Far from the Madding Crowd Study Guide
Thomas Hardy is most known for his novel “ Far From the Madding Crowd”. It was published in 1874 and transformed to multiple awards winning film in the end of 1960s. Today it still continues to be in the top 100 reading lists of different publications, such as BBC and The Guardian.
The story takes place in an imaginary country called Wessex. The style, descriptions, and behavior of the characters preserve strong similarities with Victorian England.
Imagine Bathsheba Everdene – a beautiful, smart, independent and a bit sassy young lady. She is popular with men and knows how to use her charm. At one point in life, Gabriel Oak tries to court her. He is simple, not the most handsome man she met, calm and maybe even cold. But the girl wants passion, she wants to hear compliments, to see action. It doesn’t mean she’d marry him if he did all of that. She simply likes it…
The people around try to persuade her that he’s a good match for her. Can you make a heart follow the voice of the reason? Some call it heart, others call it vanity, but the fact is as it is: it’s hard to make somebody fall in love by reason. The book is a great love story that discovers different aspects of relationships between men and women under different circumstances.
Allow yourself to be conquered by a handsome prince. Maybe he will break your heart, maybe it will hurt in the end. But it’s so sweet to let yourself be carried away by this immense feeling of love. The story of a good girl who loses her mind from a man unworthy of her is so common today. And it was also common in the 19th century. Feelings are eternal and so is the human race. Discover another great story that talks about a woman who gets smarter and wiser, learning from her mistakes.
Author: Noah Kennedy
New Essays
“They spoke very little of their mutual feeling; pretty phrases and warm expressions being probably unnecessary between such tried friends.” — — “It is difficult for a woman to define her feelings in language which is chiefly made by men to express theirs.” — Page 204 — “Love is a possible...
?chapter 1: "She simply observed herself as a fair product of Nature in the feminine kind. " – The girl that Gabriel is watching from a distance seems very vain as she looks at herself in the mirror and blushes at herself. "Let the young woman pass,” - says Oak after giving his to pence to the...
Long considered one of England's foremost nineteenth-century novelists, Hardy established his reputation with the publication of Far from the Madding Crowd in 1874. It was the first of his so-called “Wessex novels,” set in a fictitious English county closely resembling Hardy's...
Hardy was aware of the gender bias inherent in Victorian society and culture, the expectations that limited women’s opportunities. He explores the restricted and disempowered status of women through the experiences of Bathsheba Everdene. Although a perfectly capable, educated and head strong...