Far From the Madding Crowd

Far From the Madding Crowd

by Thomas Hardy

Listened to a classic love story, one for the ages, in Thomas Hardy’s Far From the Madding Crowd.  The title confused me, but, after looking it up, I understood that it referred to a “frenzied” crowd, and what a crowd it is when it relates to the heroine, Bathsheba Everdene.  The story is set in rural England, where the protagonist, Gabriel Oak, a young farmer, begins his travels with a group of sheep and sets eyes upon the lovely Bathsheba, with whom he immediately falls in love but also realizes that she may be out of his league.  Still, he garners the courage to ask for her hand in marriage after spending numerous hours with her.  He is rebuffed and she leaves to live with her aunt.  After he loses his own sheep due to some bad luck, he, by chance, while looking for jobs, helps to put out a fire on a farm in a nearby town. He asks for a job but shortly discovers that the owner is…Bathsheba!  She reluctantly hires him.  Bathsheba discovers that she has a new admirer, whom she decides to play a trick on by sending the older, well-off farmer, William Boldwood, a Valentine’s Day card with no signature.  This blows up on her when she finds out Boldwood is serious about marrying her. She, once again, also spurns Gabriel, who learns of her ‘mischievous’ ways towards Boldwood, by firing him.  There is a third man who comes into Bathsheba’s life, the young and handsome Frank Troy, whom she eventually marries, even though he had promised to marry another woman prior. What he is unaware of, though, is that he impregnated his former lover.  And guess who this woman is…Bathsheba’s former servant, Fanny.  All the while, Bathsheba has rehired Gabriel to oversee the sheep and the farm, as things went badly without him.  Things get worse for Bathsheba as Boldwood has never forgotten about his love for her and awaits any opportunity to have her as his wife.  That opportunity comes when Frank Troy, also a bad gambler, learns of Fanny’s death and the death of his unborn child, which leads him to pronounce to Bathsheba that he loved Fanny more than he could ever love her.  He leaves and is presumed dead when his clothes are found near the ocean.  Boldwood offers to marry Bathsheba after a six-year period during which Frank’s death is accepted as reality.  As the years progressed, Boldwood pressures her more and more to marry him.  But before the ceremony is to occur, guess who returns?  Frank Troy!  What ensues is a twist for all times…Boldwood shoots him dead and is arrested.  Bathsheba, who still loved Frank through it all, is devastated, but who comes to save the day?  And yes this is how a love story ends…the guy gets his woman…. Gabriel, through his consistency and never-ending love for Bathsheba, finally has her realize love was in front of her all along.  In many ways, this story is a precursor for all of the drama serials that are on TV today.  It’s nice when the “good guy” finally is recognized for his undying love.  Melodramatic?  Sure, but the power of love wins out.