Far From The Madding Crowd

Gabriel Oak is the shepherd of Upper Weatherbury Farm as well as its de facto bailiff, later also taking on the responsibilities at Boldwood’s Little Weatherbury Farm. The novel opens with Gabriel, who at that point has his own farm in Norcombe, though he is only just starting out and still has debt from the venture. Unfortunately, a sheepdog in training drives his sheep off a cliff, bankrupting him; a short while later, by accident, he ends up in Weatherbury, where Bathsheba somewhat reluctantly takes him on as shepherd.

Gabriel is described as a hardworking, stoic, not-unhandsome man, 28 years old at the start of the novel. He is clever and skillful, and although he is less educated than Bathsheba, is literate and well-read. He is a man who occupies multiple spheres, appearing as comfortable with the working-class laborers of Weatherbury as he is with Boldwood and Bathsheba. That said, he does not seem to really fit in anywhere specific—although he seems well-liked by the townspeople, he is often portrayed as an outsider in their conversations (conversations which are represented as key entry points in understanding rural English life).

Most important is Gabriel’s complicated relationship with Bathsheba, and much of his character development derives from this relationship. Shortly after he first encounters her, he asks her to marry him, an offer she declines. Nevertheless, after coming on as her shepherd, he demonstrates an unusual, though reserved, affinity for her; he does not pursue her as Boldwood does, but he demonstrates a familiarity with her that simultaneously causes her to rely on him while also making her uncomfortable due to their relative positions. He frequently gives her advice—wanted or otherwise—and though he is once dismissed and another time suggests he is planning to move to California, he always stays close by because he knows she needs him. At the end of the novel, after several years of friendship—and after her previous suitors end up dead or in prison indefinitely—they marry one another.

Farmer Boldwood is the tenant of Little Weatherbury Farm, “the nearest approach to aristocracy that this remoter quarter of the parish could boast of” (145). When we are first introduced to him, he is a bachelor of forty and a very serious man who takes little notice of anything beyond his work and other duties. His private life is a matter of much speculation as a result, and the rumor is that he was jilted by a woman as a young man, which has in turn caused him to reject any suitor who has come his way. This may be a case, however, of rumor shaping truth: the reality could be that Boldwood is simply a single-minded man, and as he is focused on his work, has never noticed the women around him.

It bothers Bathsheba that Boldwood does not take notice of her, as he is the only man who does not; as a result, she decides to send him a valentine on Valentine’s Day with the seal “Marry Me” as a jest. Boldwood, however, is unable to imagine that anyone would suggest such a thing as a joke and becomes obsessed, first by the valentine, then by Bathsheba. His single-mindedness proves to be his downfall; as he becomes obsessed with Bathsheba and his pursuit of her, he neglects his other duties, even allowing much of his crop to be destroyed in a heavy storm because he is consumed by heartbreak following Bathsheba’s elopement with Sergeant Troy.

Boldwood’s character might be seen as a hyperbolic critique of Victorian ideals in the serious, moral man. While Boldwood is presented initially as being a strong, upright citizen of Weatherbury, it is his sharpness ruins him, as he acts toward Bathsheba through the passion of conquest, not of emotion. Even his pursuit of Bathsheba is subtly critiqued—from the perspective of outsiders, he is a natural match for her, but we see the pain he causes her in his single-minded pursuit of her, and even her eventual assent to a future engagement is done through tears. He is a “good man” who is not actually a very good man—merely one who operates within the Victorian moral code rather than against it, as Troy does.

It should also be noted that although Troy might be seen as a natural foil for Boldwood, Gabriel, too, might be contrasted with him given his own instincts. In fact, had Gabriel initially succeeded as a farmer, it would not be a stretch to assume he might have ended up like Boldwood by the time he reached Boldwood’s age.

Sergeant Francis Troy occupies several positions in the novel, most prominently that of Bathsheba’s once-husband. At the start of the novel, Troy is the secret lover of Fanny Robin, for whom she sneaks away from Weatherbury to marry; however, Fanny goes to the wrong church, embarrassing Troy and causing him to call off the wedding indefinitely. A short while later, Troy returns to Weatherbury on leave, where he accidentally encounters Bathsheba; they begin a whirlwind romance and marry secretly. Once married, though, it becomes clear that Troy does not really love Bathsheba, but rather is only interested in drinking and spending her money at the racetrack in Budmouth.

After Fanny’s death, a distraught Troy tells Bathsheba that he would always love Fanny, not her. He procures a gravestone for Fanny, then leaves town. On a whim, he swims in a cove, but is swept out to sea, rescued at the last minute by a passing ship. He stays on with the ship and spends some time later in America, while back in England he is presumed dead; however, just when Bathsheba has agreed to accept Boldwood’s engagement, Troy, having tired of living hand-to-mouth, returns to Weatherbury and tries to reclaim his wife at Boldwood’s Christmas party. A scuffle ensues, and Boldwood shoots Troy dead.

Troy serves primarily as a foil for Boldwood and general antagonist. Whereas Boldwood operates within Victorian principles and ideals, Troy flaunts them. For example, although educated and well-off, Troy chooses to enlist in the military; after marrying Bathsheba, he uses his status as new head of household and master of Upper Weatherbury to drink, gamble, and generally make merry, almost destroying the farm in the process the night of their wedding celebration; and, unbeknownst to most, it becomes clear that Fanny and Troy had extramarital relations, as Fanny dies with child. If Gabriel is a milder version of Boldwood, then Troy in many ways is a more extreme version of Bathsheba—given to passions and whims, to such a degree that ultimately becomes his downfall when he tries to take back what he believes rightfully his (which is not Bathsheba so much as the life he is able to keep while acting as her husband).