends most of his time tending his flock. One day he sees a beautiful woman in a wagon filled with boxes. The woman’s beauty intrigues him, and Gabriel finds himself watching her, unobserved, over the next few weeks. When the wind takes her hat one afternoon, Gabriel searches for it and returns it to her. She is embarrassed by his bold, uncultured manner.

Several days later, Gabriel forgets to open a window in his sheep hut before he falls asleep. Smoke from the fireplace fills the room. The young woman breaks into the house and wakes him before he succumbs to the smoke. He asks her name, but she flirtatiously tells him to discover it on his own. He learns that she is Bathsheba Everdene and is staying with an aunt in the area.

Gabriel calls on the aunt and asks if he might marry Bathsheba. The aunt tells him that Bathsheba has had many lovers in the past. Gabriel leaves, but Bathsheba chases after him to explain that her aunt is lying. She has not had any lovers. Gabriel assumes she must like him if she’s gone to such extremes to tell him of her aunt’s deception. He asks if he might court her, and she says that their relationship would never lead to marriage because she doesn’t love him.

Bathsheba moves away to town called Weatherbury, leaving Gabriel behind, still pining for her. Tragedy strikes one night when his young sheep dog runs his entire flock off the side of a cliff. Gabriel is heartbroken, not only for the loss of his future as a self-sufficient farmer, but also for the suffering ewes and their unborn lambs. He sells what little he has left to pay his debts and thinks about how grateful he is that Bathsheba didn’t marry him, as he wouldn’t want her to suffer such poverty.

Gabriel travels to a nearby town that is having a hiring fair. At first he tries to find work as a bailiff — a kind of manager and overseer of a farm. When that fails, he sells his good coat to pay for a shepherd’s staff and tries to find work as a shepherd. Desperate, he earns a little money at the fair by playing his flute. He learns that another town, Weatherbury, is having a hiring fair soon. He hides aboard a wagon to get some sleep, waking as it begins to move. He overhears the owners say they are going to Weatherbury. He rides most of the way with them before slipping off the back.

As he walks to the town, he sees that something is on fire in the distance. He hurries to it. The workers of the barn are frantic. Gabriel takes charge and risks his own life to climb to the top of the hay to stamp the fire out with his shepherd’s hook while organizing the other workers to quench the fire below.

When the veiled mistress of the barn learns of this stranger’s heroics, she asks to meet him. She offers him a reward. He asks if she might be in need of a shepherd. When she lifts her veil, Gabriel is surprised to see it is Bathsheba. She agrees to give him a job as her shepherd, much to the delight of all her workers. She tells him to find her bailiff and tell the man of her order.

On the way to town, Gabriel comes across a young, timid woman who begs him not to tell anyone he’s seen her. He fears she must be in some trouble, but the woman will accept no help. He hands her a few pennies for her journey. Gabriel tries to find the bailiff in the local malt house, but to no avail. He does meet several other workers, however, and has a drink with them before leaving. Once he’s gone, news comes that Bathsheba discovered her bailiff cheating her and so fired him. She’s also asked the locals to be on the lookout for her young servant, Fanny, who has run off.

Fanny makes her way to the barracks where her lover is stationed. She throws snowballs at his window until he opens it to talk to her. He is rather callous to her, but Fanny reminds him of his promise to marry her. He agrees, but tells her he can’t meet her now.

Bathsheba makes the bold move to act as bailiff for the estate she’s inherited. When she attends market day in her new role, the other farmers are rattled by her beauty, except for Mr. Boldwood, a handsome bachelor whom many have tried to court, but none have succeeded. Bathsheba is piqued by his lack of attention.

The following day she makes out a valentine for a young serving boy. Her maid Liddy suggests she make it out to Boldwood instead. Bathsheba tosses a book to decide who will get the card. When the book lands closed, she addresses it to Mr. Boldwood, but leaves it unsigned, and then, on a whim, presses the message Marry Me onto the seal. Bathsheba and her maid think nothing of their prank, but the missive moves Mr. Boldwood to wonder who could desire him. He is obsessed with discovering the identity of the mysterious suitor.

The next day he comes across the mail cart and accidentally opens a letter because the handwriting is the same as on his valentine. He discovers that it is for Gabriel Oak and was sent by Fanny to repay him for the money he lent her. It also tells him that she will wed Sergeant Troy. Boldwood delivers the letter to Gabriel and learns that the handwriting on the envelope is that of Bathsheba Everdene.

Troy waits in the church for his bride, Fanny, as women twitter and gossip. He waits for an hour, but she never arrives. He finally leaves and encounters Fanny running across the square to meet him. She had gone to the wrong church. She asks when they can reschedule the wedding, but Troy doesn’t give her an answer.

The ill-fated valentine causes many problems. Boldwood observes Bathsheba in town, and because of her beauty, falls in love with her. Bathsheba worries that if she approaches him, he will take it as a sign of her interest in him. She decides to ignore him. Gabriel sees the furtive glances between the two and believes there may be a blossoming romance. Boldwood finally gets the courage to speak to Bathsheba and propose to her. She tries to dissuade him, but he insists she wait to give him a definitive answer and allow him to propose again at a later date.

Bathsheba asks Gabriel if he and any of the other workers saw her in conversation with Boldwood. When he admits she was observed by all, she wonders what Gabriel thought of her behavior. He bluntly tells her that it has not been the proper behavior for a woman of her stature. She becomes angry and accuses him of being jealous, but he claims to have long ago given up any idea of marrying her. She fires him on the spot, and he agrees to leave.

The following day, her workers come to beg her to rehire Gabriel. Her sheep have wandered into new clover, and she is in danger of losing them all, as their stomachs will explode if not given an emergency operation. Only Gabriel is capable of performing the procedure. She orders them to bring him back, but he sends a message telling her he will only come if she asks him politely. She begs him not to abandon her, and he returns, saving all but one of the ewes. She asks him to return permanently as shepherd, and he agrees.

At the sheepshearing, Bathsheba’s workers discuss the possible marriage of their mistress and Mr. Boldwood. When he arrives at the ensuing dinner, Bathsheba asks Gabriel to move so Boldwood may sit next to her. She tells him she may be ready to consider his proposal. It’s fortunate she makes him no promises, however, because on her rounds of the farm, she and a stranger become entangled. Troy’s spur gets caught in her dress and the two have a lengthy conversation as they try to separate themselves. She is immediately drawn to his good looks, but pretends to be appalled at his forward behavior.

She and Troy have several other encounters, and Bathsheba is soon beside herself with love. Gabriel, who knows Troy’s reckless character because of the letter Fanny sent him, tries to warn her. As he won’t give details, Bathsheba assumes he’s jealous and merely trying to ruin her relationship with the dashing soldier. She fires him again, but Gabriel refuses to leave unless she hires a bailiff to help her manage the farm. When she gets home, she overhears her servants talking about Troy. She quickly admonishes them but conveys her true feelings to Liddy.

Troy leaves for several weeks for Bath. Bathsheba formally refuses Boldwood’s offer of marriage. He confronts her with the knowledge that he knows Troy has stolen her affections and chastises her for being besotted by a uniform. She confesses that she has kissed Troy, and Boldwood, in a fury, threatens harm to the soldier if he ever returns to Weatherbury. Fearful, Bathsheba sneaks to Bath to warn him.

Two weeks later, Boldwood meets Troy while walking late at night. The farmer offers Troy a large sum of money to leave Weatherbury for good and marry Fanny. Troy agrees, but then they hear Bathsheba nearby. Boldwood hides while they talk. She invites Troy back to her house. Infuriated, Boldwood insists Troy take the money to marry Bathsheba to save her good name. He agrees, but insists the farmer come back to the house to sign a contract.

When they arrive, Troy shows him the announcement of his marriage to Bathsheba several days ago. Troy refuses the farmer’s money and throws him from the house. Boldwood becomes despondent over Bathsheba’s marriage. Although Gabriel is also heartbroken by the news, he diligently works Bathsheba’s farm, single-handedly saving it from financial ruin by protecting the grain and corn from a violent storm.

Several months later, Troy learns that Fanny is still alive, but sick. He vows to get money to help her. He tells her to meet him in a nearby town in a few days. Bathsheba, already upset at his gambling away her money, insists on knowing why he needs more. He admits it’s for a woman he used to know. Bathsheba flees the house after arguing with Troy. He leaves to search for Fanny.

When Bathsheba returns home, a servant tells her that Fanny is dead. Bathsheba insists the body is brought back for burial as Fanny was her servant. She suspects the girl died in childbirth and confirms her suspicions when she peeks inside the coffin and sees the young mother and her child.

When Troy comes home and discovers Fanny is dead, he cruelly admits to Bathsheba that he never loved her and will always love Fanny. He leaves the farm despairing his loss. He pays for Fanny’s headstone, then leaves town. He decides to swim in the ocean to cleanse himself, leaving his clothes and watch on the shore. A riptide threatens to drown him, but he is saved at the last minute by a boat, but doesn’t return to Bathsheba.

Everyone in Weatherbury assumes Troy has died. Bathsheba clings to hope that he is alive. After a year, Boldwood approaches her again and begs her to consider his proposal. He’s heard that she may be agreeable to another marriage if Troy has not returned in six years, the time it takes to be legally confirmed dead. Afraid of his obvious mental unbalance, she agrees to think again on his offer and will tell him her decision at Christmas.

Meanwhile, Troy has secretly returned to the area. He spies Bathsheba at a fair and is again smitten by her beauty. He wonders what her money situation is and decides to wait to reveal himself until he knows if he’ll be held liable for any debts.

Boldwood throws a huge party at Christmas for the entire town. When Bathsheba tries to leave without giving him a firm answer to his suit, he corners her alone. Mad with love for her, she is afraid to turn him away and agrees to marry him in five-and-a-half years. They return to the party but are interrupted by a visitor for Bathsheba. It is Troy. He insists she return with him to their house. In shock, she screams. Boldwood takes a shotgun from the mantel and shoots Troy. Stopped from killing himself, Boldwood turns himself in to the authorities. Several months later, Boldwood is tried and sentenced to hang. The citizens of Weatherbury sign a letter telling the judge of the farmer’s obvious mental instability and beg for leniency. On the eve of his execution, he is granted a stay. He will remain in jail.

Bathsheba is heartbroken when Gabriel tenders his resignation. She visits him in his hut and learns he is leaving because the townspeople believe he is secretly hoping to marry her. When she admits that she would no longer be opposed to the marriage, they wed secretly the following day in a small ceremony. That night as they dine, the farmworkers come to congratulate and serenade them.

Christian Beliefs

As the story takes place in 19th-century England, all the characters seem to have at least some knowledge of God and the church. Characters refer to various biblical stories as illustrations for their own predicaments. They often utter small prayers or talk of others praying, and they refer to the breaking of commandments.

Days are sometimes mentioned in regard to which saint is honored, as in St. Thomas’s day. Gabriel is described as going to church but yawning during the Nicene Creed. Hardy describes him as seeing Bathsheba as Milton’s Satan first saw Paradise. Gabriel is said to walk as a person given over to the study of Ecclesiastes forever. He sings in the church choir. Cattle, and later a man, are described as being as proud as Lucifer. A man is said to edge out another as a Christian avoids the offertory plate and shows dread about loving his neighbor as himself.

A man discusses his grandson’s christening. A mug of warmed alcohol is referred to as the “God-forgive-me.” A character discusses how a gate wouldn’t open because it had the Devil’s hand in it. This same man knelt down and said the Lord’s Prayer, the Ten Commandments and several other prayers from memory — and then the gate opened. Another character wonders if a certain woman had the good fortune to get into heaven when she died, or perhaps went downward.

A mother mistakenly names her son Cain because she remembered the story wrong. She was raised by heathen parents who never brought her to church. She’s seen as an example of how the sins of the father are visited upon their children. Bathsheba believes tossing a coin on Sunday would tempt the Devil. A man is said to be as big a betrayer as Judas Iscariot. One man argues that Scripture is wrong because you don’t get rewarded for your good works but often cheated out of your rightful earnings. Another debates him saying that God is a gentleman in that respect. Hardy describes the setting as God being present in the country but the Devil having gone with the world into the town.

A spurned lover’s lack of discretion to a rival suitor is said to be a venial sin. A character has read Pilgrim’s Progress . Bathsheba says she’ll not forgive God for making her a woman.

Other Belief Systems

Gabriel is said to be able to summon the god of sleep instead of having to wait for him. Many Greek gods are referred to, including Eros, Jove, the Pleiades and Diana. The breaking of a key is considered a bad omen.

Authority Roles

As all the characters are adults, there are no real authority roles. Gabriel is seen throughout as a constant, hardworking man, willing to sacrifice his own wealth and happiness to assure Bathsheba’s happiness.

Profanity & Violence

Lord is uttered as an exclamation. God is spoken alone and with O, knows, sake, please, help me , and bless you . Phrases such as heaven’s mercy and heaven be praised are spoken. D–n is used a handful of times. Danged is said. The insults numskulls and gawkhammer is used.

Gabriel shoots the dog that killed the ewes. Boldwood shoots and kills Troy.

Sexual Content

A husband is said to have kissed his wife hundreds of times. One of the hired hands admits he’d like to kiss Bathsheba’s cherry lips. Gossips believe that Boldwood and Bathsheba have kissed. Bathsheba and Troy kiss several times before they are married. Boldwood, not knowing they are married, is furious when he hears Bathsheba ask Troy to come to her house unescorted. It is obvious that Troy and Fanny have been romantically involved. He never marries her, and she and their child die in childbirth.

Discussion Topics

Get free discussion questions for this book and others, at FocusOnTheFamily.com/discuss-books .

Additional Comments

Alcohol: Many of the characters drink ale throughout the book. Troy insists that brandy be served at a party celebrating his wedding. As the commoners invited aren’t used to hard liquor, they become drunk and fall asleep. Gabriel is unable to wake any of them to help him protect the crops when a bad storm develops.

Stealing: Bathsheba’s first bailiff is caught stealing barley from her, so she fires him.

Gambling: Troy loses a great deal of Bathsheba’s money gambling on horse races. She uses a hymnbook to decide whether to send a valentine to someone.

A new movie of this book was released on May 2015.

You can request a review of a title you can’t find at [email protected] .

Book reviews cover the content, themes and worldviews of fiction books, not their literary merit, and equip parents to decide whether a book is appropriate for their children. The inclusion of a book’s review does not constitute an endorsement by Focus on the Family.

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Far from the Madding Crowd (Hardy)

Far from the Madding Crowd   Thomas Hardy, 1874 300-400 pp. (varies by publisher) Summary   Far from the Madding Crowd , Hardy's first masterpiece, received wide acclaim upon publication and remains among the author's best-loved works. The tale of a passionate, independent woman and her three suitors, it explores Hardy's trademark themes: thwarted love, the inevitability of fate, and the encroachment of industrial society on rural life. ( From AudioFile, Portland, Maine .)

More Gabriel Oak is only one of three suitors for the hand of the beautiful and spirited Bathsheba Everdene. He must compete with the dashing young soldier Sergeant Troy and the respectable, middle-aged Farmer Boldwood. And while their fates depend upon the choice Bathsheba makes, she discovers the terrible consequences of an inconstant heart.

Far from the Madding Crowd was the first of Hardy's novels to give the name Wessex to the landscape of south-west England, and the first to gain him widespread popularity as a novelist. Set against the backdrop of the unchanging natural cycle of the year, the story both upholds and questions rural values with a startlingly modern sensibility. This new edition retains the critical text that restores previously deleted and revised passages. ( From Oxford University Press edition .)

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Far From the Madding Crowd

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Historical Context of Far From the Madding Crowd

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• Full Title: Far from the Madding Crowd
• When Written: 1874
• Where Written: London
• When Published: 1874, first serialized (anonymously) in the Cornhill Magazine and then in a volume edition.
• Literary Period: Victorian
• Genre: Novel
• Climax: Troy bursts in on Boldwood’s Christmas party to reclaim his wife for his own, and Boldwood shoots him.
• Antagonist: Sergeant Troy is beloved by his wife Bathsheba, and yet he is also the clearest antagonist—not only to her, but also to Fanny, Boldwood, and Gabriel, all of whom he hurts in various ways. One could also argue that Bathsheba is her own worst enemy, as it is her own actions (including marrying Troy) that lead to her unhappiness.
• Point of View: Hardy uses an omniscient third-person narrator, who moves throughout the various settings of the novel and even among points of view. The first part of the book hews closely to Gabriel’s perspective, for instance, but after he reaches Bathsheba’s farm, the text mostly stays close to Bathsheba’s own point of view to reveal her thoughts and emotions. The narrator, however, also moves between Bathsheba, Boldwood, Troy, and the “Greek chorus” of the farm hands at Warren’s Malt-house. The narrator also at times makes general pronouncements on the characters, women, and rural life as a whole.

Far from the Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy

• December 15, 2019
• The Last Critic

Talks about Thomas Hardy can lead readers to various novels by him. And, for me, discussions on Hardy often come to one of the best novels by him (for me, again) – Far from the Madding Crowd, an 1874 novel. Though Hardy’s pessimism often comes to the fore when critics sit to hound his writings, we must appreciate that he never let his characters lose hope and lose what they loved (love, in most of the cases). Far from the Madding Crowd is a novel that celebrates the constancy of love – Oak for Bathsheba. I am Gaurav Shashi and here is my review of this novel for The Last Critic. 

In the Sphere:  

The book has been printed and reprinted many times since its first publication in 1874. There are many reasons behind this cycle of print-reprint. The book can be divided (assumingly) into three major parts – Oak’s revealing his love, Bathsheba flirting with Boldwood and Troy’s precise deceit with her, and finally Oak and Bathshebha’s reunion. There are various editions available for this book and one would prefer the Penguin edition or maybe Oxford Classics edition. However, the novel remains the same – a Victorian romance classic out and out with certain insertion of Hardy’s love for countryside and nature and his implicit rebellion against the urban adamance.  

The Book:  

I remember very well my professor praising Hardy’s style of writing from the very bottom of his heart. Thomas Hardy, he used to say, is a painter who can paint the flora and fauna with his words. Reading Far from the Madding Crowd offers the same admission and one cannot deny what my professor said. More than that, this novel exhibits Hardy’s command over prolonged narratives. He could stretch his novels just with the sheer quality of his language. 

“I shall do one thing in this life – one thing certain – that is, love you, and long for you, and keep wanting you till I die.”

This is, perhaps, the most-quoted line by Hardy that he ascribed to the shy and devoted lover Gabriel Oak in his novel. Hardy’s descriptions of minute events are wonderful to read and visualise. His characters are wonderfully portrayed and a reader can understand the entire plant just by the hint of a leaf. Implicit voices of women’s freedom and in their choices for life can be heard by the readers with a leaning for feminism. Likewise, the readers with an interest in Eco Criticism in literature have too many instances to extract in this novel. 

At the same time, one should remember that Far from the Madding Crowd might not arouse the reading audience of young age today as it did a century ago. This is chiefly because Hardy’s language and choice of theme are beyond the comprehension limits of the modern audience as the world has changed by many degrees. Hardy’s novel may be read only by those who have to read it – by compulsion or by strict choice. It is a classic in terms of language and set-up. It is not relevant today and this is the bitter truth! 

Conclusion:  

I have nothing against Hardy because I admire him for what he is! His novels are my favourites and I would love to read any of his published materials (except his poems) any day. However, Far from the Madding Crowd, being honest, cannot cross the periphery of intellectual discourse and syllabuses today. It has a limited readership because it cannot accommodate the ambitions of today’s’ lovers. It cannot be liked by many modern readers because it does not offer a happening plot. Things are there but just to be there and they depend on fortune rather than being actively involved in the course of action. Bathsheba strikes and she will strike the conscious of modern readers as well. Oak impresses with his shy and sincere attitude. Troy will a fanciful character for the readers and Boldwood may be judged as a person struck with misfortune and ego of Bathsheba unnecessarily. As a whole, Far from the Madding Crowd may impress you and may depress you as well! 

Should you read it? Yes! If you want to have a taste of Victorian Novels, you should read it. If you want to understand the Hardy-and-Fate theory, you should read it carefully. If you are a student of Victorian literature, you MUST read it. You can get a copy of this novel from Amazon India by clicking the link below. 

Buy the book – Amazon India – click here  

review by Gaurav Shashi for The Last Critic 

• Themes & Perspectives
• Narrative & Language
• TLC Novel Rating

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Very wonderfully done book review by Gaurav. You have explained the concerns as well as the ideas you wanted to convey in clear terms. I will certainly recommend this to my friends and I would love to read more from you.

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Movie Reviews

Tv/streaming, collections, great movies, chaz's journal, contributors, far from the madding crowd.

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One of the co-founders of the stripped-down Dogme 95 aesthetic might not sound like the most logical choice to direct Thomas Hardy ’s classic, sweeping romance “ Far From the Madding Crowd .”

But Thomas Vinterberg creates a rich aesthetic that combines both vibrant colors and intimate natural light. Whether his film is lush or rolling in the muck, it always has a tactile quality that makes it accessible, which is also true of the performances from his (mostly) well-chosen cast.

Carey Mulligan is radiant as the fiercely independent Bathsheba Everdene, a literary heroine who remains so vital, she inspired author Suzanne Collins when she was choosing a last name for the courageous Katniss in the “Hunger Games” series. Mulligan plays the part quite differently from Julie Christie , who was luminous but a bit more flirty and playful when she starred as Bathsheba in John Schlesinger ’s 1967 adaptation of the novel (which was a bit of a slog at nearly three hours). Christie’s Bathsheba used her girlishness and dazzling looks to assert herself in male-dominated Victorian England.

Mulligan’s simply does not care what anyone thinks of her, which makes her even more exciting to watch. She’ll seek someone’s advice, but she probably won’t follow it—especially when it comes to the complicated love life she never thought she wanted. After strong work in such eclectic films as “ An Education ” (which earned her an Oscar nomination), “ Drive ,” “ Never Let Me Go ” and “ Inside Llewyn Davis ,” this might just be the performance of her career. There’s power behind the depth of her voice that provides a fascinating contradiction with her birdlike frame, and a directness to her that’s reminiscent of a young Katharine Hepburn .

When Bathsheba tells the staff of the farm she’s recently inherited, “It is my intention to astonish you all”—in a bit of a tweak of that famous line from screenwriter David Nicholls —her conviction is clear. Bathsheba’s path to happiness, however, is far more circuitous.

“Far From the Madding Crowd” is all about the capriciousness of fate, and the way it can drastically alter the trajectory of a young woman who thinks she knows exactly what she wants in a place that's meant to be sedate and safe. You lose a scarf in the woods, or you show up at the wrong church for a wedding, or you send an impetuous valentine to a near stranger and suddenly, several lives have changed. Cinematographer Charlotte Bruus Christensen captures the equally variable rural surroundings with breathtaking style, from lens flares on a sunny day and verdant, rolling hills to pinky-purple sunsets and morning streaks of misty light.

At the film’s start, the orphaned but educated Bathsheba is living on a farm with her aunt in 1870 Dorset, about 200 miles outside London. When we first see her, she’s riding exuberantly across the countryside on horseback before leaning backward nimbly to avoid the scrapes of tree branches. (It’s all so symbolic, this early attempt to emerge unscathed.)

But the beautiful Bathsheba catches the eye of a nearby sheep farmer, a gentle giant named Gabriel Oak ( Matthias Schoenaerts ). Her freedom is the very quality about her that appeals to him; he quickly asks her to marry him and is quickly rejected. Schoenaerts, the Belgian star of the Oscar-nominated “ Bullhead ” and the Marion Cotillard drama “Rust and Bone,” offers an ideal combination of physicality and sensitivity, and he has strong chemistry with Mulligan from the start.

Gabriel and Bathsheba’s paths soon cross again, though, when he loses his flock in disastrous fashion and she inherits a farm from her beloved, deceased uncle. Suddenly, she’s a landowner—and she happens to need a sheepherder. At the same time, she connects (sort of) with the neighboring landowner, the wealthy and socially awkward bachelor William Boldwood ( Michael Sheen ), inadvertently enlivening sensations in him he never previously knew. Sheen, the veteran of the cast, prompts great sympathy for this lonely but insistent middle-aged man. If the great Peter Finch was more of a wild-eyed, creepy stalker in the last incarnation of “Far From the Madding Crowd,” Sheen makes you want to give him a hug. When Boldwood asks Bathsheba to marry him—and, like Gabriel, offers her a piano as part of the deal—her response is beautiful but brutal: “I have a piano. And I have my own farm. And I have no need for a husband."

But then she meets Bachelor No. 3—the arrogant and attractive Sgt. Frank Troy ( Tom Sturridge )—and suddenly, all her proclamations of self-sufficiency go out the window. In tackling the task of adapting Hardy’s text, Nicholls has abbreviated quite a bit and spelled out some emotions and motivations to expedite matters. Except for a few gaps, this mostly works, and it helps contribute to the film’s surprisingly brisk, engaging pace. But he was wise to retain the famous scene where Sgt. Troy shows off his swordsmanship in the woods, thrusting at Bathsheba from every possible angle in his regal, red uniform, leaving her breathless.

It is not exactly the subtlest form of foreplay, but it is the boldest moment in Sturridge’s otherwise strangely restrained performance. Terence Stamp was a force of nature in the role opposite Christie; he was confident and charismatic, obviously dangerous and untrustworthy but irresistible all the same. He was a sexy cad, while Sturridge is more of a pouty lad. It’s hard to believe this is the man who sweeps the headstrong Bathsheba off her feet.

Along those lines, Troy’s previous relationship with a servant from Bathsheba’s farm, which is so crucial to understanding his actions, gets short shrift here. It’s a casualty of the screenplay’s cuts and it reduces the presence of the appealing Juno Temple to glorified-cameo status.

Still, Gabriel is clearly the man who’s meant for Bathsheba of all the potential suitors pining for her affections. While Boldwood is too prudent and Troy is too much of a party boy, Gabriel obviously represents the middle ground between those extremes. But it’s not about the destination; rather, it’s about the shared friendship, respect and trust that create the foundation for a love that was always meant to be.

Just try to stop yourself from swooning.

Christy Lemire

Christy Lemire is a longtime film critic who has written for RogerEbert.com since 2013. Before that, she was the film critic for The Associated Press for nearly 15 years and co-hosted the public television series "Ebert Presents At the Movies" opposite Ignatiy Vishnevetsky, with Roger Ebert serving as managing editor. Read her answers to our Movie Love Questionnaire here .

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Film Credits

Far from the Madding Crowd (2015)

Rated PG-13 for some sexuality and violence

119 minutes

Carey Mulligan as Bathsheba Everdene

Juno Temple as Fanny Robin

Michael Sheen as William Boldwood

Tom Sturridge as Sergeant Troy

Matthias Schoenaerts as Gabriel Oak

Hilton McRae as Jacob Smallbury

• Thomas Vinterberg
• Thomas Hardy
• David Nicholls

Director of Photography

• Charlotte Bruus Christensen

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Anatomy | ‘Far From the Madding Crowd’

In this anatomy of a scene, thomas vinterberg narrates a sequence from “far from the madding crowd,” featuring carey mulligan and tom sturridge..

By A.O. Scott

• April 30, 2015

Bathsheba Everdene — if the last name sounds familiar, that’s because she’s an acknowledged feminist foremother of the “Hunger Games” heroine — is faced with a series of complicated choices. Really, though, her predicament is simple: She wants to live on her own terms in a society where a woman’s freedom is tightly circumscribed by custom and expectation. As she tries to figure out what she wants to do and who she wants to be, the world keeps pushing her to answer a different question: Which man will she marry?

When Thomas Hardy first brought her to life in 1874 in his novel “Far From the Madding Crowd,” Bathsheba was both a bracingly modern character and part of a lively literary sorority going back at least to the novels of Jane Austen. When the book was brought to the screen in 1967, in a slower-moving, sexier version directed by John Schlesinger, Bathsheba was played by Julie Christie, one of that era’s great incarnations of youthful glamour and freedom. The latest adaptation, probably not the last, is a swifter and more superficial movie, directed by Thomas Vinterberg and starring Carey Mulligan. Her Bathsheba is brisk and practical, frank and friendly, and a little impatient with the trio of suitors who admire her moxie even as they compete for the honor of suppressing it.

They are not bad guys. Well, one of them may be, but he’s also the only one who appeals to Bathsheba’s less rational side. All three, however, are satellites orbiting the planet of her will, which makes “Far From the Madding Crowd” feel like an unusually fresh and surprising romantic comedy. That’s not quite what Hardy or the filmmakers (David Nicholls wrote the script) intended: The story calls for two fatal gunshots and two more tragic and untimely deaths, and the musical score (by Craig Armstrong) swells with melodramatic portent. But for all that — and for the requisite lingering over landscapes and livestock; the scenes of peasant heartiness and genteel reserve; the frocks and hats and Victorian facial hair — there is some fun to be had on this carefully decorated merry-go-round.

“Far From the Madding Crowd” passes a kind of reverse Bechdel test: Nearly every time two or more men converse, they are talking about a woman. When they talk to her, she often responds like one of the women in Mallory Ortberg’s hilariously captioned online surveys of Western art history, who generally have better things to do than listen to men. When Gabriel Oak, a farmer played with understated but unmistakable virility by Matthias Schoenaerts, proposes to Bathsheba shortly after they have exchanged glances over a rustic fence, she brusquely refuses.

Not because she doesn’t like him — it’s clear that she likes him best — but because the prospect of marrying makes no sense to her.

At that point, Gabriel (though for obvious reasons everybody prefers his last name) is relatively prosperous and Bathsheba is penniless. After he loses his small farm and she inherits a much bigger one from her uncle, an awkward gulf opens between them. She hires him to tend her sheep, and he watches as she toys with the affections of William Boldwood (Michael Sheen), a neighbor with an even bigger farm and an even manlier last name. (When it comes to the evocative christening of his characters, Hardy rivals Dickens and Shakespeare himself.)

Bachelor No. 3 is a military officer named Francis Troy (Tom Sturridge), who in a scene with no Freudian implications whatsoever impresses Bathsheba with his skilled swordsmanship. He has a former sweetheart (Juno Temple) and a fondness for vice that alarms Oak and intimidates Boldwood.

The narrative conspires to make Bathsheba choose and choose again until she gets it right, and her mistakes and spells of indecision are engaging without feeling terribly consequential. The mood of the film is less Hardy-esque than vaguely Hardy-ish. He rooted his chronicles of desire and its thwarting in a closely observed world of agricultural labor and ancient custom, an earthiness conveyed here by the occasional shot of a toad or a snail and a few bouts of hearty off-key singing. Hardy’s interest in the operations of accident and caprice — in the “purblind Doomsters” who governed human fate — is reduced to a few plot points. A feckless dog chases a flock of sheep over a cliff. A bride goes to the wrong church on her wedding day. It all feels a little flimsy.

Through it all, Ms. Mulligan smirks, sighs and sniffles, Mr. Schoenaerts smolders, Mr. Sheen scowls and Mr. Sturridge enjoys his mustache. They are all fun to watch, though only Mr. Schoenaerts seems interested in testing the deeper currents of longing, shame and pride that course beneath the surface. The most obvious thing to say about “Far From the Madding Crowd” is also the most bizarre, given the source material. It’s buoyant, pleasant and easygoing. That’s a recommendation of sorts, and also an expression of disappointment.

“Far From the Madding Crowd” is rated PG-13 (Parents strongly cautioned). Sighs, smirks, sexy swordplay.

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Far from the Madding Crowd review – solid, but needs more mud

Thomas Vinterburg’s adaptation of the Hardy classic is handsome and well played but could do with a little less polish

D anish director Thomas Vinterberg’s take on Thomas Hardy’s earthy tale of an independent woman torn between three suitors and a dream of self-determination is both self-consciously modern and oddly old-fashioned. Carey Mulligan is Bathsheba Everdene, unexpected inheritor of her uncle’s farm, which is sorely in need of a firm hand. Proving herself more than a match for any man, Bathsheba swithers between the proposals of solid Gabriel Oak (Matthias Schoenaerts) and wealthy William Boldwood (an excellently uneasy Michael Sheen) only to fall for rakish Sergeant Troy (Tom Sturridge) and his sexy sword-waving skills – a scene rendered with less gropey lust but more breathlessly passionate weirdness in John Schlesinger’s recently reissued 1967 adaptation .

Shot on film by cinematographer Charlotte Bruus Christensen, this captures its Dorset scenery (“200 miles from London” we are told) in hues that are both bucolic and foreboding; the opening shot finds Bathsheba emerging from darkness, a portentous visual motif that continues throughout the film. Screenwriter (and novelist) David Nicholls, who wrote the BBC’s 2008 Tess of the D’Urbervilles mini-series, plays up the story’s proto-feminist core, Bathsheba explicitly declaring herself to be “too independent” for marriage while wrestling with a language designed by and for men. Mulligan takes all this in her stride, her “woman out of time” bristling with proudly untamed energy, the master of men and horses alike. There’s some sympathy, too, for the rotten Sergeant Troy, whose jilted-at-the-altar tear underwrites his anger with pathos – a quality notably lacking from Terence Stamp’s 1960s portrayal.

Whether this adds substantially to Schlesinger’s classic (which was roughly received at the time) remains a moot point. Vinterberg, who made his name with Festen and its flip-side Jagten , reins in the gruelling emotional cruelties of yore, treating the text respectfully if playfully, relishing the opportunity to indulge its scenic charms, amplified by the ascending larks of much lush swooning music. Personally, I could have done with a little more mud, a touch of the Andrew Köttings to take the designer edge of these dirty faces. But it’s solid stuff; well played, affectionately told, and still stirring in its role reversals, both personal and political.

• Far From the Madding Crowd 2015
• The Observer
• Carey Mulligan
• John Schlesinger

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