Works of Thomas Hardy discussion
Far from the Madding Crowd
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Far From the Madding Crowd 3rd Thread Chapter 21 - 29
Bionic Jean wrote: "When he outlined this serial for Leslie Stephen in 1873, Thomas Hardy was still writing A Pair of Blue Eyes. Has anyone here read this one? The plot seems largely to describe how a nineteen year old girl (Elfrida Swancourt) develops her, (what is disparagingly called) “womanly artifice”. She is vain, and does not wish to appear naive: there are thus many similarities between her and Bathsheba."I actually have read A Pair of Blue Eyes! And I see the resemblances. So far for me, Bathsheba is more complex. Elfrida may have been “developing her womanly artifice,” but it did not serve her well. I had read she was based on Hardy’s first wife Emma, and if so, he gave her some pretty telling negative attributes. I feel like here, while he still harbors these simplistic impressions of women, he’s in the process of taking his explorations a little further with Bathsheba.
But as Lee points out with such great examples, we're not seeing a favorable view of Bathsheba. I can't help but think Hardy is incapable at this point of seeing past his stereotypes.
It may be worth noting that Elfrida of Blue Eyes had no motherly influence, and (thank you for the reminders you gave me about her background, Jean!) Bathsheba's mother has been dead for some time. Is this Hardy's way of separating his view of deceiving women from his saintly mother? 😉
I get the feeling that it took some living and a few books for Hardy to work through some of his typecasting of women.
Erich C wrote: "I'm just catching up after a busy several days, so I have a few comments to add:Back in the previous thread Lee pointed out the prevalence of twins and mentioned the story of Jacob and Esau. That..."
Hardy certainly doesn't miss any opportunity for Biblical parallels! Thank you, Erich for expanding upon my comment on twins. You are exactly right as to how Cain manipulated the deception of his father by pretending to be his hairy brother Essau!
And I loved your quote from Paradise Lost! Hardy must have been inspired by this passage; it portrays "The Fir Plantation" to perfection, even with the timing of "midnight vapor".
Bravo, Erich!
Kathleen wrote: [in message 52] "Thomas Hardy was still writing A Pair of Blue Eyes. ..."And then "It may be worth noting that Elfrida of Blue Eyes had no motherly influence, and. . . (Bathsheba's mother has been dead for some time.
I agree totally with you, Kathleen. Thomas Hardy seems rather immature so far in his evaluation of women and their influence upon men. And trying to give Bathsheba some sympathy, I did remember that she grew up without a mother. She has no older woman with experience to confide in, just naive and innocent little Liddy!
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Exactly so, thank you Lee! You have given us some great examples which bear out the critical views I shared, where it believed to be his mother Jemima's warnings about "women's wiles" and artifice we hear spouted by Thomas Hardy as narrator.
Bathsheba succeeds on film as a modern heroine, because the various dramatisations play up the independent side of her, so this conforms to modern views. But we can see for ourselves from Thomas Hardy's writing that Bathsheba is at heart essentially flawed, and - at nearly half way through the book - still the haughty, vain, selfish young woman Gabriel Oak spied on the cart with her belongings.
It remains to be seen if Bathsheba will have any "personal growth", but the signs do not look good! So far she just seems to exemplify what Michael Millgate, refers to as Thomas Hardy's view of women as "weaker vessels".
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Some great insights here, thanks Erich! I've left the extra Biblical ones to Lee's expertise in this case ... there really does seem to be a preponderance of them doesn't there? I seem to be giving the references to them every other day 🤔
I particularly enjoyed how you noticed the "contrast between the virility and activity of Gabriel in the sheep washing and the constrained and uncomfortable Boldwood". Their different natures, physiques and demeanours were pointed up so well.
There are many sensuous passages, and the one you comment on is particularly sensual too, as you say. We noticed the prevalence of red in Tess of the D’Urbervilles, and it is certainly present in this early work as well, with as you say the "blush of a shorn lamb" coming after the various disrobings.
Thank you too for picking up on the mingled shadows' foreshadowing nature! So often we pick up vague premonitions of doom, but you have pinpointed this one nicely!
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Great! Thanks for this Katheen! I think we can all be thankful that Thomas Hardy's heroines developed, as he became more experienced both in life, and as a writer, culminating in the fully rounded depiction of Tess Durbeyfield 😊
"I had read she was based on Hardy’s first wife Emma" - Well ... it would be surprising if she were the only basis for Elfrida, as he and Emma Gifford married in September 1874, just 3 months after this installment (beginning today), as the serial was progressing. Would Thomas Hardy really have married his betrothed, against his mother's wishes, if he had thought her so haughty and full of women's wiles as his two heroines? However it does seem likely that Bathsheba is how his mother saw Emma Gifford ...
Whether or not there is some truth in that, Thomas Hardy himself said Bathsheba was based on his aunt, i.e. Jemima's sister. And the original for Gabriel Oak was a shepherd in Puddletown whom he knew well.
"Bathsheba's mother has been dead for some time. Is this Hardy's way of separating his view of deceiving women from his saintly mother? 😉"
Oh I like this thought very much! We are intended to pick up the lack of motherly influence in Bathsheba's ... more whimsical choices, but I do like this different take on it!
I'm sure you are right that "it took some living and a few books for Hardy to work through some of his typecasting of women." He's developed since A Pair of Blue Eyes, and "The Poor Man and the Lady" sounds even worse for this. (It was never published.)
But what makes up for it all is the marvellous atmosphere, descriptions of country life, and thrilling story to come!
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Chapter 25: The New Acquaintance Described
A Female Field-labourer Raking - Helen Paterson – June 1874
Sergeant Troy lived for the moment, without much thought for the past or future, beyond yesterday or tomorrow. He was then, largely content, and never disappointed as a result of expectations. He was truthful to men but a liar to women, which helped win him popularity in society.
Though he did have vices, none was horrible, so people’s disapproval usually came with a tolerant smile. While he was always active, it was never in one particular direction. He spoke well as a result of his good education, and was able to speak of one thing whilst thinking of another—of dinner while flattering a woman, for instance. He had learned how to copy others in the art of flattery, and believed that one must either flatter women or curse and swear at them:
“He had been known to observe casually that in dealing with womankind the only alternative to flattery was cursing and swearing. There was no third method. ‘Treat them fairly and you are a lost man,’ he would say.”
A week or two after the shearing, Bathsheba was at her hayfields watching Coggan and Clark mowing, when she saw Sergeant Troy appear in the distance. He had come to help in the hay-making, just out of pleasure. When he entered the field he saw her and walked toward her: Bathsheba flushed with a mixture of embarrassment and anger.
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Yet there has been no such neutral character sketch for Bathsheba herself. There are many pronouncements on females, and sometimes we are given her momentary thoughts and reactions, but I don’t think we are given a detached, carefully observed picture like this. It forms almost the entire chapter!
Thomas Hardy is making very sure that we bear Sergeant Troy’s character in mind for any subsequent events, whereas for Bathsheba herself, we have to piece together her character from her actions and occasional inner thoughts.
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At the end of the chapter we see Bathsheba in her regular position of caretaker and figure of authority, but her sense of cool confidence is ruffled by the man who knows so well how to unsettle and flatter her. Does she have the maturity to deal with this man?
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Some convoluted references here ...
“He was moderately truthful towards men, but to women lied like a Cretan”
In Greek folklore the inhabitants of the island of Crete were proverbial liars. Even the Cretan poet Epimenides himself said: “Cretans are always liars”, and there is a famous paradox in Greek philosophy that drew upon the same tradition.
“This treatment had led to his becoming a sort of regrater of other men’s gallantries, to his own aggrandizement as a Corinthian, rather than to the moral profit of his hearers.”
“regrater” – retailer (obsolete)
The inhabitant of Corinth were reputed to lead a life of refined dissipation.
“passados” - a term from sword-fighting where the sword is thrust forward whilst advancing with one foot. Here it is used metaphorically of course, for making advances to a woman.
“nankeen” - a sturdy yellow or buff cotton cloth. (This paragraph reminds me of some pastoral paintings by the old masters.)
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Over to you!
Lee wrote: "I find it surprising how much I dislike Bathsheba in the novel.... The Biblical authors of Genesis were kinder to Eve than Hardy is to Bathsheba!!"Granted, Hardy portrays Bathsheba as immature (even for her young age), vain, unwisely impulsive, hot-tempered, overly attracted to and influenced by superficial qualities, commitment-shy, and clueless about other people's feelings in her social interactions. And he makes sure that we pick up on these things.
All of that said, though, his portrait of her is also nuanced enough to show that she has her better side, as well. She's genuinely sorry for the effect that her sending the valentine had on Boldwood, and recognizes that her conduct was wrong. She feels responsible for Fanny's welfare, though some employers perhaps wouldn't. And she has qualities of decisiveness and willingness to shoulder responsibility in difficult conditions. There are various small incidents in the tale so far that, IMO, show her in a good light.
In general, I think Hardy does have a moral vision, and makes moral judgments of his characters at the times when they don't measure up. But I also think he views every one of them as sympathetically and compassionately as he can, and sees whatever good there is in them as well. I don't think he actually dislikes Bathsheba; and for whatever it's worth, I don't either (though I often don't like her actions).
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Thomas Hardy may not have actively disliked Bathsheba any more than any other female, but at least up to 1874 he had a jaundiced view of the entire gender! We've quoted many examples of this. His views on women as flawed and "weaker vessels" are abundantly clear in this and previous novels. Thankfully Bathsheba is a kind of turning point; as Kathleen said, she is more nuanced than earlier females, preparing the way for more fully rounded characters.
"There can be little doubt of Hardy's view in Far From the Madding Crowd that women are by nature infirm" (Michael Millgate). Bathsheba's weakness, it is said when she stubbornly refused to pay a toll, is "what it always is in women - Vanity". (Thomas Hardy).
Right from the start Gabriel sees Bathsheba for what she is; and yet (like you Werner), he does not dislike her for this. Remember he paid her toll despite her annoyance, just as he guided her hands when she used the clippers "Taking each as we sometimes clasp a child's hand in teaching them to write", (as Thomas Hardy says) and got a similar reaction. He also precedes her on her nightly rounds, and generally looks out for her. Gabriel treats Bathsheba indulgently, as one would a child, and there are many instances in the book where she is described thus - as well as examples where she herself protests her youth (perhaps rather too much) saying for example: "I'm only a girl."
Gabriel is the only person who truly sees and accepts Bathsheba, "vain, domineering, changeable, impulsive, coquettish and helpless before flattery ... girlish, womanish mannish - and also ... very much a child." (Peter J. Casagrande.) We can see Bathsheba through many eyes, and you are right that she does have a burgeoning moral sense. She's no Becky Sharp! (Vanity Fair.) The tragedy is, as Thomas Hardy tells us, she is fated to only see this after her impulsive nature has (repeatedly) triggered irreversible damage.
We expect most characters to have a "story arc" and grow through their experiences. What we need to examine - since as I mentioned, we are not given a detailed analysis of her character as we have been for the 3 men - is whether this is true of Bathsheba, or whether she will merely prove to be an instance of a "weaker vessel". At the moment all her actions are subject to whimsy and there has been no moral growth or transformation. The assumption is clear: she cannot rise above her natural state.
It may be helpful to think of William Wordsworth's poem "She was a Phantom of Delight": https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem.... The picture we have of Bathsheba through the novel mirrors the 3 stanzas of this poem, (they are not shown properly in this link, although all the text is there 🙄) in an ironic way. She develops through her life's "journey" in a sense, but beneath Bathsheba's struggling moral consciousness Thomas Hardy tells us, there lies an unalterable infirmity.
It is my personal view that if Bathsheba remains static, then this tells us more about the author than it does about the character.
How interesting, Jean--the poem and the idea of an unalterable infirmity. As you sometimes remind us, we are looking at this through modern eyes. Through those eyes, it’s easy to see that this story is told from what we’d now call the “male gaze.” As you pointed out, Jean, Hardy gives us character analysis of the three men, but what we’ve seen so far about Bathsheba is the way these three men see her. If she does remain static but the male characters change, perhaps we can see her as more the “focal point” than the main character of this story?
Such great comments! I keep hoping that we will see growth in Bathsheba but so far, its pretty minimal. I think she is slowly maturing, forced to by some of her decisions, but not achieving more as I believe she would do. Perhaps it is because of the author than what would realistically happen. After all, in society of that age, there seemed to be silly women who didn't seem to have much maturity or common sense. But Bathsheba is taking care of a property, overseeing workers and making sure that the business of the property runs smoothly and hopefully, profitably. I find it hard to believe that that hasn't affected how she sees and reacts to things, yet, Hardy hasn't shown much except that so far the property is doing well.
What would Bathsheba do if she was really challenged and there was no Gabriel to rescue her as there was when the sheep got in the wrong field and got sick? Seeing it from that perspective, Gabriel is good for her and they do work well. Boldwood would take this responsibility away from her and perhaps her maturity would be arrested in that respect.
On the other hand, I think Troy is a real danger for her. But will she see that? That is the big question.
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Boldwood's offer of marriage would be very tempting for a woman in Bathsheba's position. It would fix many problems for her. A woman of lesser morals wouldn't hesitate to marry a man she didn't love. But Bathsheba hesitates and weighs her options. We could see that not a moral failure, but rather a strength of character. She wouldn't marry Oak without love, and now she hesitates to marry Boldwood, for the same reasons. I admire that, rather than chastise her for it. I agree she can't indefinitely keep Boldwood waiting, but I don't think she's out of time yet to make her decision.
I completely agree with Jean's comments about Gabriel "Gabriel is the only person who truly sees and accepts Bathsheba, "vain, domineering, changeable, impulsive, coquettish and helpless before flattery ... girlish, womanish mannish - and also ... very much a child."
I think that is spot on. I can't think of anyone else in the novel who sees Bathsheba so clearly.
Since this chapter was all about Troy, I have to include my favorite description of him "Sergeant Troy being entirely innocent of the practice of expectations was never disappointed". What a wonderful way to describe a shallow person. As Pamela mentioned, Troy is dangerous!
Bionic Jean wrote: "Thomas Hardy may not have actively disliked Bathsheba any more than any other female, but at least up to 1874 he had a jaundiced view of the entire gender! We've quoted many examples of this. His views on women as flawed and "weaker vessels" are abundantly clear in this and previous novels. Thankfully Bathsheba is a kind of turning point; as Kathleen said, she is more nuanced than earlier females, preparing the way for more fully rounded characters."Oh yes, I definitely agree that at this point in his life he had a jaundiced view of women in general; that's clear from the sexist comments that so often appear in his narrative voice. (Comments like this are also irritatingly common in Lorna Doone and Jamaica Inn, so probably reflect widespread attitudes in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, as well as the specific influence of his mother.) In one sense, that may work to her advantage in his eyes; he may think of some of her flaws as just female traits that, being a woman, she can't help having.
Bionic Jean wrote: "We expect most characters to have a "story arc" and grow through their experiences. What we need to examine... is whether this is true of Bathsheba, or whether she will merely prove to be an instance of a 'weaker vessel'.... beneath Bathsheba's struggling moral consciousness Thomas Hardy tells us, there lies an unalterable infirmity. It is my personal view that if Bathsheba remains static, then this tells us more about the author than it does about the character."
Like you, I greatly appreciate a character arc that shows a person growing morally, psychologically or spiritually through his/her experiences. Personally, I don't despair of that for Bathsheba; but of course, that's what time will tell. (As I said, I've read this novel before; but it was a long time ago, so I don't have a sharp enough memory of all of its details to have an opinion about that at this point.) Bridget, I do agree with your point that, "A woman of lesser morals wouldn't hesitate to marry a man she didn't love. But Bathsheba hesitates and weighs her options. We could see that not a moral failure, but rather a strength of character. She wouldn't marry Oak without love, and now she hesitates to marry Boldwood, for the same reasons. I admire that, rather than chastise her for it."
This reread is already giving me a deeper understanding of some aspects of the book than I had when I started it. For instance, I didn't remember the sexist strand of the narrative, and was inclined to view this novel through the retrospective lens of the more female-friendly Tess, which I read much more recently. I'm also increasingly coming around to the view that Hardy does ascribe a big role to fate. There are a great many turns of phrase and circumstances here that point to that.
What I think kept me from picking up on that aspect in my first read was a tacit assumption that a belief in fate as a major determinant of events would be incompatible with seeing his characters as morally responsible for their actions. He definitely does the latter; he just sees fate as shaping many of the circumstances and events of their lives, within which they exercise their moral responsibility. That's not the same thing as thinking that fate makes their moral choices for them and absolves them from responsibility. (I'm getting a better handle on his thinking now.)
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That's a nice distinction Kathleen.😊 Sometimes it helps to mentally retitle a novel by a character we think to be the main one. Certainly we have been concerned with the events surrounding Bathsheba, so it will be interesting to see how the events proceed, whose fate still concerns us, and whose viewpoint we might be invited to share. Some critics note how the omniscient viewpoint is skilfully adapted, sometimes within a few sentences, so that it is not easily defined.
Yes, the term "male gaze" seems to apply even more than it does in much Victorian fiction. Peter J. Casagrande claims that within the masculine ethos of the novel, Bathsheba's true gain, or "strength" can only come through submission in marriage to an exemplary male. This is what the contemporary readers would have been rooting for, but is it what we would consider to be a good story arc for Bathsheba?
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I think you have hit the nail on the head here. Excellent point Pam, that Bathsheba is quickly learning management skills and getting to groups with running a farm, so it is "hard to believe that that hasn't affected how she sees and reacts to things, yet." As you say, she is not a particularly silly woman, (or overprotected by Victorian social mores).
Thomas Hardy's thesis only works if you start from the same point as he does: that women are by definition "weaker vessels" and morally less developed. Otherwise it seems inconsistent with real life.
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You put the case for the opposition (i.e. to Thomas Hardy's view) very well Bridget! 😁 We are rooting for her, and as Lee mentioned dramatisations show Bathsheba more kindly, stressing her independent spirit, and showing her struggling with the moral quandaries. Thomas Hardy himself does show this, to be fair, but adaptations do not include his snide little remarks about the "hint of triumph" etc. attached. (Those merely reveal his perception of women as flawed creatures.)
Bathsheba may be the literary sister to Fancy Day in Under the Greenwood Tree, Elfrida Swancourt in A Pair of Blue Eyes ...and there's another vain, self-obsessed female from an earlier novel whose name I forget (will put it here if I can remember it!) - but she shows signs of being more fully developed, and arguably (and the critics do argue about this!) have some moral growth.
One thing they do all seem to concur with is that Far From the Madding Crowd represents the start of the more realistic, better observed and rounded novels, showing less of Thomas Hardy's various hang-ups! (The Poor Man and the Lady" showed the most, and was rejected by any publisher.)
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"he just sees fate as shaping many of the circumstances and events of their lives, within which they exercise their moral responsibility ..."
Yes, that's a nice amendment to the idea that everything is predetermined so that his characters have no choice or agency. The trouble then comes when Thomas Hardy has defined his characters so precisely, and "put them in a box" so that their own nature precludes them from behaving any other way! This is true in some cases, but not all. It will be interesting to see where it does apply.
"he may think of some of [Bathsheba's] flaws as just female traits that, being a woman, she can't help having."
Yes, exactly. So can we expect them to change in that case? Or isn't she by definition incapable of developing? I too much prefer Tess, and totally believe in her as an individual. I think by then Thomas Hardy must had thrown off a lot of his mother's influence, or at least accepting what she said about women verbatim.
As for "sexist" ... oddly I never think of Thomas Hardy as making sexist comments. I think that is more to do with exercising power, and used within the context of societal oppression, whatever the underlying belief about the female gender might be. A misogynist on the other hand genuinely believes that a woman is a lesser being than a man. The original meaning was a hater of women of course, just as misanthropist is a hater of people. I know you will know all this, but I still think it might be important to make the distinction, since at no point does Thomas Hardy make what I personally consider "sexist" comments, such as: "Women should not inherit farms".
His ideas on women are not to do with the application of power, but to do with their essential natures. His comments about women in Far From the Madding Crowd are often misogynistic. We may consider each view to be equally misguided ... but there is a difference, I believe.
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Thomas Hardy evidently liked to keep this aspect simple!
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The scene is moments later. As Sergeant Troy came closer, he touched his hat, and said that he had never imagined it was the farm’s mistress he had met the other night. He added that he had heard her called the ‘Queen of the Corn-market’. He was no stranger to the place, but:
“I am Sergeant Troy, as I told you, and I have assisted your uncle in these fields no end of times when I was a lad. I have been doing the same for you to-day.”
Bathsheba indifferently thanked him for his help, but, looking hurt, he said there was no need. He had not meant any offence and remarked that it was a shame bad luck should plague a man for telling a woman she was beautiful. Bathsheba insisted that she would still rather he leave, but he claimed that he would rather have her curses than another woman’s kisses.
“Bathsheba was absolutely speechless. And yet she could not help feeling that the assistance he was rendering forbade a harsh repulse."
Bathsheba simply said, turning away, that she could not allow strangers to be bold and impudent even in praise—he should have said nothing. Much of the pleasure of a feeling, he replied, lay in being able to express a feeling on the spur of a moment. She said she hoped such strength extended to morals and religion, and Troy continued to joke and flirt with her, while she tried to hide a smile. He asked for her forgiveness and she did not accept it. As he continued, Bathsheba, caught between distress and enjoyment cried that he was too profane. He said she surely must have heard what everyone thought of her beauty: at first she demurred, then hesitatingly began to admit that she had ... but failed to end the sentence:
“The careless sergeant smiled within himself, and probably too the devil smiled from a loop-hole in Tophet, for the moment was the turning-point of a career.”
Troy well knew now what would inevitably follow; “the remainder was a mere question of time and natural changes” and continued to praise Bathsheba’s charms, keeping a rigid and stern expression.
Unwittingly Bathsheba said:
“if you can only fight half as winningly as you can talk, you are able to make a pleasure of a bayonet wound!”
And then immediately realised her slip in making this admission. She hastily tried to retrieve the situation, claiming that it did not impress her,, of course, but the damage was done. She ordered him not to speak to her again, and Sergeant Troy said that was too had as he would soon be returning to “the miserable monotony of drill”.
Bathsheba called out his continuous praise “Nonsense, flatterer!” but immediately continued the conversation with “What is it like? I am interested in knowing” and remarked that she had spent to much time there.
On learning that she had no watch Troy immediately took the valuable watch from his wrist and gave it to her, despite her protests, telling her its unique history, and his noble antecedents. As he watched her, it was evident that he was not now acting, or not completely:
“Her beauty, which, whilst it had been quiescent, he had praised in jest, had in its animated phases moved him to earnest; and though his seriousness was less than she imagined, it was probably more than he imagined himself …
her alluring beauty bore out so fully the epithets he had bestowed upon it that he was quite startled at his temerity in advancing them as false.”
Almost his parting words were “Perhaps in setting a gin, I have caught myself.”
He saluted and left. And once left alone, Bathsheba’s heart beat fast, as she too wondered how much of this was true.
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Bathsheba is like putty in his hands, with all his well-practised and ridiculously extravagant praise. Where do our sympathies lie now? I think at first it is with Bathsheba, (although surely even the most innocent and gullible person would only be impressed by this nonsense if they were quite vain.)
Troy seems to structure his manoeuvres quite carefully to me. Because the things he says are so ridiculous, if any women laughed at his words he could say that he was joking, but if they were flustered – or even better, accepted the praise as their due – then he would know he was on a winner. And here we see him inwardly smiling to himself, as he knows he has caught Bathsheba in his web. She is unused to this flirtatious city behaviour.
Bathsheba is conscious something is not right – she remarks at his rhetorical skill - but realising her blunder, clumsily insists that she derives no pleasure from it. Quick-witted Sergeant Troy even has an answer for that: he says he isn’t so conceited as to think so. And then strengthens the feeling of obligation from Bathsheba by saying that he is leaving in a month to return to drill, so she is taking away the small amount of pleasure he has!
Then the final masterly touch comes when, distracted, Bathsheba wonders what time it is. Fate has played into his hands! What a stroke of luck that he should have a valuable gold watch – a unique family heirloom – and one which would be bound to impress his noble breeding on her. And this all comes on top of the fact that he is literally helping her to save her crop of corn.
I think I know who the innocent ewe-lamb is, here!
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Bathsheba is both pleased and uncomfortable at Troy’s advances, but as she attempts to extract herself, Troy impulsively makes a hugely generous gift—one that underlines his impulsive nature in general—as well as the fact that many of his words seem not to be thought through. Now, though, Troy is somewhere between jesting and earnestness—he may have taken his joking too far, as he (too suddenly?) falls under the spell of Bathsheba’s beauty and allure. Bathsheba, meanwhile, has lost her cool reasonableness entirely.
So the mood has switched, and what is Thomas Hardy telling us at the end? That Troy is now in earnest: he had praised her beauty in jest, but that his phrases have now moved him to greater sincerity? He seems stunned that he had ever joked about Bathsheba’s beauty.
What are we to make of this? We have been told in the previous chapter that Sergeant Troy lives in the moment, and here Thomas Hardy calls him “the erratic child of impulse.” We have had many instances of Bathsheba obeying her impulses; in this the two have similar personalties.
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Here Bathsheba is described as a “shrewd woman, in painfully innocent earnest.” So both Troy and Bathsheba seem to be adept at shamming and deceiving when they feel they have the upper hand. Troy is clever and overly charming, but it is implied that he may be earnestly seeking Bathsheba’s attention, just as Bathsheba feigned indifference while inviting the attention of Boldwood. Perhaps the difference lies in their motives.
In some ways she and Troy are similar in their willingness to buck convention. As a woman, though, Bathsheba has to give greater care to her own behaviour. Troy’s bold language leaves Bathsheba stunned. She has not met anyone like him, and cannot fit him into her existing understanding of the world and of men.
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“ a plain blunt man, who has never been taught concealment,” - This echoes Anthony’s speech from William Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar Act 3: Scene 2 “But (as you know me all), a plain blunt man”
The third and ninth Commandments of the Holy Bible:
3 forbids taking the name of the Lord in vain
9 forbids lying
(Troy had earlier called himself an “idolator” which would make him a breaker of the 2nd commandment)
“Tophet” - Hell
“as rigid and stern as John Knox’s in addressing his gay young queen.”
John Knox (c. 1505-72) was a Scottish Protestant Reformer who repeatedly reproved Mary Queen of Scots in his meetings with her.
“you take away the one little ewe-lamb of pleasure that I have” - refers to 2 Samuel 12: 3, where a poor man is described as having “nothing but one little ewe lamb.”
“Cedit amor rebus—‘Love yields to circumstance” - Ovid's Remedia amoris I, 144
“setting a gin” – a trap
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"It is deceptively easy to read, but is carefully structured to reveal a lot about the two characters in it."
That is what I thought about this chapter too. Its just masterful the way Troy slowly wins Bathsheba over. She starts by not wanting to thank him "because I don't much want to thank you for anything". She's trying hard to retain her independence. But by the end of the chapter the "painfully innocent, shrewd woman" says "And I thank you for giving help here" at which point I thought, he's won her over, and she's lost.
Troy is so good at appealing to Bathsheba's vanity. I thought this interchange very telling "Don't - don't! I won't listen to you - You are so profane!" she said in a restless state between distress at hearing him and a penchant to hear more"
All of this so expertly and subtly written by Hardy. You can feel Bathsheba's confliction over what is right and what her heart (and of course her vanity) wants.
This chapter is masterful. Hardy is in such control of his material and captures the ebb and flow of the characters' emotions.Bathsheba and Troy mirror each other during their exchange. At one point, Troy whirls his riding crop, and later Bathsheba pulls at a reed in dismay (also pre-Freud but...). The scene also repeats the earlier one with Boldwood; in both cases Bathsheba has compromised herself with the workers. Troy's smooth tongue contrasts, however, with Boldwood's stumbling proposal.
The scene also captures the elements of Bathsheba's character that we have been discussing. At first, she intends to show her "grown-up" decisive and authoritative personality. Very quickly, however, Troy has teased out her vanity and inexperience. I wouldn't exactly say that she is an imposter because she does have some skill as an organizer and leader, but her weaknesses seem more elemental at this stage in her development (and also much earlier, when she is piqued that Boldwood paid no attention to her in church).
As others noted earlier, Gabriel is the only man who sees Bathsheba for what she is. Boldwood idealizes her, while Troy trifles with (and so devalues) her.
As Jean points out, the watch is a powerful symbol for the important motif of time. We've followed the seasons through the events of the novel. Gabriel is able to tell time by the stars. There was also the scene in which Fanny is late to church and so is rejected by Troy. Are there other references to that motif that I'm not recalling?
The story of Fanny and Troy seemed like a digression at the time, but it has prepared us for this chapter and helped to expose the truth about Troy. While Boldwood was concerned about Fanny, and Gabriel was charitable to her, Troy has abandoned her.
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Great examples, and thanks Erich for picking up on the riding crop/reed symbolism there - I completely missed that one, and it's also an odd bit of foreshadowing ... more later!
Yes, we first came across the watch/clock as a motif with Gabriel's huge, serviceable fob watch, but if it went wrong he would use the position of the stars as you say. Gabriel is rooted in nature, whereas Troy's watch is flashy gold, as fits his image as a pretender. And yes, time was the key factor too represented by the tolling of the hour in the church clock, in the"All Saints and All Souls" chapter; a twist of fate which determined the course of events thereafter.
We must perhaps look out for further examples of timepieces, and what they might signify.
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It was now late June, which was later than usual for hiving the bees, and Bathsheba was watching the Weatherbury bees swarm, waiting for them to settle:
“The bustling swarm had swept the sky in a scattered and uniform haze, which now thickened to a nebulous centre: this glided on to a bough and grew still denser, till it formed a solid black spot upon the light.”
Since all the others were engaged with the hay, Bathsheba had decided to hive them herself. As she got herself ready, Troy walked through the gate and declared he would help her. Bathsheba said he must put on a veil and gloves or protection.
“So a whimsical fate ordered that her hat should be taken off—veil and all attached—and placed upon his head, Troy tossing his own into a gooseberry bush.”
Once Troy had donned the entire outfit, Bathsheba could not help but laugh when she saw him in it. He held up the hive, shaking the bees from it, then said it made one’s arm ache even more than a sword-exercise.
Bathsheba said she had never seen the sword-exercise, and when asked, after a pause said she would like to (and actually felt she would like to very much). Troy bent over and whispered a suggestion in a low voice. Bathsheba blushed, and said she couldn’t—only, perhaps, if she brought Liddy. Troy looked coldly away and said there was no reason to bring her. Bathsheba agreed to come alone, but only for a short time.
““It will not take five minutes,” said Troy.”
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And her comment about sword practice just fell into his lap! Had he set that up by saying his arms ached, do you think? That would be quite manipulative, deliberating mentioning his one special skill in order to show it off to her.
The fact that Bathsheba also feels that Liddy would be “superfluous in the suggested scene” shows us that she has overcome her shyness and discomfort. and is now increasingly confident enough to be as bold and flirtatious as Troy is to her, even if she still feels required to at least gesture towards standards for a virtuous woman.
Things seem to be moving very fast here!
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An “espalier” apple tree is one that is trained to grow flat and symmetrically on a supporting framework to which it is bound.
“some tall, gaunt costard, or quarrenden” - these are varieties of apple.
“gaunt costard” – an older variety whose tree has a rugged appearance
“quarrenden” – a popular variety of apple local to Dorset
“A process somewhat analogous to that of alleged formations of the universe ...”
Hardy is on his Astronomy kick again, and probably thinking of the French astronomer Pierre Simon, Marquis de Laplace (1748-1827) who suggested the “nebula hypothesis”, theorising that stars and planets were formed by the gradual coming together of matter originally distributed in a gaseous nebula.
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Troy's good education is stressed quite a lot. He was born at "Weatherbury" (Puddletown) and went to "Casterbridge Grammar School". The locals believed that he "learnt all languages while he was there ... and could take down Chinese in shorthand" (earlier chapter)
This would be Dorchester Grammar School, founded in 1569 by Thomas Hardye who was no relation; he lived in Melcombe Regis and later Frampton. The original building in South Street was rebuilt on the same site in 1883. It was moved to its present site off South Court Avenue in 1927, the foundation stone of the new building being laid by (our) Thomas Hardy OM. It is now known as Hardye's School.
There are quite a few Thomas Hardy(e)s in Dorset, so it's easy to mix them up! There is also a third one, and people who see a tall monument on Black Down often mistakenly think it is to honour the novelist ... but it isn't! "Hardy's Monument" is a 72-foot-high (22 m) monument on the summit of Black Down in Dorset, erected in 1844 by public subscription in memory of Vice Admiral Sir Thomas Hardy, flag captain of Admiral Lord Nelson at the Battle of Trafalgar. The Hardy family wanted a monument which could be used as a landmark for shipping. It has been shown on navigational charts since 1846 and is visible from a distance of 60 miles.
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Wow, these last two chapters —I indeed feel sorry for Bathsheba. Troy is one slick character and she knows there is danger in this playing with him. Yet, she seems unable to pull herself away.On the one hand, Hardy says she is frivolous and on the other that she is innocent. I guess both can be true, and it is her vainness that is leading her forward toward the feckless Troy.
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In this chapter, I really enjoyed the swarming bees. A swarm of bees can be scary to watch (though they rarely hurt anyone). The way they are described as a black spot on the light felt symbolic of the danger that is coming as Bathsheba moves closer to Troy.
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Troy's good education is stressed quite a lot. He was born at "Weatherbury" (Puddletown) and went to "Casterbridge Grammar School". The locals be..."
This is fascinating, Jean! Was our Thomas Hardy related to Admiral Thomas Hardy, or was there again no connection.
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At eight in the evening, Bathsheba arrived at a wild uncultivated hollow among ferns, before pausing, turning around and going back home. Then, thinking of Troy’s disappointment, she turned around again and ran back:
“She was now literally trembling and panting at this her temerity in such an errant undertaking; her breath came and went quickly, and her eyes shone with an infrequent light.”
Troy was waiting for her, standing in the bottom of the hollow. He climbed up and gave her his hand to help her down the slope. He then drew a sword and began to thrust, explaining all the different manoeuvres he was going through as he did so:
“She took up her position as directed” – Helen Paterson – June 1874
Sergeant Troy proposed that they act as if they were fighting, and he would miss her by a hair’s breadth each time. However, he warned her that she must not flinch, and Bathsheba assured him that she would not. He sliced the air vigorously, and she cried out, but he told her not to be afraid, repeating his warning and assuring her that the sword was not sharp.
Troy was an excellent marksman, and he dazzled Bathsheba:
“Behind the luminous streams of this aurora militaris, she could see the hue of Troy’s sword arm, spread in a scarlet haze over the space covered by its motions, like a twanged harpstring, and behind all Troy himself, mostly facing her; sometimes, to show the rear cuts, half turned away, his eye nevertheless always keenly measuring her breadth and outline, and his lips tightly closed in sustained effort.”
At the end, Troy cut off just one lock of her hair, then pointed to a caterpillar resting on the front of her bodice, and in a flash pinioned it off with the end of his sword.
“But how could you chop off a curl of my hair with a sword that has no edge?”
“No edge! This sword will shave like a razor. Look here.”
So saying Troy shaved a piece of skin from the palm of his hand, and Bathsheba realised she had been within a hair’s breadth of her life. Troy put his weapon away, saying that he never would have let anything happen to her. He then stooped and picked up the lock of her hair, putting it in his coat pocket.
“She felt powerless to withstand or deny him. He was altogether too much for her, and Bathsheba seemed as one who, facing a reviving wind, finds it blow so strongly that it stops the breath.”
He drew nearer, saying he must leave: kissed her, then darted away, leaving Bathsheba in tears.
“She felt like one who has sinned a great sin.”
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Thomas Hardy has been quite bold, as a portrayal of a kiss before marriage would have been shocking to many Victorian readers. This entire stunt has allowed Troy to show off in front of Bathsheba and play the part of the soldier saving a woman in distress. Whilst Thomas Hardy wants us to see some of the bluster of Troy’s position, Bathsheba is blind to it—she fully succumbs to Troy’s flattery and flirtatiousness.
Bathsheba continues to be conflicted. But this conflict is different. It is no longer a choice between paying penance and marrying Boldwood or maintaining her independence; now it is between maintaining her female virtue—an essential quality at the time the novel was written—and submitting to her own desires.
This is what we read, if we take this chapter in a literal sense. Thomas Hardy had researched the sword exercises thoroughly; there were three manuals of instructions for the manoeuvres found in his possession after he died, and his definitions of the terms follow one almost verbatim. He clearly wanted the descriptions of the various thrusts to be authentic. But there is another possible interpretation. (Jean takes a deep breath ...)
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There’s no question that this entire chapter is deeply symbolic. Michael Millgate refers to the “deliberate symbolism of sexual assault” in this chapter. Some of the language reminds me of chapter 11 of the much later novel Tess of the D’Urbervilles, “The Chase”: the dream-like episode where (view spoiler) People bring their own perspective and agenda to this chapter, as the later Thomas Hardy had honed his skills and written very ambiguously. There, it is the consequences which make absolutely clear what must have happened, rather than any explicit details. They were not needed, and no editor would have accepted a graphic description anyway.
On several occasions as Far From the Madding Crowd was being serialised, his editor Leslie Stephen apologised to Thomas Hardy for having to edit out a few lines:
“from excessive prudery; of wh. I am ashamed but one is forced to be absurdly particular.”
In 1874, "The Cornhill"'s readers would have pounced on anything more explicit than a kiss, which was shocking enough. He could not possibly give any definite hint that more was going on here.
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What I am thinking now though, is that this entire chapter is a kind of extended metaphor, and that we are expected to understand that sexual intercourse took place between Troy and Bathsheba. You will have noticed how sensuous the language is:
“The hill opposite Bathsheba’s dwelling extended, a mile off, into an uncultivated tract of land, dotted at this season with tall thickets of brake fern, plump and diaphanous from recent rapid growth, and radiant in hues of clear and untainted green.
At eight o’clock this midsummer evening, whilst the bristling ball of gold in the west still swept the tips of the ferns with its long, luxuriant rays, a soft brushing-by of garments might have been heard among them, and Bathsheba appeared in their midst, their soft, feathery arms caressing her up to her shoulders.”
Then we have the bold title, (not much imagination is needed with this interpretation, as to what a “hollow amid the ferns” could represent) and Troy with his flashy, energetic sword thrusts also representing something else, entirely more earthy. Of course it can be argued that this is still pure symbolism and nothing more, but I am remembering Thomas Hardy’s love for traditional ballads, and the deliberate ambiguity of ones such as “The Bonny Black Hare”.
Here are the lyrics:
https://genius.com/Fairport-conventio...
If you would like to listen to the music too, the folk-rock group Fairport Convention recorded it in 1970, and Steeleye Span also recorded it perhaps 20 years later. (Youtube has a few renderings by these groups, and perhaps other folk groups, but the copyright varies in different countries so any link I provide might not work.)
Anyway, you can tell that the title is ambiguous - a double-entendre - but the lyrics themselves become extremely explicit! The subject matter and local terrain is oddly similar, so I wonder if this, or one of many other traditional English songs, was in the author’s mind.
But you may prefer to think of it as a straight episode; an exciting display of swordsmanship, and a thrilling display which serves as part of a courting ritual. Certainly it is very visual and a dream to film-makers! All 3 of the dramatisations I know have presented a literal scene of sword practice in verdant surroundings, with a handsome young soldier and starry-eyed maiden; so much more preferable creatively, to yet another tastefully filmed sex scene in the bracken.
So let’s spare our blushes and move on …
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Do you remember the first time Bathsheba (and we) we saw Troy, the surroundings were mysterious and gloomy? She was walking through a dark tunnel of foliage, and brushed against an unknown figure. When the figure opened the door on the lantern the scene was suddenly, brilliantly, illuminated. It seemed very theatrical, and I remember saying what a gifted artist who could portray lighting well might make of it. And Erich picked up on the foreboding of the pair’s dark mingled shadows.
Here too we have an almost mystical quality to the scene. First seen merely as a red spot in the distance, up close Troy is dangerous, brilliant and mesmeric. His sword, touched by sunlight is “like a living thing”; it is Troy himself who is hard and metallic, “quick as electricity”. The sword meanwhile takes centre stage, and is always described as a natural phenomenon i.e. like a rainbow, a firmament of light or even a sky full of meteors. Its “luminous streams” spread across the whole sky, and we are not really aware of Troy – only the magic of his flashing sword. When he finally leaves, his scarlet form vanishes “like a brand quickly waved”.
The critic Penelope Vigars says that Thomas Hardy “continually emphasises his unreal, magical quality in Bathsheba’s eyes”.
The power of the writing in this chapter comes from the contrast between the real: the soft, voluptuous natural world, and the fantastic: the artificial trance-like vision of Troy’s mastery and strange power. So we have a hyped-up emotional atmosphere; Bathsheba is dazzled and mesmerised, acquiescing but also bewildered.
The whole is like a dream, and not the romance Bathsheba (and the readers) had probably been expecting. Troy himself is insubstantial for much of this – not part of the illusion but behind it; he is never clearly delineated for us. He may be a voice, a uniform or a splash of red; Thomas Hardy might use a metaphor or indicate a sort of sinister splendour.
Penelope Vigars again says: “Within the concept of the book [Troy] is at once a romantic dream-like character and a fairly innocuous melodramatic villain. Scarcely ever is he seen or described in realistic terms.”
I think this chapter is a perfect example of that. The writing, however you understand it, is superb. There is quite a lot of ambiguity in this novel; we only have to think of Bathsheba’s character to realise this. And Thomas Hardy is at the height of his descriptive powers here.
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A short while ago, I clicked on the link in message 96. About a minute later, my PC froze completely (which is a very unusual occurrence), and I had to restart it to restore functionality. I don't know if the one phenomenon is related to the other, but I thought the synchronicity was striking. :-( Jean, did you experience any anomalies with your computer when you clicked on the link?
Oh dear, Werner. I hope your computer has come back to life without any problems. I was able to click on and read the link fine, and while my computer didn't react, I wasn't able to "spare my blushes" as Jean recommends!My! Well. Hmm. I must admit I can understand Bathsheba falling for these antics. Troy is skilled, brave and daring. The scene is like a dream and I can see how one could easily fall into it without realizing what you've done. Then come to and find he's "spoilt my hair" and taken off with something precious that used to be hers in his pocket.
The Bonny Black Hare is really shocking stuff. I think Hardy's having a great bit of fun here.
Works of Thomas Hardy
Books mentioned in this topic
Far From the Madding Crowd (other topics)Far From the Madding Crowd (other topics)
Tess of the D’Urbervilles (other topics)
The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman (other topics)
Tess of the D’Urbervilles (other topics)
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Authors mentioned in this topic
Thomas Hardy (other topics)George Eliot (other topics)
Thomas Hardy (other topics)
Leslie Stephen (other topics)
Thomas Hardy (other topics)
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Back in the previous thread Lee pointed out the prevalence of twins and mentioned the story of Jacob and Esau. That reminded me of the scene in Chapter 18 in which Gabriel has tied a dead lamb's skin to another lamb to encourage a ewe to adopt it. That is exactly how Jacob fooled his blind father Isaac into blessing him: by covering his arms in lamb skin to imitate the hairy Esau!
In Chapter 19, I noticed a contrast between the virility and activity of Gabriel in the sheep washing and the constrained and uncomfortable Boldwood as he awkwardly proposes with the "splashing and shouts of the washers" in the background.
Similarly, during the sheep shearing in Chapter 22, Hardy tells us that "none of [the shearers] were clothed to any extent worth mentioning," and the description of the shearing is very sensual: the shearing is compared to removing clothes, and the blush of a shorn lamb is commented upon. Significantly, Gabriel not only nicks a sheep after he is distracted by Bathsheba's attention to Boldwood, but the injury is in the groin.
Both at the sheep washing and the shearing, Bathsheba watches Gabriel rather than being watched.
At the beginning of Chapter 23 (the shearing supper), Hardy writes: "This evening Bathsheba was unusually excited, her red cheeks and lips contrasting lustrously with the mazy skeins of her shadowy hair." Once again, redness and blushing is revealing, but also the description of her hair as mazy skeins reminded me of Book IX of Paradise Lost. Here, Satan has just been warned out of Eden by the archangel Gabriel and considers the best way to enter without being detected. He decides on "The Serpent subtlest beast of all the field" and soliloquizes: I wonder if Hardy had these lines in mind when he described Bathsheba.
In the passage that Jean quotes in message 46, what strikes me is the description of Bathsheba and Troy's shadows, that the shapes became "distorted and mangled" and "wasted to nothing." This is a very vivid but also a very odd and foreboding way to describe their shadows, as if their interaction in that dark place is a perversion.