Works of Thomas Hardy discussion
Far from the Madding Crowd
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Far From the Madding Crowd 3rd Thread Chapter 21 - 29
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Chapter 21: Troubles in the Fold � A Message
Gabriel Oak, shearing a sheep � May 1874 � Helen Paterson
The Weatherbury sheep had had no food from Gabriel Oak for 24 hours. On Sunday afternoon Joseph Poorgrass, Matthew Moon, Fray, and few more farmhands ran up up to the house to tell Bathsheba that 60 or 70 sheep had broken the fence and got through into a field of clover. If they were not all pierced on the side with a special tool, they would all die from bloat. All the men were talking at once, and Bathsheba, still uneasy from her talk with Gabriel, told them to be quiet, wondering crossly why they had run to her instead of getting the sheep away from the clover:
”Oh, the stupid numskulls!�
Her eyes were at their darkest and brightest now. Bathsheba’s beauty belonging rather to the demonian than to the angelic school, she never looked so well as when she was angry.�
They all followed her out to the sheep. Some ewes were lying down, and needed to be lifted up bodily to be taken into the next field:
”Many of them foamed at the mouth, their breathing being quick and short, whilst the bodies of all were fearfully distended.�
Laban Tall said that they could only be cured through the piercing, but if it was an inch too far left or right, they would die anyway. Only Gabriel knew how to do this, Poorgrass said, even though Bathsheba reminded him she had given orders not to refer to him in her presence. Surely Farmer Boldwood must know, she thought. But the farm hands insisted that he too would send for Gabriel:
Farmer Boldwood hev got the thing they do it with. ’Tis a holler pipe, with a sharp pricker inside. Isn’t it, Joseph?�
Bathsheba ordered them to get someone to cure the sheep at once, and they ran off in confusion.
The first sheep died horribly, and Bathsheba grew increasingly agitated:
“Oh, what shall I do—what shall I do!� she again exclaimed, wringing her hands. “I won’t send for him. No, I won’t!�
But the more she protested to herself, the more her conviction not to call Gabriel Oak waned.
Finally, she asked Laban where Gabriel was staying, and was told it was across the valley at Nest Cottage. She ordered Laban to fetch him and return “instantly � and tell him I say so.� Bathsheba waited anxiously, but soon Laban returned and reported that Gabriel had said “beggars mustn’t be choosers�, and promptly went to hide, seeing his mistress’s wrath, adding from behind a hurdle:
“He says he shall not come onless you request en to come civilly and in a proper manner, as becomes any ’ooman begging a favour.�
Another sheep fell dead, and, her eyes full of tears of pride, Bathsheba began to cry. William Smallbury encouraged her to ask nicely, as Gabriel would not refuse then. Bathsheba went in the house and carefully wrote a polite note, adding the words: ‘Do not desert me, Gabriel!� at the end, and reddened as she refolded it.
The narrator commented that he probably would come, as he was not angry; even though Bathsheba had been so haughty.
Bathsheba waited inside, torn between hope and fear. Fifteen minutes later, Gabriel returned on horseback, turning to look her full in the face as her rode on to the field. Bathsheba still chastised him for his unkindness, but her eyes were full of gratitude. Gabriel murmured confusedly, and hastened onto the sheep. Now Bathsheba knew from his look, which sentence in her note had brought him.
He only missed the place once with his special lancing tool and managed to recover 49 sheep. In the end only four had died out of the flock of 57. three having recovered on their own. The relief on the face of each sheep as it was released from its agony was clear to see.
When he had finished, Bathsheba asked ”the love-led man� with her most winning smile if he would stay on:
“I will,� said Gabriel.
And she smiled on him again.�
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This is another (near) tragedy involving farm livestock, and shows us that the heart of this novel is about country people, whose lives can be devastated by such an event. It echoes the tragedy of Gabriel’s sheep which were driven off the edge of the cliff—although this time there is still a chance for him to save the animals. By doing this, he also saves the substantial financial investment they represent.
So once again amid the disorder and disorganisation of the farm hands, it is Gabriel who emerges as a potential calming, authoritative figure. He was able to resolve the crisis, just as he took charge during the fire. Bathsheba realises that Gabriel is the only one who is able to avert this natural crisis, but her pride (yet again) had made her reluctant to call upon the man she just dismissed.
But Gabriel too shows some pride of his own; Bathsheba is forced to beg him, just as he once begged her, in order to succeed in convincing him to return to the farm and save the sheep. Perhaps this will spark something?
Bathsheba may feel chastened, but she is unable to fully rid herself of such pride, instead maintaining it outwardly while relying on her charm to get what she wants. This is what stays with me most from this chapter.
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”bٱ� means bloated with gas, a condition which affects sheep who have eaten too much clover or green foliage (dialect).
When Joseph Poorgrass says “’Tis nothing but Corinthians and Thessalonians in this danged Testament�, he is looking for Ephesians, one the three 2 very short books there. It is easily missed when flicking through.
”Swoln with wind and the rank mist they drew.� - quotation from Milton’s Lycidas line 126
When Laban’s face on his first return from Gabriel is as a ”tragic as Morton’s after the battle of Shrewsbury�, this is a reference to William Shakespeare’s Henry IV, Part Two Act 1 scene 1 where Morton sadly announces the death of Hotspur.
”rܳ� - where the lance pierces, is the first of the 4 stomach compartments of the sheep.
”It has been said that mere ease after torment is delight� - Thomas Hardy is paraphrasing Edmund Burke’s definition of “delight�.
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The valentine was the first significant letter, and we also saw a letter from Fanny Robin to Farmer Boldwood. Now we have another letter, which is very different again.
Bathsheba’s summons is described as a verbal ”lٳٰ--� (French for a letter with a seal) usually used to designate a letter from the King of France containing an arbitrary warrant for imprisonment! So Bathsheba is not just being imperious, but also threatening. And Gabriel was assumed to have understood its hidden meaning.
Perhaps we should be on the lookout for more letters? It is a common device in Victorian novels.
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The sheepwashing pool at Upper Weatherbury farm � The old sheep-dip at Waterston survived until relatively recently. A few broken bricks are now all that remain to mark the site.
Gabriel lives in Nest Cottage. This is a former cottage which stood near a bend on the road at Chine Hill between Druce and Waterston. You can see it on the 1902 Ordnance Survey map. (Druce Farm is what Thomas Hardy calls “Little Weatherbury Farm� � where Boldwood is tenant.)
Ah, I didn't think about the letters. Great catch, Jean!But I did note how Bathsheba turned on the charm when it was something she wanted. Not only is she immature, but a bit of a user. The second letter she sent was almost intimate, to my way of thinking.
Thanks for sharing the information about the bloat � that threw me but then I've never lived in farm country. When the children were little and we were still commuting to work, we often drove through a large dairy community, so the kids could see a bit of rural living (as well as a faster way to get home!) At that time, the cows weren't really in grassy pastures � they were on dirt and when it rained, mud. I was always surprised about that; I would think it would affect their hooves.
Bionic Jean wrote: "This is another (near) tragedy involving farm livestock, and shows us that the heart of this novel is about country people, whose lives can be devastated by such an event.I'm really enjoying this rural life aspect of the story. I know Bathsheba is young, but I'm wondering what her life was like up until now. She seems relatively capable, and certainly willing to take charge. She must have had some experience?
I liked this line: “Bathsheba’s beauty belonging rather to the demonian than to the angelic school, she never looked so well as when she was angry ..." An interesting way of characterizing beauty, and may tell us more about Hardy's ideas regarding women. :-)
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Yes, you would think they would need a hard surface - maybe they were kept in a barn with a concrete floor overnight? My friends who had two sheep as pets put them in their garage overnight 😂 (They had been given each of them at different times to bottle-feed and raise, just like Bathsheba was offered a lamb, but the farmer didn't want them back.)
Bloat in sheep reminds me of laminitis in horses and donkeys - an extremely painful condition of their hooves - and again it is caused by eating the wrong thing - lush grass! It seems incredible really, as you would think that was a treat!
What amazes me is the cure. It must takes a lot of courage to hold that trochar (the special lancing tool) over the sheep's belly and then thrust it down (hitting it with the other hand like a hammer) until all the gas fizzes out. I'd be terrified of getting it slightly wrong and killing the poor creature.
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Me too 😊 When we first met Bathsheba, she had been sent to help her aunt with the cows. Chapter 8 (that really long one!) told us a bit about her parents. We knew that “they were townsfolk, and didn’t live here. They’ve been dead for years".
Her father was a bit of a lad: "our Miss Everdene’s father—was one of the ficklest husbands alive, after a while. Understand? ’a didn’t want to be fickle, but he couldn’t help it."
And altogether a bit hopeless:
"Levi Everdene—that was the man’s name, sure. ‘Man,� saith I in my hurry, but he were of a higher circle of life than that—’a was a gentleman-tailor really, worth scores of pounds. And he became a very celebrated bankrupt two or three times.�
Taking to religion at the end:
"he was quite godly in his later years, ... He got himself confirmed over again in a more serious way, and took to saying ‘Amen� almost as loud as the clerk, and he liked to copy comforting verses from the tombstones."
There's quite a bit more, but since they lived in the town, and her father was a tailor, I should think any experience Bathsheba got would be from her uncle's farm. And we do get a picture of the way she was brought up, which could help to explain how she behaves.
That's a very telling line you pointed out Kathleen - I agree it says more about the narrator's attitudes than anything! 🙄
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Gabriel Oak had fought back after his misfortune, and ”been independent in thought and vigorous in action�. But loitering with Bathsheba showed no sign of stopping.
It was June 1st and the sheep-shearing season: the landscape was green and full of ferns and plants in full bloom. Coggan, Fray, Laban Tall, Poorgrass, Cain, and Gabriel were all in the Shearing Barn. Like a church or castle, this barn was still used for the purpose for which it was built. A sense of continuity and four centuries of history pervaded it, and like a church or castle, its creed continued to be valid.
The shearers knelt by the open side doors over a panting captive sheep. The narrator comments that this picture of today was the same as 400 years ago. Weatherbury never changed compared with cities, where a period of ten or twenty years counted as old.
”The citizen’s Then is the rustic’s Now � In these Wessex nooks the busy outsider’s ancient times are only old; his old times are still new; his present is futurity.�
The shearers too were part of this unchanging picture. In the background, Maryann Money and Temperance and Soberness Miller were twisting the fleeces into shanks. Behind them all was Bathsheba, watching carefully.
Bathsheba watched Gabriel expertly shear the fleece off a sheep and, seeing its flush, murmured that the sheep was blushing at the insult. Gabriel was silently content that Bathsheba was watching him, but not overly so—he did not even wish to talk to her.
”that his bright lady and himself formed one group, exclusively their own, and containing no others in the world, was enough.�
Bathsheba’s chatter told nothing though; Gabriel’s silence told far more.
Gabriel called for Cain, who ran forward with the tar-pot to stamp ‘B.E.� on to the shorn skin. Maryann carried the fleece back, 3 ½ pounds of warmth for unknown people far away, though they would never feel the comfort of the pure, new wool as it was here.
But Gabriel’s contentment was interrupted by the appearance of Farmer Boldwood, who crossed towards Bathsheba. They spoke in low tones, inaudible to Gabriel, although he imagined it was not about the sheep. Embarrassed, Bathsheba looked at the ground, growing redder and redder. Sadly, Gabriel continued to work.
Bathsheba left Boldwood and then reappeared 15 minutes later in a closely-fitting new riding habit: she and Boldwood rode off together. As Gabriel watched them, he accidentally snipped a sheep in the groin: Bathsheba noticed the blood, and reprimanded Gabriel for his carelessness. Gabriel knew Bathsheba was aware that she had been the cause of it, but he steeled himself and resolved to say nothing. Bathsheba said she was going to see Boldwood’s Leicesters (a sheep breed) and told Gabriel to keep a watch over everything while she was gone.
Temperance Miller, Coggan, and Laban Tall concluded that this meant marriage. Henery Fray said that such a bold lady with her own home had no need for a husband. Fray often objected to such determined women as Bathsheba: now he remarked that he had given her broad hints about his being made bailiff, but he would not advise her about marrying Mr. Boldwood. He even thought that Mr. Boldwood probably kissed her at the sheep-washing the other day. Gabriel immediately said that was false, and that Bathsheba had told him everything that had happened. But Fray insisted that he could see what others could not.
Maryann, who with her brown complexion and dress looked like a Nicholas Poussin sketch, jokily asked the party if anyone knew of a second-hand fellow who might like her. Gabriel remained silent however; his good mood had gone away. Bathsheba had hinted she might give him the post of bailiff. Now he realised he had been mistaken in lecturing her. He had thought she was trifling with Boldwood, but really she had been trifling with him.
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I thought it was a long but enjoyable chapter � except for all the detailed description of the barn’s rafters etc. Surely we should not be able to tell quite so easily that Thomas Hardy used to be an architect, and that this is where his interest lay?
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So according to Thomas Hardy the heartless finger of fate is meddling in Gabriel’s life again. Gabriel has learned a great deal from suffering from forces outside his control: having been rendered penniless, he’s now managed to climb his way back up to an economic position of greater stability. But for how long? Bathsheba and Gabriel seem to be developing a close friendship, but their relationship is inevitably marred both by their common history and by the social gulf that now divides them.
Towards the end we see things from Gabriel’s point of view. Gabriel is usually able to recede into the background so that his own observing goes unnoticed, but here his evident interest in Bathsheba’s and Boldwood’s affairs catches him out. The farm hands pay close attention to other people’s affairs, especially when it concerns their mistress. Fray in particular is once again the most traditional and most vehemently opposed to a woman’s independence and authority over him. But because Gabriel is able to closely analyse everything around him, and knows Bathsheba’s character well, he is able to see and judge the nature of her relationship with Boldwood.
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”Men thin away to insignificance and oblivion quite as often by not making the most of good spirits when they have them as by lacking good spirits when they are indispensable.�
I like the complementary thought better, that often we will be at our best if we are challenged by something in life, or are dealt a heavy blow of bad luck, such as Gabriel losing his flock and livelihood. Often people will somehow blossom if they are hit by something unexpected, and show cheerful courage and tenacity, whereas before they might have grumbled about relatively minor things. It may take a tragedy for people to gain perspective.
What Thomas Hardy seems to be saying here is that Gabriel did indeed rise to the challenge, (after the Norbury chapters) and we read how he kept his self-respect, and was determined to make the best of his new life, using his skills. He had been ”independent in thought and vigorous in action�. But now, when he is back with the woman he yearned for, surprisingly ”this incurable loitering beside Bathsheba Everdene stole his time ruinously.�
We feel for Gabriel, but thinking back to Thomas Hardy’s first words ”Men thin away�, does he actually mean the male gender? Isn’t this after all a human tendency? I think he may be using “men� as a default noun here, and mean “people�. What about you?
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The Great Barn at Weatherbury Upper Farm - This is based on one of Dorset’s monastic tithe barns (e.g there is one at Abbotsbury near the swannery, with a huge space inside � I have played table tennis there! It dates from c. 1400 and has been suggested that the barn at Abbotsbury could be what Thomas Hardy was thinking of.)
Here's the inside:
This shearing barn is another example of the relative stability and continuity of Thomas Hardy's "Wessex", which seems to remain untouched by modernisation. In contrast we have the changing circumstances of the villagers and the dramatic events that take place within Weatherbury. So we have the unchanging elements of the landscape and area, where all is calm and bucolic, but that tranquility is also a trap which prevents one from seeing the conflicts within such stability.
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”Flossy catkins of the later kinds, fern-sprouts like bishops� croziers, the square-headed moschatel, the odd cuckoo-pint,—like an apoplectic saint in a niche of malachite,—snow-white ladies�-smocks, the toothwort, approximating to human flesh, the enchanter’s night-shade, and the black-petaled doleful-bells,�
This is quite lovely if you know the flowers, but they are native flora, so its appeal might not be as great elsewhere.
The catkins are groups of pendulous tiny flowers. The ones he means here are what I was brought up to to call “lamb’s tails�, if you can visualise those. Moschatel is a delicate yellowy green wildflower which forms a carpet � and for all the others he also uses their correct names. For the last two, google “deadly nightshade�.
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(Off-topic Chris is about 5 minutes away from this picture, fighting a tree at the moment! Wish I was there too ...)
When Hardy wrote about Gabriel snipping the sheep by accident, it was a good way of "showing"what Gabriel was feeling instead of "telling" the reader. Gabriel was so preoccupied and distressed about Bathsheba going off with Boldwood that he could not keep his mind on his work.
Bionic Jean wrote (under the spoiler tag in message 3): (view spoiler).Hmmm! That line comes from Chapter 29 (p. 225 in the Harper printing with an 1895 Preface by Hardy --that's not the edition I'm reading, but the one the BU library still has on the shelf). But what Gabriel actually says is, (view spoiler).
Connie wrote: "When Hardy wrote about Gabriel snipping the sheep by accident, it was a good way of "showing"what Gabriel was feeling instead of "telling" the reader. Gabriel was so preoccupied and distressed abou..."I didn't think about it when I first read that section, Connie, but I believe you are right. It hits the reader harder than words would.
Bionic Jean wrote: "Don’t you think this chapter is particularly visual? I was aware most of the time that I could just picture the scene in my mind. It’s quite a long chapter, and there are so many technical architec..."I agree, Jean, about the length. I was quite surprised and while I enjoyed the descriptions for the most part, I think the discussion of the rafters was a tad overdone.
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We know that authors do change the ages of their characters - you may remember that in Oliver Twist different editions placed Bill Sykes's age at a whole decade different! And we have already spotted that some editions of Far From the Madding Crowd (eg. the one that Penguin use, which Bridget is reading) miss out chapter 16 "All Saints and All Souls" (where Troy and Fanny go to different churches) completely! It seems surprising, as it is such a dramatic and important chapter, but it is because it was not in the original series. Plus there are many minor differences.
As I said at the beginning there is no such thing as a definitive edition. Thomas Hardy was changing it all his life, although the edition you are using is a brave attempt to express his final thoughts (see the foreword xi, para 2 - no spoilers there.) Even Gutenberg offers 2 separate editions, and I haven't come across that before! I'm just hoping my summaries keep us all together, as the chapter numbering is different too after chapter 16.
I was going to point out when relevant, that Bathsheba has not yet reached the age when she could be married without her parents' (or legal guardian's) permission, which at the time in England was 21 years. But as you have spotted, this varies. The action of the book takes place over (view spoiler) at the end!
Sorry, but I don't think it's possible to nail this one after all. 🙄
Jean, thanks for that added information; that's helpful to know! I didn't realize that we're dealing with a textual variant here.
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Hmmm, good question! Since I think of Bathsheba as (view spoiler) I didn't think of that as an issue at the time I read it; but given that Hardy changed her age in various versions of his story, it very well might make a difference in some of them. (But even if a woman were technically under the age of consent, would that legal concept apply to her if her parents were dead and she had no guardian? Or would that automatically make her an "emancipated minor?"
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But it does look as if it is a moot point.
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I felt especially drawn into the sheep shearing. I felt a growing intimacy between Bathsheba and Gabriel, working in tandem and so well together. I think the was accentuated by the descriptions of the sheep blushing pink as their wool is removed and then becoming white as cream, almost pure. I felt like the sheep shearing mirrored some tension between Gabriel and Bathsheba. But that might be too far of a leap.
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I've felt that a few times too 😊
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It was the evening of the shearing supper, and the table had been positioned so that the end projected into the house through the parlour window. Bathsheba sat in her parlour, thus appearing to be at the head of the table, but separated from the farmhands. She was flushed and her eyes were sparkling. Although she had asked for the seat at the other end of the table to be left vacant, after a while she asked Gabriel to sit there, which he did readily. Then Boldwood appeared at the gate and it was clear that he had been invited but was late. Bathsheba asked Gabriel to give up his place for Boldwood, and he moved away in silence.
After supper Coggan sang a love song, followed by Poorgrass. One of the young Coggan sons was overcome by giggles, and sent home for his bad manners: the others took over the singing. As the sun set, the company talked merrily, while Bathsheba remained by the window knitting.
”The sun went down in an ochreous mist; but they sat, and talked on, and grew as merry as the gods in Homer’s heaven. Bathsheba still remained enthroned inside the window, and occupied herself in knitting, from which she sometimes looked up to view the fading scene outside. The slow twilight expanded and enveloped them completely before the signs of moving were shown.�
Gabriel suddenly noticed that Boldwood had disappeared. His thoughts were interrupted by Bathsheba asking if he had his flute, as she had been asked to sing herself. Just then Boldwood came back in view inside, complementing but carefully not overshadowing her higher voice with his bass. They were singing a verse about a soldier with a ‘winning tongue� seeking his bride. The narrator comments:
”Subsequent events caused one of the verses to be remembered for many months, and even years, by more than one of those who were gathered there.�
”She stood up in the window-opening, facing the men� - Helen Paterson � May 1874
A buzz of pleasure greeted the end of the song.
Bathsheba retired, closing the window so that she and Boldwood remained in the parlour. Gabriel keenly observed it all, apparently unnoticed by Bathsheba.
The ex-bailiff Pennyways was there, and Coggan and Poorgrass began to talk sarcastically about his former stealing. Their black humour took place at the same time as a dramatic tableau in the parlour, where Bathsheba and Boldwood were alone:
”She was standing behind a low arm-chair, from which she had just risen, and he was kneeling in it—inclining himself over its back towards her, and holding her hand in both his own.�
Bathsheba said, trembling, that she would try to love Boldwood, and would marry him if she could believe that she would be a good wife. But she pleaded with him to wait five or six weeks, between this time and harvest. Remember, she said she had not promised and could not promise yet. Joyfully, Boldwood agreed and wished her good night. Bathsheba was struggling to make amends for the valentine, but still uncertain as to whether she must do so by marrying him.
”To have brought all this about her ears was terrible; but after a while the situation was not without a fearful joy. The facility with which even the most timid women sometimes acquire a relish for the dreadful when that is amalgamated with a little triumph, is marvellous.�
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Boldwood’s dramatic re-entrance underlines even more to everyone present that there is a courtship taking place between him and Bathsheba. The choice of the song and the romantic duet create even more of a romantic atmosphere—although it is somewhat deflated by the petty squabbles between Coggan, Poorgrass, and the ex-bailiff Pennyways. Thomas Hardy manages to both entertain us and intrigue us at the same time!
Bathsheba is again torn between different feelings, and instead of either accepting or refusing Boldwood, puts him off once again. Here she seems very hard on herself, thinking that she has to pay penance for the valentine bu marrying him. Really she wants to retain her independence.
And in the final paragraph Thomas Hardy tells us that Bathsheba still gloats a little (although he also says that all women would 🙄).
How must Gabriel feel about this turn of events? Will he feel able to stay by Bathsheba's side? We've noticed their close relationship, but surely this would be supplanted if Bathsheba does marry?
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*Dz’s “b� (dialect for ballad) is a 17th century song called “The Seeds of Love� which was probably composed by a Mrs. Habergham.
”Chromis and Mnasylus - In Virgil’s The Eclogues number 6, two young shepherds Chromis and Mnasylus find the satyr Silenus drunk and asleep. They bind him with his own garlands until he sings a song he promised them. When he does, it is interminable: a mythological collection of stories. This reminds me of Scheherazade in The 1001 Arabian Nights.
John Keats � “a too happy happiness� - from his “Ode to Nightingale�.
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I thought it was interesting that she separated herself from the men at the table. So she’s making sure they see her as a different class from the farmhands. I was glad you included an illustration, Jean, because I had a hard time picturing what the table through the window looked like.
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Yes, I was surprised how "unsubtle" it was, so included it verbatim 😊And I too like this month's illustration as it captures the mood so well.
The serial is following the seasons; almost synchronising in that we are aware of the country year passing. We began in November (though the serial began in January) and the shearing supper was June 1st and that installment was for May. This first half of the book is quite clever like that!
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I had difficulty with Chapter 22, causing me to get behind. I find some of Hardy's phrasings, like the first line about thinning to insignificance and making the most of good spirits hard to understand at first. Several sections of this chapter I had to read multiple times to try to get it. But your descriptions were an immense help, Jean! And I did really enjoy the sheep shearing.And I too liked the musicality of Chapter 23, and the way it impacted everyone's moods, which as you say, shows beautifully in that illustration.
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But his descriptions can use quite convoluted language, and we modern readers find our lives so far distant that it can make us scratch our heads! I'm lucky, having a bit of an advantage with being English and even sometimes local.
But fear not! From now on the action hots up, and it is more of a melodrama than a pastoral novel. And tomorrow we have a day free too, so everyone can catch up 😊
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Bathsheba was on her nightly rounds, preparing to close up the farm before going to bed. Gabriel usually preceded her and watched her, although she was not aware of how much this was his habit, nor would she appreciate it had she known. The narrator comments:
“Women are never tired of bewailing man’s fickleness in love, but they only seem to snub his constancy.�
After inspecting the buildings, Bathsheba went to the farm paddock (an enclosed field), to check on her small herd of Devon dairy cows, whom she knew by name. She went back through a plantation of firs, an area that was gloomy and dark, whatever the time of day:
“By reason of the density of the interwoven foliage overhead, it was gloomy there at cloudless noontide, twilight in the evening, dark as midnight at dusk, and black as the ninth plague of Egypt at midnight.�
Then Bathsheba thought she heard footsteps approaching from the other end of the tunnel through the tangle of foliage. Slightly disconcerted but not overly worried since it was a public path, she paused as the sound approached. A figure brushed past her and something caught on the trim of her skirt. She almost fell, whereupon a male voice asked “Have I hurt you, mate?� and said that they were somehow caught together. When Bathsheba agreed, he realised she was a woman and asked to use her lantern.
When he opened its door, Bathsheba could see that:
”The man to whom she was hooked was brilliant in brass and scarlet. He was a soldier. His sudden appearance was to darkness what the sound of a trumpet is to silence.�
He was nothing like the sinister figure she had momentarily feared. Changing to an attitude of gallantry, he offered to unfasten her, but Bathsheba accused him of making it worse on purpose, and hastened to do it herself. With a merry twinkle in his eyes, he denied that he had made the tangle worse on purpose. Lifting her own eyes Bathsheba saw him gazing at her. Although she lowered her eyes at this boldness, she noticed that he was a sergeant by the chevrons on his sleeve, and also that he was young and slim.
Finally he offered to cut her dress, since she could not manage. He brushed her hand as he did so, which annoyed Bathsheba, although she knew not why. He thanked her for the sight of a beautiful face: but with dignity and indignation, Bathsheba said that she did not willingly show it. The sergeant continued to flirt with her, and she chastised him for his rudeness.
He managed to cut the dress, and bowed as he made an overly fulsome apology to the ‘charming� lady, more beautiful than any woman he had ever seen, he said. Bathsheba asked who he was, to be told that his name was Sergeant Troy, and he was lodging there. After more teasing, Bathsheba stood up so as to get away from him. Sergeant Troy bid goodbye to her, calling her “Beauty�.
Bathsheba rushed inside and asked Liddy if any gentleman-like and good-looking soldier was staying in the village. It might be Sergeant Troy on furlough, Biddy thought. Bathsheba asked what kind of person he was. Liddy replied that some said he was a ruin to honest girls, but she thought he was quick, trim, and clever. He was a doctor’s son although the natural son of a earl and well-educated at Casterbridge Grammar School, although he had wasted it by enlisting.
Bathsheba was now no longer completely offended. The narrator said:
“There are occasions when girls like Bathsheba will put up with a great deal of unconventional behaviour. When they want to be praised, which is often, when they want to be mastered, which is sometimes; and when they want no nonsense, which is seldom.�
She could not now decide whether or not she had been insulted by this “handsome stranger who had evidently seen better days�.
The chapter ends with the narrator commenting:
“It was a fatal omission of Boldwood’s that he had never once told her she was beautiful.�
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“black as the ninth plague of Egypt at midnight� - an allusion to Exodus 10: 22 in which “there was a thick darkness in all the land of Egypt three days�.
“Genius loci� - in Roman mythology, the guardian spirit of a particular locality i.e. here the distinctive atmosphere of the place.
“g� - flat trimmings made by narrow bands or cords of silk, wool or other fabric, sometimes stiffened by wire.
“rǷɱ� - as sharp-toothed wheel inserted into the shank of a spur,
Mod
As fate would have it, an attractive young stranger arrives to catch Bathsheba off-guard, just after farmer Boldwood has made his proposal (and it was clear he anticipated an acceptance in a few weeks). And what of stout Gabriel Oak? Will this new man turn out to be a third suitor?
Although we have already met Sergeant Troy in the added chapter (16), Bathsheba's first encounter with him is just as awkward and uncomfortable as her first encounters with the other two men. This time, though, the man is more gallant and flirtatious than the country farmers whom Bathsheba is used to: his bold manner flusters and confuses her.
She is cross with her herself for running away, and tries to “pump� Liddy for information. But is this wise? Liddy is just a country girl, neither of her own class of society nor a wise older figure in Bathsheba’s life who could advise her. As the maltster’s great-granddaughter, Liddy is a female counterpart to the men at the malt-house. She catches Bathsheba up on the local gossip and general opinion.
Liddy functions as a companion, as much of Bathsheba’s work is solitary and she can feel isolated. But we can see that here, her opinion might be unreliable and affected by her own soft spot for Sergeant Troy. Bathsheba is usually comfortable in the space of her own farm and confident. This chance meeting—another reminder of the strange laws of fate and circumstance—is an exception.
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So what of “gallant� Sergeant Troy? Has he married Fanny Robin?
He is peculiarly forward in his manner, and this comes, we learn, from his own different social station. As a soldier he may not be wealthier than farmers, but he is acquainted with the more sophisticated town life. He may not yet know who Bathsheba is, but he can tell she is unsettled by the encounter, knows just how to flatter her.
For those who have read the (much later) novel Tess of the D’Urbervilles did this encounter remind you of anyone else? The fact that he called her “Beauty� sealed it for me! It is a term an arrogant member of a privileged class (the modern word would probably be “entitled�) would use to a country girl i.e. someone without power, whom they thought they could manipulate.
But Bathsheba is not without power, is she ...?
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I’ve been giving this some thought, as it seems that critics have commented on the ”somewhat skeptical view of women that pervades the book�.
We have all noticed the narrator’s periodic intrusions, despite the fact that Bathsheba is portrayed as a woman who manages a farm successfully. Peter J. Casagrande says:
”There can be little doubt of Hardy’s view in Far From the Madding Crowd that women are by nature infirm� (going on to list instances including some we have picked up) ... ”A view of women as the ‘weaker vessel� permeates the novel � Bathsheba comes to Norcombe as an orphan of twenty to live and work with an aunt. She is vain, haughtily independent in spirit and recklessly flirtatious � Bathsheba is portrayed as one who errs because innately flawed.�
We’ve seen Thomas Hardy’s judgements on women as a gender; his little homilies (or what I think of his cod philosophy) many times. This chapter starts with one such, including the words ”Women are never tired of bewailing man’s fickleness in love, but they only seem to snub his constancy�.
When he outlined this serial for Leslie Stephen in 1873, Thomas Hardy was still writing A Pair of Blue Eyes. Has anyone here read this one? The plot seems largely to describe how a nineteen year old girl (Elfrida Swancourt) develops her, (what is disparagingly called) “womanly artifice�. She is vain, and does not wish to appear naive: there are thus many similarities between her and Bathsheba.
Another critic, Robert Gittings, thinks that these early heroines of Thomas Hardy’s novels owe much to the outside influence on him at the time. David pointed out that Thomas Hardy’s mother warned him about women, and we know that he was about to marry Emma Gifford.
Robert Gittings attributes the “sharp aphorisms about marriageable women � to Hardy’s mother, in whose house � � (the cottage pictured at the beginning of this thread � �... he was living while writing it. One hears in them the voice of Jemima Hardy providing from the depths of folk-wisdom, a sexual philosophy for her favourite son.�
I for one am relieved that, even if Thomas Hardy’s inner thoughts remained similar, his later novels did not spout so many “home truths�!
Mod
”the lantern standing on the ground betwixt them threw the gleam from its open side among the fir-tree needles and the blades of long damp grass with the effect of a large glowworm. It radiated upwards into their faces, and sent over half the plantation gigantic shadows of both man and woman, each dusky shape becoming distorted and mangled upon the tree-trunks till it wasted to nothing.�
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What do you think so far?
These last two chapters are interesting because it proves that Bathsheba is not ready to settle with any man, indeed she is not looking at them from the perspective of what they can do to enrich her situation.In those days I thought that women (and their guardians - although Bathsheba doesn't have those) considered their futures and how marriage to one or the other would benefit them. I believe that Gabriel refers to this early in the novel.
That is an aspect of the times that really hasn't been explored. If Bathsheba were to choose Boldwood, he is older but he would support her in a way that she quite possibly never seemed to consider before. Gabriel would be a helpmate and his hands-on knowledge but there is no wealth behind him. And Troy � he is a bright shiny bauble at the moment.
Mod
Bathsheba is so keen to show her independence that she is not observing the Victorian social mores. Perhaps it is not surprising though that at this time she does not consider how a man might support and help her, but can only see it in terms of being thwarted in what she wants. Wouldn't she assume that Boldwood would want to be the master, and take over the running of her farm, leaving her to enjoy her pretty dresses and ride her new carriage? (Which does tempt her even so!) In the first proposal, by Gabriel Oak, it was when he referred to her "looking up and there he would be" which seemed to fill her with horror and decided her to refuse him. She wants excitement and new opportunities of her own choosing.
I love your "shiny bauble" analogy. This also shows her immaturity, partly that she has no older female to advise her both on the social aspects, and on how to judge people on their merits. Liddy would be no use whatsoever. She tries to give advice as best she can, but in the end is dazzled herself 😂
It is unusual for the time, I agree, and perhaps this is because she is in a country setting. She might not be accepted in city society without some sort of male guardian or older female companion. Single Victorian women could be accepted by society but only if they were rich, and considerably older.
I find it surprising how much I dislike Bathsheba in the novel. In the 2015 movie with Carey Mulligan, I could identify with her hesitations, her impulsivity and her confusion with all the attention she was receiving from men. I could understand how for a farm maiden to suddenly have ownership and complete control over such a large inheritance she would have been heady with success, and vain. Yet in the movie, Bathsheba retained a warmth and vulnerability that Thomas Hardy's Bathsheba lacks.But to see her deliberately pretend to be weak and undecided when approached by Farmer Boldwood, when he is obviously insane with romantic love for her -- this is deceitful and disgraceful. There is no naivette in her actions as she tells him - twice - three times ? - that she needs to think about his proposal. She is decisive in running her farm. She fired the first bailiff and didn't look back. She is not a coward. So why does she play with this man's feelings?
Remember back in Chapter 20, when Gabriel gave her his honest assessment? He said that her conduct "..."is unworthy of any thoughtful, and meek, and comely woman." Instead of acknowledging his honesty, she gets angry.
Gabriel is not fooled by her shallowness, but poor Mr. Boldwood is deceived, and no wonder. She allows him to continue his pleadings by telling him she just can't decide. I wonder if Thomas Hardy dislikes Bathsheba too, and that his story is revealing a bias against all women as deceivers. In Chapter XXII, Gabriel says inwardly, "I find more bitter than death the woman whose heart is snares and nets!"
In Chapter XXIII 'Eventide-A Second Declaration' she manages a secretive and private meeting with Farmer Boldwood after a group dinner. "Miss Everdene and Boldwood were alone. . . her eye was bright with the excitement of a triumph--though it was a triumph which had rather been contemplated that desired".
She says, "'I will try to love you,' she was saying." Then within moments, she puts the frosting on the cake by saying "I don't promise yet."
Geez. The Biblical authors of Genesis were kinder to Eve than Hardy is to Bathsheba!!
Works of Thomas Hardy
Books mentioned in this topic
Far From the Madding Crowd (other topics)Far From the Madding Crowd (other topics)
Tess of the D’Urbervilles (other topics)
The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman (other topics)
Tess of the D’Urbervilles (other topics)
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Authors mentioned in this topic
Thomas Hardy (other topics)George Eliot (other topics)
Thomas Hardy (other topics)
Leslie Stephen (other topics)
Thomas Hardy (other topics)
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3rd Thread: Chapter 20 - 29
Sergeant Francis Troy (Terence Stamp, 1967)
Here are LINKS TO EACH CHAPTER SUMMARY, for ease of location
Installment 5:
Chapter 21 ( -24)
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Installment 6:
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29