Far From the Madding Crowd is considered one of Hardy's lighter works. His treatement 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 digestable, 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 demonstronably superior to his minor works, for it grows principally out of character and natural situations." Post evidence to support Carpenter's statement.
7 comments:
Carpenter is accurate in saying that the Madding Crowd has a plot that is superior because it develops real life characters who the reader can relate to. He creates this modern girl, Bathsheba, who fears settling down and seeks a man that will make her happy, a man whom she really loves. Gabriel Oak is also a real character because he feels as though he loves Bathsheba after seeing her beauty and nature. When he sets out to find Bathsheba, he doesn't know where he is going but is set on finding her. When he does find her he is placed in the best situation: working for her. The situations that the characters are placed in are "natural" because they are exposed to work, love, denial, and decisions. The characters evolve, they grow when faced with nature's forces and fate. In Tess, the characters were fake, hard to relate to. Tess was a perfect girl that had been raped while sleeping. That is hard to grasp, not waking up while being impregnated! She must have been tired. Also when Angel goes to Brazil to start over, even though he loves Tess, and Tess didn't fight for him. In reality, the man wouldn't have gone far, or if he did, the woman would have tried to stop him. Tess was too obedient and didn't give herself the freedom to speak up. Bathsheba is a character that fends for herself. She doesn't take a marriage proposal from a man she doesn't love. She flirts and controls all that she can. She is a real person. Hardy creates this reality reflected in Carpenter's statement in Madding Crowd so that the reader can connect to the characters and the plot.
I agree with Casey. The plot and the characters are realistic and believable. It is easier for the reader to relate to the story.
Bathsheba isn't necessarily an average girl because she has almost as high or higher status than a man because she owns and runs the farm. Though, she does have flaws that many women can relate to. She has problems with men and relationships. At first she has a bad instinct on who she should be with and she leads other men on to thinking that they have a chance with her. She also is "wrong" by Victorian standards by rejecting two proposals. Hardy uses Bathsheba as an example of Victorian hypocrisy when she is at a higher status than the men who propose to her, and therefore she does not want marriage at all (until Sergeant Troy comes along). Normally she should want to marry to further her status.
Gabriel also is an average sort of character. He is an average farmer who falls in love with the beautiful girl. On the other hand Gabriel is not so ordinary. He seems almost perfect. He is morally flawless and an extremely talented farmer who is admired by many.
The plot is much less complex than Tess because the main idea is mainly how Bathsheba works her way through the story and two men to being with the right person...Gabriel. Whereas Tess's fates complicate her story. She has a noble ancestry, her parents send her off to marry into a higher status family, she gets raped by Alec and has a baby, she leaves and falls in love with Angel who she keeps her past a secret from until after they are married...and you know the rest. haha
I agree with both casey and daniel, on the fact that the characters that Hardy creates in Far is both realistic and believable. The decision that Bathsheba has to make between three different types of guys to whom she think is right for her, this captures the readers attention because our world today is consumed with finding that perfect match for them (example: eHarmony.) In Tess we see that its strongly based on her fate which guy she ends up with. You also have a more modern view towards bathsheba for she is almost if not as high of a rank as a male role.
I agree with the previous comments in that Carpenter is accurate in saying that the Madding Crowd has a plot that is superior because it makes the characters more relatable to the reader. In far from the Madding crowd Bathsheba is a superior character. In the Beggining she is so assertive, and in control of her surrondings. She does not allow anyone or anything to make her choices for her. But as Bathsheba gets more involved emotionally she loses her assertive controling spirit. Bathsheba was nothing like Tess at first but as the story carried on we saw how Bathsheba's decisions were swayed by men. Once again Hardy's novels give women all the power and make them superior but then he rips it all away from them at the hands of men.
Far is more believable, as others have previously noted, because of the characters actions; Bathsheba doesn't want to be married right off, which is strange for her victorian time when she could have heightened her status and live on the farm with Gabriel or been with the rich farmer Boldwood and expanded her new found wealth, but she was, to our view, a more realistic character who didn't marry someone she didn't like or marry before she was ready to. The story of many men trying to get together with a beautiful woman is very believable and can be seen today. Compared to the works of Tess allowing herself to be raped, Angel leaving the one he loves for more than a year to go to Brazil, and Tess stabbing her husband who she hesitated to marry in the first place and then running away and hiding in an unused house before getting caught Far is very believable. Bathsheba falling for Seargent Troy is very likely; lots of women fall for a good looking guy whether he is truthful or not. They can't always see through them. Bathsheba ending up with Gabriel whe were each other's first love and had supported each other through the hardships of the lighting storm and work on the farm is also very believable. These things along with the simplicity of the story makes it a superior plot due to the natural situations of farming including the fire, harvest, shearing, and bringing in of the crops before they would get drenched.
I don't think this fits very well with the victorian times due to Bathsheba's control over the farm without a bailif and witholding of marriage from Gabrial and Boldwood.
Carpenter is correct in his analysis that Far From the Madding Crowd "grows principally out of character and natural situations." The setting of the story takes place in the same rural town, the characters aren't constantly moving. The plot therefore is not driven by the setting, rather it focuses more on the characters and the people in the situation. These characters fall into "natural situations" as events that occur are daily events that could easily happen to anyone. For example, Bathsheba bumping into Troy on the path one night. It's very plausable for two people to happen to meet unexpectedly. Also, it's not uncommon for someone to overlook a person that may in fact be meant for them; such as Bathsheba repeatedly overlooking Gabriel. The themes that Hardy presents in Far are more digestable simply because they're lighter. The characters tend to drive the plot forward rather than the terrible incidents that happen in some of his other works, like when Tess was put to death.
I agree with Carpenter statement on Far that “it grows principally out of character and natural situations.” Hardy makes a more sensible world in Far From Madding Crowd by shaping a perplexed, opportunity prone environment. It is unpredictable; it is scary; it is confusing; it is the truth. He allows us the reader to form our own relationships with these characters.
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