Far from the Madding Crowd
Far from the Madding Crowd,a novel by T. Hardy , published 1874 . The title is a quotation from Gray's Elegy Written in a Country Church-Yard .
The theme, which occurs in others of Hardy's novels, is the contrast of a patient and generous love with unscrupulous passion. The shepherd Gabriel Oak serves the young and spirited Bathsheba Everdene, owner of the farm, with unselfish devotion. She depends greatly on his support, but cannot regard him as a suitor. Another of her admirers is a neighbouring farmer, Boldwood. The dashing Sergeant Troy loves one of Bathsheba's servants, Fanny Robin, but after a fatal misunderstanding deserts her and she eventually dies in childbirth in the workhouse. Troy has meanwhile captivated and married Bathsheba, but soon begins to neglect and ill-treat her. When he hears of Fanny's death he leaves the farm, disappears, and is deemed to have been drowned. Farmer Boldwood, now obsessed with...
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