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.
Some evidence to bring forth are in the form of a cause and effect scenario embedded in the novel. One point to make note of revolves around Gabriel Oak and how the plot thickens after the loss of his livestock. "It was a second to remember another phase of the matter. The sheep were not insured. All the savings of a frugal life had been dispersed at a blow; his hopes of being an independent farmer were laid low --possibly for ever." This piece depicts the defeat that Gabriel has suffered because of the catastrophic event that occurred naturally, destroying his chances of being an independent farmer, forcing a turn in evens; he would seek employment at Bathsheba's farm.
ReplyDeleteI still feel like that in Far a lot of the plot came about because it was "fated" to happen, like much of the plot in Tess, and Hardy was still trying to express the theme of fate. One believable, or natural scene that I can remember is what happened to Boldwood after his party and after he shot Troy. He murdered a man because he was jealous, tried to kill himself because he had nothing to live for, confessed to the police because they would have killed him for murder, and in the end got off free because of mental problems. This series of events came about because of the character Boldwood was and it was probably something that happened a week before he wrote this. Those events are definitely something that could happen if you murder a man in real life, though you could argue whether or not this was "fated" for Boldwood. I probably watch too much crime shows, but that event to me was normal; Hardy could have made that scene much more dramatic, to the point that its unbelievable, but he didn't, which made it natural.
ReplyDeleteHardy uses a lot of foreshadowing in this book, which I think is part of why the plot is so believable. We see Boldwood slowly descending into madness way before he shot Troy. We know Fanny and Troy had a relationship at the beginning of the book, long before Bathsheba does. It does "lapse to melodrama" at times, but it all seems reasonable when one considers all of the hints that have been dropped. Gabriel's storyline was all cause and effect, like Eliza said- he lost his sheep, he became a shepherd, he works for Bathsheba, he waits and waits and eventually marries her. The other characters are not as internally visible in the story, which is why we don't know about Fanny's pregnancy or the full extent of Boldwood's insanity to the end, but these are hinted at throughout the story.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Saorla. Hardy uses symbols and figurative language to show what will happen in the novel. He does not come out and say what will happen, but he insinuates it. Hardy wants you to guess what will happen for yourself. He wants you to put yourself in the book and make the decisions as well. He gives you clues and you must take it upon yourself to decide how to interpret them.
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