Recorded Books Inc. - CliffsNotes on Hardys Far from the Madding Crowd

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Bathsheba Everdene has the enviable problem of coping with three suitors simultaneously. The first to appear is Gabriel Oak, a farmer as ordinary, stable, and sturdy as his name suggests. Perceiving her beauty, he proposes to her and is promptly rejected. He vows not to ask again.

Oaks flock of sheep is tragically destroyed, and he is obliged to seek employment. Chance has it that in the search he spies a serious fire, hastens to aid in extinguishing it, and manages to obtain employment on the estate. Bathsheba inherits her uncles farm, and it is she who employs Gabriel as a shepherd. She intends to manage the farm by herself. Her farmhands have reservations about the abilities of this woman, whom they think is a bit vain and capricious.

Indeed, it is caprice that prompts her to send an anonymous valentine to a neighboring landowner, Mr. Boldwood, a middle-aged bachelor. His curiosity and, subsequently, his emotions are seriously aroused, and he becomes Bathshebas second suitor. She rejects him, too, but he vows to pursue her until she consents to marry him.

The vicissitudes of country life and the emergencies of farming, coupled with Bathshebas temperament, cause Gabriel to be alternately fired and rehired. He has made himself indispensable. He does his work, gives advice when asked, and usually withholds it when not consulted.

But it is her third suitor, Sergeant Francis Troy, who, with his flattery, insouciance, and scarlet uniform, finally captures the interest of Bathsheba. Troy, who does not believe in promises, and laments with some truth that women will be the death of me, has wronged a young serving maid. After a misunderstanding about the time and place where they were to be married, he left her. This fickle soldier marries Bathsheba and becomes an arrogant landlord. Months later, Fanny, his abandoned victim, dies in childbirth. Troy is stunnedand so is Bathsheba, when she learns the truth. She feels indirectly responsible for the tragedy and knows that her marriage is over.

Bathsheba is remorseful but somewhat relieved when Troy disappears. His clothes are found on the shore of a bay where there is a strong current. People accept the circumstantial evidence of his death, but Bathsheba knows intuitively that he is alive. Troy does return, over a year later, just as Boldwood, almost mad, is trying to exact Bathshebas promise that she will marry him six years hence, when the law can declare her legally widowed. Troy interrupts the Christmas party that Boldwood is giving. The infuriated Boldwood shoots him. Troy is buried beside Fanny, his wronged love. Because of his insanity, Boldwoods sentence is eventually commuted to internment at Her Majestys pleasure.

Gabriel, who has served Bathsheba patiently and loyally all this time, marries her at the storys conclusion. The augury is that, having lived through tragedy together, the pair will now find happiness.

Bathsheba EverdeneSpirited young mistress of a large farm.

Gabriel OakPatient, reliable shepherd; suitor of Bathsheba.

Mr. BoldwoodGentleman farmer enamored of Bathsheba.

Francis TroyLover and, later, husband of Bathsheba.

Fanny RobinRunaway maid.

Mrs. HurstBathshebas aunt.

Liddy SmallburyBathshebas maid.

Maryann MoneyBathshebas charwoman.

Mrs. CogganEmployed by Bathsheba.

Cainy BallYoung undershepherd to Gabriel.

Benjy PennywaysBathshebas ex-bailiff

Bill Smallbury, Henery Fray, Jacob Smallbury, and Labal TallSome of Bathshebas farmhands.

Twenty-eight-year-old Gabriel Oak was surveying his fields one mild December morning. From behind a hedge, he watched a yellow wagon come down the highway, the wagoner walking beside it. When the wagoner retraced his path to retrieve a lost tailboard, the horses halted. This delay permitted Oak to view the wagons motley array of household goods, complete with plants and pots. Enthroned atop everything sat a pretty, dark-haired young woman in a crimson jacket. Looking to make sure the wagoner was out of sight, she took out a mirror. Her smile, tentative at first, widened at her satisfying reflection. She flushed as she simply observed herself as a fair product of Nature in the feminine kind. Hearing the wagoner return, she replaced the glass.

After the two resumed their journey, Gabriel left his point of espial and followed them down the road. At the tollgate, the wagon was stopped. Unimpressed by the wagoners protest that the girl refused to pay an additional two pence, the gatekeeper would not let the wagon pass. Stepping forward, Gabriel handed two pence to the keeper, saying, Let the young woman pass. The girl glanced carelessly at him. She might have looked her thanks to Gabriel on a minute scale, but she did not speak them; more probably, she felt none.

Gabriel did not disagree with the gamekeepers comment on the attractiveness of the retreating girl. But, perhaps irked by her snub, he maintained that she had her faults, the greatest of them being what it is always... Vanity.

Far from the madding crowd was how Thomas Hardy wished us to view his beloved native country and the types who inhabited it. Thus isolation furnished both the theme and the title of the novel. Far from the Madding Crowd might well entitle his whole series of Wessex novels.

In the first paragraph, the friendly face of Gabriel Oak smiles at us. His features are average, his clothes ordinary, and his moral color was a kind of pepper-and-salt mixture. Even his idiosyncrasy is a mild one: He wears a large watch with a faulty hour hand. Undismayed, he checks the time by peering into neighbors windows or by referring to the position of the stars. Unconcerned with times passing, he leisurely continues to do what he thinks is right. He cares for his fellow beings and is capable of judging them.