Plot Hammer

Far From the Madding Crowd is considered one of Hardy's lighter works. His treatment of characters as being destined to fulfill a tragic, or dramatic, purpose is not so forceful in Far as in his later works, like Tess and Jude.

Not only are the themes more digestible, but the plot (which at times lapses to melodrama) is also more believable than most of his contrived, complicated stories. Carpenter says of Hardy's plot in Far From the Madding Crowd "the plot is one of quality...which is demonstrably superior to his minor works, for it grows principally out of character and natural situations." Post evidence to support Carpenter's statement that the plot of your selected text grows from the characters and natural situations. Be sure to explain your selections.

Grim Majesty of Weatherbury

Next week we will be reading critic Richard Carpenter who says, "Far From the Madding Crowd developes...the vividly realized setting of field and farm without the grim majesty of Egdon Heath (in Return of the Native)."

Choose a descriptive passage of "the vividly realized setting of field and farm" from the first 100 pages of Far and post it to this blog. Then go to the Return of the Native blog and comment on one of their descriptive passage posts. Is it a good example? Can you clearly tell this descriptive passage presents a "grim majesty" of the setting? In what ways is it different from how your setting of Norcombe Hill is presented?

Be sure to check the posts from Return of the Native as their setting differs from yours greatly. This should give you a well-rounded sense of Hardy's treatment of setting.

Allusion to Grey's Elegy

The title of this novel does not come directly from the text. There is no "Madding" family, or crowd. The main characters are not trying to get "Far" from anything. The title actually comes from Grey's Elegy's Written in a Country Church-Yard. Some of you may remember this poem from Dr. Crowley's class. To refresh your memory, or enlighten yourself, read the poem at this link.

This poem is called "meditative" for the narrator meditates on thedestinies of the dead buried in the graveyard. The closing stanzas are said to be Grey's own fear about his destiny as a writer.

Read the poem. Then meditate on these questions and post: 
Why would Hardy choose such a title for this novel? 
What connections could he be making between what you have just begun to read, and Grey's meditative poem?