Far from the Madding Crowd

Hardy's Far from the Madding Crowd is a typical Victorian novel, meaning it uses a variety of narrative points of view. It includes an omniscient narrator and switches between the perspective of...

One theme that runs throughout Hardy's work is the moral purity of the natural world, and of the people who live by the natural rhythms and impulses of a humble life, close to nature. Hardy...

The title of Far from the Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy comes from a very famous poem called "Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard" by Thomas Gray. The relevant lines form part of the nineteenth...

Fanny Robin is cheated by her lover Sergeant Frank Troy. They plan to get married, but when she turns up late to the ceremony, having gone to the wrong church, he uses this as an excuse to jilt...

First, I don't know that one could legitimately argue that Hardy intends for what happens between Frank Troy and Fanny to be interpreted as revenge on Fanny's part. Fanny does not seek revenge....

Hardy is famed for his portrayal of the nineteenth-century rural England in his fiction. The ordinary inhabitants of the English countryside, the rustics, are a vital component in his work – and...

At at time in English literature when little focus was placed on rustics (Dickens was primarily focused on the urban poor), Hardy gave the rural poor a voice and place in this novel, primarily...

There are three major themes in Hardy's novel: unrequited love, catastrophe, and social hierarchy. The following is excerpt from eNotes. You can find much more detailed information on each theme...

landscape: a section or expanse of rural scenery, usually extensive, that can be seen from a single viewpoint. (Random House Dictionary) The dry leaves in the ditch simmered and boiled in the same...

Troy goes to Bath on vacation.

The plot of Far From the Madding Crowd is constructed on surprising, sometimes melodramatic plot twists, dramatic irony, and a strong female protagonist. Surprising plot twists include the dramatic...

Chapter 27, “Hiving the Bees,” further establishes the beginnings of a relationship between Bathsheba and Sergeant Frank Troy by hinting at their romantic attraction for one another. This idea is...

I think the symbolism represented by the beautiful, luminous moon is a good example. Hardy uses it to represent love. The phases of the moon and even if it is present or not say a great deal about...

The first thing to note about Bathsheba is that she is vain. This is the first characteristic that Hardy strikingly emphasizes with such elaborate detail as she sits atop her belongings, while she...

The main driver of events in Thomas Hardy’s Far from the Madding Crowd is character rather than fate. Farmer Oak meets Bathsheba in their small rural community where everyone knows everyone. He...

When Bathsheba arrives at the Corn Exchange in chapter 12 , her voice is said to be "as a romance after sermons." This simile helps to emphasize how different Bathsheba is from the rest of the...

We are informed in the first chapter that Farmer Oak is a young man of "sound judgment, easy motions, proper dress, and general good character." We are also told, however, that Gabriel Oak is...

I think the novel abundantly examines several philosophical concepts. For example, it raises the philosophical pondering of how we all lead our lives. If we are going to be victimized by the same...

Probably the first thing a modern reader would notice about Hardy's language in Far from the Madding Crowd is what appears to be its heavily florid style. In this, he's no different from most...

Hardy, though he lived a very normal, contented life, promotes the idea of fatalism or determinism in all his works. While there is almost always a "higher power" in his works (referred to as...

The pivotal event in Chapters 35-38 relating to landscape is the severe storm that would have obliterated Bathsheba's hayricks had Gabriel not thatched them. The chapters are full of nature...

Gabriel proves his undying loyalty to Bathsheba by putting aside his own feelings and devoting himself to years of selfless toil and unconditional support for her in both her business endeavors and...

Yes, a feminist interpretation would work well for Far From the Madding Crowd. One strand of feminist criticism examines how writers depict women in a piece of literature and what this says about...

One of the joys of reading Far from the Madding Crowd comes from experiencing its rich and detailed descriptive language. Hardy, as the novel reveals, knew his artists, and many of his scenes read...

Some of the themes in “Far From the Madding Crowd” are unrequited love, the social caste system, and tragedy. The biggest part of the novel is about Gabriel being in love with Bathsheba. Through...

The community in which the story is set is called Wessex. Wessex is a fictional English county used by the author Hardy in many of his works, and bears similarities to the factual Dorset county,...

In chapter 12, Bathsheba causes a stir when she arrives at the market in Casterbridge to sell her grain. She is the only woman selling among the men. Chapter 12, like the rest of the novel, is told...

Thomas Hardy uses an omniscient third-person narrator to explain the action and to provide extensive, detailed descriptions and the characters’ thoughts. Chapter 12 of the novel centers on...

In chapter 12, Bathsheba attends the market at the Corn Exchange. Her presence there is noteworthy because all of the other people in attendance are men. The tone of the first half of the chapter...

Thomas Hardy was both a Romantic and Realist. His characters tend to possess the best of both literary worlds. Bathsheba Everdene, of Far from the Maddening Crowd, possesses characteristics which...

As the remainder of this quote indicates, the meaning here is that the valentine is a small thing that hints at potentially enormous change, or "contemptibly little suggesting possibilities of the...

Consider first the title of the novel - Far from the Madding Crowd. It suggest that the "crowd", i.e. public opinion, has huge influence over the characters in the novel. The social...

This is a very large question, so I will try to get you started and hope to steer you in the right direction. A main point of Plato's Symposium is that everyone has a perfect other. If one can find...

Arguably the most distinctive feature of language in the novel Far From the Madding Crowd is its extraordinary clarity. In writing the novel, Hardy would doubtless have been aware that the vast...

Frank Troy is the principal antagonist in Far from the Madding Crowd. He is not particularly malevolent but is impulsive, cynical, and irresponsible. He cruelly abandons Fanny Robin and only...

One of the things that makes this story, in some folks opinion, more than a simple love story with a happily ever after ending is the absolute importance of class over nearly everything else in...

Bathsheba is the central figure of the novel. At the beginning of the novel she is around twenty years old and poor, helping to tend her aunt's farm. She is vain. The first time Oak sees her she...

In a comparative task, you need to define the terms of the question. So here you need to consider what is meant by a 'hero'. Is it the character who is central to the plot of the novel? Does it...