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burghers
phaeton,
bantam
unreasoning devotion to Bathsheba could only be characterized as a fond madness which neither time nor circumstance, evil nor good report, could weaken or destroy.
Boldwood is mad in his devotion for Bathsheba
What he would try to recognize was that the severe schooling she had been subjected to had made Bathsheba much more considerate than she had formerly been of the feelings of others, and he trusted that, should she be willing at any time in the future to marry any man at all, that man would be himself.
Because she's been humbled, he thinks himself entitled to her
He went away vexed with himself, and ashamed of having for this one time in his life done anything which could be called underhand.
Ummm... "this one time"? Isn't this the guy who tried to bribe Troy into marrying Fanny and leaving Bathsheba?
It was a singularly fresh and fascinating fact, and though not without its sadness it was pertinent and real. In little more than six years from this time Bathsheba might certainly marry him.
Bro... Willing to wait six years??? Absolutely not, dude! Tomorrow is not promised. By then, he'll be almost a 50 year-old virgin
the thronging travellers in so long a journey had grown nearly indifferent to such terrors, though they still bleated piteously at the unwontedness of their experiences, a tall shepherd rising here and there in the midst of them, like a gigantic idol amid a crowd of prostrate devotees.
vermiculated
It is difficult for a woman to define her feelings in language which is chiefly made by men to express theirs.
if you choose from a feeling of pity, and, as you say, a wish to make amends, to make a bargain with me for a far-ahead time—an agreement which will set all things right and make me happy, late though it may be—there is no fault to be found with you as a woman.
But she is at fault if she chooses not to marry him??? At fault for what?
His tone was so excited that she almost feared him at this moment, even whilst she sympathized. It was a simple physical fear—the weak of the strong; there was no emotional aversion or inner repugnance. She said, with some distress in her voice, for she remembered vividly his outburst on the Yalbury Road, and shrank from a repetition of his anger:— "I will never marry another man whilst you wish me to be your wife, whatever comes—but
Coercion
It is hardly too much to say that she felt coerced by a force stronger than her own will, not only into the act of promising upon this singularly remote and vague matter, but into the emotion of fancying that she ought to promise.
Just as I said: coercion
Now, isn't it preposterous, Gabriel? However he came to dream of it, I cannot think. But is it wrong? You know—you are older than I." "Eight years older, ma'am." "Yes, eight years—and is it wrong?"
It was previously said that Oak is six years older than Bathsheba
When I want a broad-minded opinion for general enlightenment, distinct from special advice, I never go to a man who deals in the subject professionally. So I like the parson's opinion on law, the lawyer's on doctoring, the doctor's on business, and my business-man's—that is, yours—on morals." "And on love—" "My own." "I'm afraid there's a hitch in that argument," said Oak, with a grave smile.
in the centremost parts of her complicated heart there existed at this minute a little pang of disappointment, for a reason she would not allow herself to recognize. Oak had not once wished her free that he might marry her himself—had not once said, "I could wait for you as well as he." That was the insect sting.
From six that morning till past noon the huge wood fire in the kitchen roared and sparkled at its highest,
Boldwood's fire burns anew
The log which was to form the back-brand of the evening fire was the uncleft trunk of a tree, so unwieldy that it could be neither brought nor rolled to its place; and accordingly two men were to be observed dragging and heaving it in by chains and levers as the hour of assembly drew near.
Bathsheba is the unwieldy log fueling his fire. But Boldwood does not care if it takes chains to obtain her
I wish I had never seen Weatherbury." "That's wicked of you—to wish to be worse off than you are." "No, Liddy. I have never been free from trouble since I have lived here,
If she'd stayed in Norcombe and married Oak, what might her life be like today?
I am bright to-night: cheerful and more than cheerful—so much so that I am almost sad again with the sense that all of it is passing away. And sometimes, when I am excessively hopeful and blithe, a trouble is looming in the distance: so that I often get to look upon gloom in me with content, and to fear a happy mood.
"I don't know, sir," said Oak. His tone had sunk to sadness.
He puts on his best face when advising Bathsheba. But the facade is beginning to slip. Here, around Boldwood. But will he be vulnerable with Bathsheba once again?
implying," said Oak, with faint bitterness. "That's a word as full o' holes as a sieve with them."
Damn
"H'm, yes. I expect I shall not be a very welcome guest if he has her there," said the sergeant, with a slight laugh.
Ew! What a villain. How has he not learned to be a decent human yet?
"Now, let me see what the time is," said Troy, after emptying his glass in one draught as he stood. "Half-past six o'clock. I shall not hurry along the road, and shall be there then before nine."
Relevance of the timing? Well, he doesn't have his fancy gold watch to check. He's returning to "claim" his possessions: the watch, the wife, the farm. There has been zero indication that he is guided by love
CONCURRITUR—HORAE MOMENTO
Seeing multiple translations of this (some more literal than others). But the spirit of it is: "A swift death or joyful victory comes in the space of an hour" -- REINFORCING THE IMPORTANCE OF TIME/CLOCKS
"If he's alive and here in the neighbourhood, he means mischief," said the first. "Poor young thing: I do pity her, if 'tis true. He'll drag her to the dogs."
He'll put her through hell :/ right when she's getting back on her feet
Sometimes I shrink from your knowing what I have felt for you, and sometimes I am distressed that all of it you never will know.
Even then Boldwood did not recognize that the impersonator of Heaven's persistent irony towards him, who had once before broken in upon his bliss, scourged him, and snatched his delight away, had come to do these things a second time. Troy began to laugh a mechanical laugh: Boldwood recognized him now.
Being recognized by a repugnant, smug laugh is not a flex, dude
peremptorily.
gutta serena;
Melpomene.
The muse of tragedy…
These somewhat pathetic evidences of a mind crazed with care and love
The prompters were a few merciful men who had perhaps too feelingly considered the facts latterly unearthed, and the result was that evidence was taken which it was hoped might remove the crime in a moral point of view, out of the category of wilful murder, and lead it to be regarded as a sheer outcome of madness.
Madness mentioned!
The little attenuated voices of the children brought to her ear in distinct utterance the words they sang without thought or comprehension— Lead, kindly Light, amid the encircling gloom, Lead Thou me on.
New beginnings? The children sing the encouraging hymn "without thought or comprehension." How many of us have wished to go back to a time when we did not comprehend these words about overcoming gloom? To be naive and innocent again? To believe in good?
Bathsheba's feeling was always to some extent dependent upon her whim, as is the case with many other women.
Bro stfu
She would have given anything in the world to be, as those children were, unconcerned at the meaning of their words, because too innocent to feel the necessity for any such expression.
Bro! I just said this. Hardy sure does spell things out for us sometimes lol
Yet grief came to her rather as a luxury than as the scourge of former times.
"California is the spot I've had in my mind to try."
It's amazing to me that people have been dreaming of escaping to California for so long
This good-fellowship—camaraderie—usually occurring through similarity of pursuits, is unfortunately seldom superadded to love between the sexes, because men and women associate, not in their labours, but in their pleasures merely.
incarnadined
