Far From the Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy, Book Review Example

Introduction

The stories of love in literature are not rare. Talented writers often engage in the discussion of various love themes to make their stories interesting, fascinating, realistic, and loved by readers. Far from the Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy is a bright example of how the theme of unrequited love works in literature: the three dynamic relationships and the three different plot lines make the book live, unexpected, and even philosophic. Love for Hardy is a feeling that is difficult to find and difficult to keep, but more important are the ways, in which the writer weights and balances the need for a person to be loved with the need for a person to be independent and self-sufficient. Bathsheba as the protagonist of the story is has everything necessary not to seek marriage. She opposes herself to the image of a romantic woman for whom marriage is the culmination of her femininity and the major proof for her self-worth. Through the prism of Bathsheba’s attitudes toward life, love can be either unrequited or weak because once a person finds oneself in love, she (he) has no other choice but to sacrifice oneself for the sake of being with the beloved one.

In Hardy’s book, unrequited love can be fairly regarded as the major thematic thread. The three dynamic interrelationships which Hardy explores in his book (those between Bathsheba and Gabriel, between Bathsheba and Boldwood, and between Bathsheba and Troy) exemplify the overall complexity of love and the relationships that accompany this feeling. According to Hardy, love is something that can either be unrequited or can look like a weakness, depending on whether a person loves or is being loved. The story of Bathsheba is different from everything that had been written in literature before Hardy. It is not a secret that throughout the development of literary romanticism, love and marriage for a woman stood out as the two critical components of her personal success. For years and centuries have writers sought to confirm the relevance of marriage as the only way, which women can take in their desire to realize themselves and to prove their self-worth. Everything is different with Bathsheba: she has everything a woman needs and does not know the meaning of true love; as such, she is rather indifferent toward and even capricious about everyone who shows his affection toward her. Gabriel Oak is the first victim of her misbalanced attitudes toward life. As a true romantic hero, he is bound to carry the burden of his feelings without any single chance for a reward: “Well, Miss – excuse my words – I thought you would like them. But I can’t match you, I know, in napping out my mind upon my tongue. I never was very clever in my inside. But I thank you. Come, give me your hand. She hesitated, somewhat disconcerted at Oak’s old-fashioned earnest conclusion to a dialogue lightly carried on. ‘Very well’, she said, and gave him her hand, compressing her lips to a demure impassivity” (Hardy 51). The impassivity, capriciousness, and absolute coldness toward Gabriel Oak also reveal Bathsheba’s fear of the unknown and her inability to look beyond her own personality: she has never known true love and as a woman she cannot understand how painful it can be for a person to experience unrequited feeling. In many aspects, love for Bathsheba is nothing else but a weakness, for it implies the need to sacrifice her values and assets – something she is not willing to do. Farmer Oak in Hardy’s novel exemplifies a romantic hero, who is prepared to difficulties, who experiences love that is not mutual, and who silently accepts his life problems. The feeling he holds toward Bathsheba seems to add to his troubles, but as an idealistic hero, he does not want to abandon the feeling that is so difficult to find: “Thank God I am not married: what would she have done in the poverty now coming upon me!” (Hardy 82), and the word “she” is obviously associated with the name of Bathsheba, who, as a strong and a rich woman, bravely throws herself into a new adventure.

This new adventure is the new relationship between Bathsheba and Bolwood. Again and again, Hardy seeks to prove that love can either be unrequited, or can look like a weakness, which individuals have to accept in order to be with their beloved ones. “Who is Mr. Boldwood?  Said Bathsheba. – A gentleman-farmer at Little Weatherbury. – Married? – No, miss. – How old is he? – Forty, I should say, very handsome – rather stern – and rich. – What a bother this dusting is! I am always in some unfortunate plight or other’, – Bathsheba said, complainingly” (Hardy 164). In her relationship with the new suitor, Bathsheba cannot conceal her vanity. That she quickly learns how to manage her new farm adds to her feeling of self-sufficiency and self-worth, and every suitor to her is always a threat to her state and position. This is where the theme of love in Hardy’s book becomes unique: in distinction from previous writers whose women-characters fascinated and enchained men’s hearts Bathsheba, because of her position and financial wellbeing, has a unique chance to explore her relationships with men from a different perspective. Bathsheba reminds a capricious princess, who does not know whom to choose and who also does not know whether it is worth choosing anyone, if such choice also presupposes losing independence and freedom. Bathsheba not only accepts the love of other men for granted, but she intentionally stimulates these feelings, even although she does realize that she cannot give anything to any of her two suitors. Bathsheba sends a provoking valentine to Boldwood, which shows her unawareness of what true love means and what impacts her behaviors may produce on other people’s lives.

“The rose is red, The violet is blue, Carnation’s sweet, And so are you. […] What fun it would be to send it to the stupid old Boldwood, and how he would wonder! – said the irrepressible Liddy, lifting her eyebrows, and indulging in an awful mirth on the verge of fear. […] Bathsheba paused to regard the idea at full length. Boldwood had begun to be troublesome image – a species of Daniel in her kingdom who persisted in kneeling eastward when reason and common sense said that he might just as well follow suit with the rest, and afford her official glance of admiration which cost nothing at all” (Hardy 213).

The valentine with the words “marry me” written in it shows that Bathsheba does not think about her actions against her suitors. She neither knows what love is, nor is she willing to accept the pain and tortures which her suitors may experience because of her actions. Until present, Hardy has been trying to prove that love cannot be mutual. Until present, Hardy has been showing Bathsheba as a woman who values her independence and freedom over everything. Until present, Hardy has sought to show love as a weakness. Everything changes when Bathsheba meets Troy. This meeting and the fact of Bathsheba’s falling in love with Troy does not change the truth of the story – love for Hardy is as unrequited as before, but it reveals the other side of the issue and leads Bathsheba to experience weaknesses and failures, which Boldwood and Oak were destined to experience because of her coldness.

Bathsheba and Troy shape the third love line in Hardy’s book. Again and again, Hardy tries to prove that love is either unrequited or weak, for a person in love is bound to give up everything for the sake of being with the beloved one. This is particularly demonstrative of Bathsheba who, after years of fighting for her independence and playing with her suitors’ hearts, has to recognize that love exists and that unrequited love can be painful. To some extent, Troy reflects everything that Bathsheba has in her character: her beauty, her vanity, as well as her freedom and independence. But as long as Troy is a man, these features in him are three times as strong as they used to be in Bathsheba; and now she is the one to experience the painful consequences of the unrequited love: “I can’t help how things fall out upon my heart, women will be the death for me” (Hardy 597). Troy is neither capable of maintaining stable relationships nor can he accept Bathsheba as his love. His affair with Fanny and her being impregnated by Troy spoil the atmosphere of romance between them and lead Bathsheba to realize that love is worth waiting, love is worth patience, love is worth independence and freedom, but love is not worth betrayal. What used to be one of the major Bathsheba’s strengths turns out to be one of her major weaknesses, because she is simply unable to withstand the pressure of her feelings to Troy. In his book, Hardy tries to create a model of male-female relationships, in which one is the source of love, while the other chooses to accept this feeling for granted. “He had entirely bared his heart before her, even until he had almost worn in her eyes the sorry look for a grand bird without the feathers that make it grand. She had been awe-struck at her past temerity, and was struggling to make amends without thinking whether the sin quite deserved the penalty she was schooling herself to pay” (Hardy 346). By baring their hearts, individuals either doom themselves to becoming the victims of the unrequited love or have to show themselves as weak in the face of the growing feelings. Through the prism of Bathsheba and other characters, Hardy shows that love is either unrequited or is a weakness, because once a person finds oneself in love, he (she) is bound to sacrifice oneself for the sake of being with the beloved one.

Conclusion

Thomas Hardy’s Far from the Madding Crowd is unique and unexpected. Hardy uses love as one of the dominant themes in his book. Through the three dynamic relationships and the three different plot lines, Hardy creates a new model of male-female relationships, in which love is not mutual, in which one person is the source of love, while the other one agrees to accept this feeling for granted. Hardy’s book is unique in that is shows a woman who has everything not to seek marriage. Hardy shows a woman, who does not need to be married to prove her self-worth. Love for Hardy is either unrequited, or it is a weakness, because once a person finds oneself in love, he (she) is bound to sacrifice everything, including independence and freedom, for the sake of being with the beloved one.

Works Cited

Hardy, T. Far From the Madding Crowd.  Babylon Dreams, 1957.