Thomas Hardy's Far From

the Madding Crowd

By Curran Jensen
prepared for:
Dr. K. O'Brien
ENGL 100:20
Topics of the
Presentation:


We’ll begin with a biographical sketch
of Thomas Hardy:
 his lifeline
 some images of his life
 a sample of his poetry

We’ll proceed to an overview of his
1874 novel Far From the Madding
Crowd
Thomas Hardy (1840-1928)

Thomas Hardy was the most famous son of Dorset,
England, having been born at Upper Bockhampton near
Dorchester in 1840.

He studied as an architect, and at 22 moved to London,
where he began to write poems expressing his love of
rural life. Unable to publish his poetry, he
turned to the novel and found success with Far from the
Madding Crowd (1874).

He then took up writing as a profession, and produced a
series of novels, notably The Return of the Native (1878),
The Mayor of Casterbridge (1886), Tess of the
D'Urbervilles (1891), and Jude the Obscure (1896).

His main works were all tragedies, increasingly
pessimistic in tone, and after Tess he was dubbed an
atheist.
 Thomas Hardy’s Lifeline

1840: Thomas Hardy born on June 2 nd, in Higher Bockhampton.

1848: Hardy begins attending Julia Martin's school in Bockhampton.

1849: Begins playing violin locally.

1853: Hardy's education becomes intensive -- he studies Latin, French and begins reading widely.

1856: Hardy is articled to the local architect John Hicks. The office is next to Barnes' school.
Around this time Hardy meets and studies with Horace Moule, going through the Greek dramatists
under his tutelage.

1862: Hardy travels to London to work under Arthur Blomfield. He explores the cultural life of
London, visiting museums, attending plays and operas, and begins writing poetry in earnest.

1865: Hardy publishes his first article, "How I Built Myself a House.”

1867: Hardy returns to Dorset and works for Hicks. Hardy begins considering writing as a profession
and writes the unpublished novel: The Poor Man and the Lady.

1870: Hardy travels to St. Juliot to work on the restoration of the church. Here he meets
Emma Lavinia Gifford.

1871: Desperate Remedies published.

1872: Under the Greenwood Tree published.

1873: A Pair of Blue Eyes published. Hardy now relinquishes architecture as a career to write full-
time. Horace Moule commits suicide in Cambridge.

1874: Far From the Madding Crowd appears serially. In September Hardy marries Emma, travels to
Paris, and sets up house in London. He moves around a bit and eventually settles in Sturminster
Newton.

1876: The Hand of Ethelberta published.
 Hardy’s Lifeline Continued...

1878: The Return of the Native published. With it Hardy publishes a map. Hardy moves again and with the success of
this novel, begins to experience life as a celebrity.

1880: The Trumpet-Major is published -- it is one of Hardy's earliest treatments of the Napoleonic war.

1881: A Laodicean is published. It was written while Hardy was bed-ridden. Hardy moves back to Dorset.

1882: Two on a Tower published.

1883: Hardy designs and supervises construction of his Dorchester home, Max Gate.

1886: The Mayor of Casterbridge published soon after Hardy moves into Max Gate.

1887: The Woodlanders published. Hardy tours the continent. When they return, he begins habit of visiting London for
"the season.”

1888: Wessex Tales, Hardy's first collection of short stories, is published.

1891: A Group of Noble Dames published. There is a small uproar after the publication of Tess of the d'Urbervilles.

1892: Hardy's father dies. He begins serialization of The Pursuit of the Well-Beloved.

1893: Meets Florence Henniker.

1894: Life's Little Ironies, Hardy's third collection of short stories, is published.

1895: Osgood-Mcilvaine begins bringing out the first collected edition of Hardy's works. The set includes the first
edition of Jude the Obscure.

1897: The Well-Beloved appears in volume form after extensive revisions.

1898: Hardy's first volume of poems, Wessex Poems, appears. He is now, officially, an ex-novelist.

1902: Poems of the Past and Present is published.

1903: Part One of The Dynasts, Hardy extended verse-play about Napoleon and the clash of powers he brought about,
appears. Hardy inends it as his masterpiece.

1906: The Dynasts: Part Two appears.

1908: The Dynasts: Part Three is published.
 Hardy’s Lifeline Continued...

1909: Time's Laughingstocks.

1910: Hardy receives the Order of Merit and the Freedom of Dorchester.

1912: A "definitive" edition of Hardy's works, the Wessex Edition, is published. It is a chance for Hardy to
thoroughly revise his body of work. The year ends on a low note, though, as Emma suddenly dies on November
27.

1913: Hardy's final book of short stories, A Changed Man, is published. Hardy makes a pilgrimage to the sites of
his and Emma's early love.

1914: Satires of Circumstance is published. It contains the "Poems of 1912-13," written in memory of Emma.

1914: Hardy marries Florence Dugdale. W.W.I. breaks out, contributing to Hardy's pessimism.

1917: Moments of Vision.

1922: Late Lyrics and Earlier.

1923: The Famous Tragedy of the Queen of Cornwall.

1925: Human Shows. These later years see Hardy working on his autobiography, published posthumously under
Florence's name.

1928: Winter Words is published posthumously: Hardy died on January 11. His ashes are buried in Poet's Corner,
Westminster Abbey, and his heart is buried in Emma's grave. The Early Life of Thomas Hardy is published under
Florence's name.

1930: The Later Years of Thomas Hardy published under Florence's name.
Some Images...


Clockwise:
•Birthplace in Dorcet
•Hardy at 16
•Hardy with Florence
•Etching by Strang
•Hardy with Wessex
•Home in Dorchester
•Near Max Gate


Hardy’s Poetry
“She - At His Funeral”

THEY bear him to his resting-place--

In slow procession sweeping by;
I follow at a stranger's space;
His kindred they, his sweetheart I.
Unchanged my gown of garish dye,
Though sable-sad is their attire;
But they stand round with griefless eye,
Whilst my regret consumes like fire!

187-.

This poem with Hardy's sketch of St. Michael's Church,

performed by Mango. Margaret Bell, solo. Stinsford, appeared in Wessex Poems in 1898.
Far From the Madding Crowd

We will explore the novel in the
following ways:
 inspiration for title
 setting
 main characters
 plot summary
 sketches of rural life in the novel
 artistic comment
 photographs
Inspiration for Title
This passage is taken from the 1751

"ELEGY WRITTEN IN A COUNTRY CHURCH-YARD"

Far from the madding crowd's ignoble strife,

Their sober wishes never learn'd to stray;
Along the cool sequester'd vale of life
They kept the noiseless tenour of their way.

-- Thomas Gray (1716-71)

Setting...
The novel takes place in Hardy’s fictional
Wessex countryside in southwest England
during the 1860s. The "Weatherbury" of
Thomas Hardy's Far from the Madding
Crowd is in actuality Puddletown, which is
an extremely old village dating back to the
Bronze Age. Although some features of
the village have changed, the surrounding
countryside is very much as Hardy saw it.
Main Characters...

Bathsheba Everdene: A beautiful young woman who is at times very vain and self-
important. She initially feels that she is too good for Oak. She is educated and Oak
is a simple farmer. She is a competent mistress, but is somewhat reckless when
she sends a valentine to Boldwood for no reason.

Gabriel Oak: A “salt-of-the-Earth” type; resourceful and kind. He falls in love with
Bathsheba at first sight. He boldly asks her to marry him, even though they have
hardly met. He is an expert shepherd, which impresses Bathsheba. He is in a lower
class but finds pride in his conscientious work. He nurtures his love for Bathsheba
until they finally marry.

Sgt. Francis Troy: Frank is a thrill-seeker. He carouses and seems to live for the
moment and for himself. He is concerned with his public image and is infuriated
when Fanny goes to the wrong church by mistake and leaves him waiting at the
altar.” He is not a good husband to Bathsheba, and later deserts her. He is deeply
troubled by the death of Fanny.

Farmer Boldwood: A Middle-aged well-established and well-respected farmer. The
valentine card makes him obsessed with Bathsheba. He is very crafty and tries to
buy Troy out of town. When Troy is presumed dead, he feels he finally has
Bathsheba to himself, however, when Troy suddenly returns it finally drives him
“over the edge,” and he murders him.
Plot Summary
Farmer Gabriel Oak falls in love with Bathsheba Everdene, a beautiful stranger. She refuses his impetuous
proposal of marriage. In a twist of fate, she inherits a nearby farm, while he loses his and ends up in her employ
as a shepherd. As he humbly devotes himself to her service, she toys with the affections of a local farmer,
Boldwood. Soon a ne'er-do-well soldier, Sergeant Troy, toys likewise with her. Bathsheba is seduced by
Sergeant Troy, who, unbeknownst to her, has already debauched and deserted one of her servants, Fanny
Robin. They marry, but Bathsheba soon finds herself a battered, then an abandoned, wife as Troy mysteriously
disappears and is presumed drowned. Boldwood hosts a party and Bathsheba agrees to be his wife in six years if
Troy does not return. Troy appears at the party and wants to take her home, but Boldwood kills him and is
imprisoned. Oak and Bathsheba are married.
Slices of Rural Life in the Novel


The Sheep Washing

The Hurdle-Makers

The Greenhill Fair
The Sheep Washing...
I) “The sheep-washing pool was a perfect circular basin of brickwork in the
meadows, full of the clearest water.To birds on the wing its glassy surface,
reflecting the light sky, must have been visible for miles around as a
glistening Cyclops' eye in a green face. The grass about the margin at this
season was a sight to remember long--in a minor sort of way. Its activity in
sucking the moisture from the rich damp sod was almost a process observable
by the eye. The outskirts of this level water-meadow were diversified by
rounded and hollow pastures, where just now every flower that was not a
buttercup was a daisy. The river slid along noiselessly as a shade, the swelling
reeds and sedge forming a flexible palisade upon its moist brink.” (XIX, p. 142)
ii)
“A tributary of the main stream flowed through the basin of the pool by an
inlet and outlet at opposite points of its diameter. Shepherd Oak, Jan Coggan,
Moon. Poorgrass. Cain Ball, and several others were assembled here, all
dripping wet to the very roots of their hair, and Bathsheba was standing by in
a new riding-habit--the most elegant she had even [sic] worn--the reins of her
horse being looped over her arm.” (XIX, p. 142)
iii)
“The meek sheep were pushed into the pool by Coggan and Matthew Moon,
who stood by the lower hatch, immersed to their waists; then Gabriel, who
stood on the brink, thrust them under as they swam along, with an instrument
like a crutch, formed for the purpose, and also for assisting the exhausted
animals when the wool became saturated and they began to sink” (XIX, p. 142)
The Hurdle-Makers...

“Detached hurdles thatched with straw were struck into the ground at various
scattered points, amid and under which the whitish forms of his [Gabriel's]
meek ewes moved and rustled.” (II, p. 12)
The Greenhill Fair...

“Greenhill was the Nijni Novgorod of South Wessex; and the busiest,
merriest, noisiest day of the whole statute number was the day of the sheep
fair. This yearly gathering was upon the summit of a hill which retained in
good reservation the remains of an ancient earthwork, consisting of a huge
rampart and entrenchment of an oval form encircling the top of the hill,
though somewhat broken down here and there. To each of the two chief
openings on opposite sides a winding road ascended, and the level green
space of ten or fifteen acres enclosed by the bank was the site of the fair.”
(L, p. 386)
The Greenhill Fair...

“In another part of the hill an altogether different scene began to force itself
upon the eye towards midday. A circular tent, of exceptional newness and
size, was in course of erection here. . . . As soon as the tent was completed
the band struck up highly stimulating harmonies. . .then the drums and
trumpets again sent forth their echoing notes.” (L, p. 388)
Artistic Comment
The novel points out the virtue in the old social order. These humble lives had a
security unknown to us today. Here in Wessex, as Hardy called this section of
England, we see Western man for the last time as an integral part of nature.
There are some wonderful scenes in the novel -- the lambing, the fire, the
struggle to save the barley ricks, the sheep washing and shearing -- all bathed and
glorified in the light of poetic recollection. The shearing supper with Bathsheba
singing to the accompaniment of Gabriel's flute is a pastoral moment never to be
forgotten, a moment full of sunny harmony and quiet beauty.
Hardy seems to convey that the course of life is determined either by
chance or an irrational impulse. In Gabriel's case it was the loss of his sheep and his
arrival at Bathsheba's farm just in time to help put out the fire. In Bathsheba's, it was
the encounter with Troy in the dark and, later, Joseph Poorgrass's dawdling at the
inn so that Fanny Robin's coffin had to be kept at the farmhouse overnight. In
Boldwood's, it was Bathsheba's reckless sending of the valentine. In Troy's, it was
Fanny's misunderstanding of where they were to meet for the wedding.
This a not a routine boy-meets-girl love story. Love, indeed, shapes the plot,
but here it works with a destructive fury that leaves tragedy in its wake. The story is a
vivid confirmation of Hardy's fatalistic belief that some force of which we know
nothing is using us for some end which we cannot understand.
Photographs from
Far From the Madding
Crowd...
"Dorset Shepherd's Hut":
This is a contemporary example of the shepherd's
hut Gabriel Oak uses in Chapters II and III. In a
structure like this one he nearly suffocates until
rescued by Bathsheba Everdene.

"Lulworth Cove":
Here is the cove where Sergeant Troy took his
ill-fated swim: "Inside the cove the water was ...
smooth as a pond, and to get a little of the ocean
swell Troy presently swam between the two
projecting spurs of rock which formed the pillars
of Hercules to this miniature Mediterranean."
(XLVII, p.370).
Film Version (1967)

Far from the Madding Crowd (1967)

Directed by
John Schlesinger

Cast:
Julie Christie.... Bathsheba Everdene
Peter Finch.... William Boldwood
Alan Bates.... Gabriel Oak
Terence Stamp.... Sergeant Troy
Fiona Walker.... Liddy
Prunella Ransome.... Fanny Robin
Images From the Film
 Thank you!

Grave of Hardy's Heart; Stinsford, Dorset

Hardy on the Web
•Far From the Madding Crowd: the complete text
http://www.bibliomania.com/Fiction/hardy/crowd/index.html
•A Real Audio Clip from the novel: (open with RA player 3.0)
http://audiopartners.com/audsampl/madding.ram
•The Thomas Hardy Resource Library:
http://pages.ripco.com:8080/~mws/hardy.html
•The Thomas Hardy Society of North America:
http://www.yale.edu/hardysoc/Welcome/welcomet.htm
•The Thomas Hardy On-Line Society:
http://www.prestigeweb.com/hardy/