Characters Discussed
Gabriel Oak
Gabriel Oak, a sturdy young English farmer. Refused as a husband by Bathsheba Everdene, he also loses his farm through ill luck. Disheartened by these events, he becomes a shepherd and is taken on at the farm just inherited by his beloved. Although the girl proposes to manage the farm herself, she soon puts more and more of its affairs into the hands of Gabriel Oak, whose skill and loyalty she can trust. Saying no more of love or marriage, Gabriel watches the courtship of Bathsheba by Mr. Boldwood, a well-to-do farmer of the neighborhood. He also watches when she is courted by Sergeant Francis Troy and becomes the latter’s wife. During this time, although disappointed in love, Gabriel is so successful at managing his beloved’s farm that he becomes the manager of Mr. Boldwood’s farm as well. When Bathsheba’s marriage ends tragically and Mr. Boldwood is imprisoned for murder, Gabriel still loyally serves both. He finally decides to leave England. When he informs Bathsheba of his intention, she suddenly realizes that she loves the loyal young farmer. She reveals her love for him, and they are married.
Bathsheba Everdene
Bathsheba Everdene, a vain and unpredictable young woman of great beauty, loved for many years by Gabriel Oak. Despite her personal weaknesses, she is a practical woman after taking over the farm inherited from her uncle. She hires Gabriel as a shepherd but soon makes him the bailiff in all but name. She rejects the proposal of Mr. Boldwood, a well-to-do neighbor, but she readily falls to the audacious lovemaking of Sergeant Troy. Though she loves him, she distrusts his character; she travels to Bath to break the engagement with him, but her trip results in their marriage. The marriage is unfortunate, for her husband is a wasteful, disloyal man who has married her without love, attracted by her beauty and her money. After being revealed as the seducer of one of the farm girls, he disappears and is presumed dead. His wife gradually admits Mr. Boldwood as a suitor once again, but Troy suddenly reappears to claim his wife and her fortune. His effort is cut short by a blast from a shotgun in the hands of Mr. Boldwood. For Bathsheba, who loved her wastrel husband despite his faults, the shock is deep, but as the months go by, her emotional wounds heal. Given an opportunity, she recognizes the worth of Gabriel Oak, whom she marries. She has learned by bitter experience what to value in a man.
Francis Troy
Francis Troy, an arrogant, selfish man. Reared as the son of a doctor and his French wife, Troy is reputedly the son of the doctor’s wife and a nobleman who was her lover. Though given a good education, Troy enlists in a regiment of dragoons and becomes a sergeant. A handsome man and a pleasant one when he wants to be, he has many successes with women, including Bathsheba Everdene, who becomes his wife; he is attracted by her beauty, wealth, and position. With her money, he buys himself out of the army, leads a pleasant, wasteful life, and almost ruins his wife’s farm. One of his earlier victims appears and, with her infant, dies. For Troy, who really loved the woman, the shock is great. After a violent scene with his wife, he disappears and is presumed dead, although he actually lives a hand-to-mouth existence as an actor in a cheap company. Tiring of that life, he returns to claim his wife. His brutal and surprising reappearance is cut short when he is killed by Mr....
(This entire section contains 843 words.)
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Boldwood, his wife’s suitor.
Mr. Boldwood
Mr. Boldwood, a confirmed bachelor of middle age who falls in love with Bathsheba Everdene and courts her, only to lose her to another man. His love endures and, after her husband’s disappearance, he courts her again. His patient courtship, about to succeed, is ended by the reappearance of Francis Troy, who brutally tries to force his wife to go to her home with him from a Christmas party at Mr. Boldwood’s house. Boldwood, outraged by Troy’s behavior, shoots Troy and kills him. Mr. Boldwood is convicted of murder and sentenced to hang, but his sentence is commuted to imprisonment when evidence is brought forward that he is mentally deranged.
Fanny Robin
Fanny Robin, a pretty servant in the Everdene household. She foolishly allows herself to be seduced by Francis Troy while he is in the army. Though he promises to marry her, she finds herself deserted and expecting a child. She returns to her home community just in time to have her baby, only to die along with the infant. Their deaths, caused in part by Troy’s refusal to help the girl when he finds her on the road in need, reveal him for what he is.
Jan Coggan
Jan Coggan, a worker on the Everdene farm, a good friend to Gabriel Oak.
Lydia (Liddy) Smallbury
Lydia (Liddy) Smallbury, Bathsheba’s loyal and trusted maid.
Characters
Cainy Ball
Cainy is a young boy chosen to assist Gabriel as a shepherd. His mother named him Cain due to a misunderstanding of the Genesis story, mistakenly believing Abel was the one who killed his brother.
William Boldwood
Boldwood, a bachelor around forty years old, owns the farm adjacent to the Everdene farm. He takes responsibility for Fanny Robin after the death of her parents. Bathsheba Everdene first notices Boldwood when he visits shortly after she inherits her uncle’s farm. Her maid mentions that Boldwood is a confirmed bachelor with no interest in women, prompting Bathsheba to send him a secret valentine.
The valentine sparks Boldwood's thoughts about women, leading him to believe he is in love with Bathsheba. Accustomed to business dealings rather than personal relationships, he pressures her to marry him and is bewildered by her hesitation. When she marries Troy, Boldwood feels betrayed and neglects his farm. After Troy is presumed dead, Boldwood misinterprets Bathsheba's decision not to remarry for seven years as a promise to marry him later. She agrees to give him an answer by Christmas, leading him to prepare an extravagant party, anticipating her acceptance.
Boldwood's delusions become evident when he is imprisoned for killing Troy. His home contains locked closets filled with dresses, furs, and jewelry labeled “Bathsheba Boldwood,” dated seven years in the future, when he expects to marry her. Due to his clear insanity, Boldwood is spared from hanging for Troy’s murder.
Jan Coggan
Coggan is introduced as a frequent witness to weddings and baptisms in the county. When Oak arrives in Weatherbury, he rents a room at Coggan’s house. Coggan becomes a confidant who is aware of Oak’s past relationship with Bathsheba.
Bathsheba Everdene
Bathsheba is the novel's central character. At the story's start, she is about twenty years old and poor, helping to manage her aunt’s farm. She is vain; the first time Oak sees her, she is admiring her reflection in a mirror, oblivious to onlookers. She flirts with Oak but rejects his marriage proposal, doubting he can handle a strong-willed woman like herself.
After her uncle's death, Bathsheba inherits his farm and takes charge. She dismisses the bailiff for theft and opts to manage the farm herself instead of hiring a replacement. Despite her responsibilities, she retains her flirtatious nature and sends an anonymous valentine to the reserved bachelor next door on Valentine’s Day. When he takes her gesture seriously, she feels guilty and struggles to reject him outright.
Bathsheba is a diligent employer who rewards her workers with bonuses when business is thriving. Upon learning of the death of Fanny Robin, a former employee of her uncle, Bathsheba arranges for Fanny's body to be transported back to Weatherbury for burial in the local cemetery.
When she encounters the charming Sergeant Troy, Bathsheba is captivated by his lavish compliments. She falls in love with him and eventually marries him. However, he squanders her money, neglects her, and nearly destroys her farm. During these challenging times, she leans on Oak for assistance in managing the farm and as a confidant to share her troubles.
After Troy departs, Bathsheba becomes more reserved and pragmatic. She is reluctant to give Boldwood any hope of marriage, mindful of the emotional pain she caused him previously. She dedicates herself to business and tries to put thoughts of romance aside.
Ultimately, when Boldwood is imprisoned and Troy is dead, Bathsheba rekindles her playful and flirtatious relationship with Oak, reminiscent of the beginning of the novel. She acknowledges his unwavering loyalty and realizes she has loved him all along.
Henry Frey
Frey is one of the laborers on the Everdene farm. He consistently signs his name as “Henery” and is often referred to by this name by his fellow workers.
George
George is the sheepdog who assists Gabriel Oak with tending his flocks. Later, he is brought to Weatherbury to help Oak with Bathsheba’s sheep.
Matthew Moon
Moon is another laborer on Bathsheba Everdene’s farm.
Gabriel Oak
Oak is one of the novel’s central characters. Initially, he is a farmer with a modest but stable farm. After meeting Bathsheba Everdene, he proposes to her. However, a disastrous accident wipes out his flock, forcing him to sell his farm to settle his debts. Unable to find work as a bailiff or foreman, he seeks employment as a shepherd and is hired at the farm Bathsheba has recently inherited.
Hardy portrays Oak as a diligent and intelligent worker with an innate understanding of grain and livestock issues. Oak is completely dedicated to Bathsheba, ensuring her farm prospers. Unlike Boldwood, who remains fixated on Bathsheba’s rejection of his marriage proposal, Oak never mentions his past feelings for her for years. He does not forget his love but instead channels it into his work on her farm. Oak assumes a brotherly role in Bathsheba’s romantic entanglements with Boldwood and Troy. She seeks his advice about men, despite their mutual awareness of their romantic history.
Oak becomes close friends with Boldwood. Boldwood respects Oak for his ability to control his feelings for Bathsheba and his expertise as a farmer. While Boldwood focuses on courting Bathsheba, he hires Oak to manage both his farm and hers. A less self-assured man than Oak might have declined to aid another in pursuing the woman he loves.
Eventually, Oak informs Bathsheba of his intention to move to California. This decision, like many others in his life, is made not for his own gain but to prevent people from gossiping about Bathsheba, given that they know he loves her. Bathsheba's choice to marry him ultimately comes from her deep realization of his significance in her life.
Pennyways
Pennyways serves as the bailiff of the Everdene farm. Shortly after Bathsheba takes control of the farm, she catches Pennyways stealing half a bushel of barley from the barn and fires him. He later appears at the Greenhill Fair, where he recognizes Troy among the performers. His effort to inform Bathsheba of Troy’s presence fails, and he subsequently becomes Troy’s accomplice in Troy’s attempt to regain his position at the farm.
Joseph Poorgrass
Joseph is an extremely shy individual, often teased by other farm workers for his timidity. He has a propensity for alcohol. When tasked with transporting Fanny Robin’s body back to the Everdene farm, he stops at the Boar’s Head pub and drinks so much that he is unable to return in time for the funeral.
Fanny Robin
Fanny is a tragic figure, exploited and abandoned by the womanizing Sergeant Troy. She ends up malnourished and pregnant. Having worked on the Everdene farm for years, she leaves shortly after Bathsheba’s arrival due to Troy’s reassignment. She seeks Troy at his new barracks to ask when they will marry. Arriving late to the wedding ceremony because she went to the wrong church, Troy refuses to marry her. Troy later encounters her after marrying Bathsheba, finding her destitute. Though Troy wants to help her, she dies before he can provide any assistance.
Oak attempts to keep Fanny's unmarried status and pregnancy a secret. However, when Troy learns of it, he shows genuine sorrow. Despite being married to the wealthy and beautiful Bathsheba, he declares that Fanny was his only true love.
Jacob Smallbury
Jacob is the son of the village tavern owner, known as “the maltster,” and is around sixty-five years old.
Liddy Smallbury
Liddy, daughter of William Smallbury, serves as Bathsheba Everdene’s handmaid. She is approximately the same age as Bathsheba and occasionally acts as her confidante.
William Smallbury
William, the son of Jacob Smallbury, is approximately forty years old. He is characterized as having "a cheerful soul in a gloomy body."
Laban Tall
Recently married for the first time in his middle age, Laban Tall is under the control of his strong-willed wife, Susan. Hardy describes him as "a young married man, who having no individuality worth mentioning was known as ‘Susan Tall’s husband.’"
Susan Tall
Laban Tall's new wife, Susan, is portrayed as a domineering woman who makes all the decisions in their relationship.
Frank Troy
Sergeant Troy is depicted as a complex character. Throughout the novel, he is shown to be both an opportunist and a womanizer. He is initially introduced when responding to Fanny Robin, who has walked miles in winter to reach the town where his battalion is stationed. Fanny asks when he will marry her, but Troy says he cannot come out to see her. Laughter from inside the barracks suggests he is mocking her. Although he agrees to marry her, he cancels the wedding when she arrives late, using her tardiness as an excuse. During his courtship of Bathsheba Everdene, Troy demonstrates his charm and wit.
In his marriage to Bathsheba, Troy shows confidence. He deceives Boldwood into giving him money to make Bathsheba an honest woman, despite already being married to her. Troy spends Bathsheba’s money on liquor for the farmhands, who are unaccustomed to hard alcohol, nearly ruining a year’s work. He also suffers significant losses at the horse races.
Despite his flaws, Troy is a romantic at heart. When he learns of Fanny's death, he is deeply grieved, even to the point of risking his comfortable life as Bathsheba’s husband. He tells Bathsheba that she means nothing to him and that Fanny was his true love. He erects a tombstone for Fanny, inscribing that he was the one who commissioned it, regardless of the potential scandal. He then leaves, eventually joining a traveling show to escape the memory of his lost love.
Ultimately, Troy reverts to his scoundrel ways. As he drags Bathsheba out of a Christmas party, demanding her obedience, Boldwood shoots and kills him.
