Far From The Madding Crowd

Gabriel had only recently adopted the title of “Farmer,” having just procured his own sheep farm. A few nights after the incident with the wagon, we observe Gabriel at work: “Oak’s motions, though they had a quiet energy, were slow, and their deliberateness accorded well with his occupation” (16). On a windy night, he delivers a newborn lamb and takes it inside to care for it before immediately falling asleep, only waking when the lamb bleats for attention to take it back to its mother.

While outside, around one in the morning, Gabriel realizes that what he thought was a star is in fact an artificial light. Upon investigation, he discovers a small shed occupied by two women, one middle-aged and one young; with the women is a cow and a newborn calf. The young woman laments the loss of her hat; when Oak gets a glimpse of her face, he discovers she is the same woman of the wagon earlier. Gabriel, still unseen, returns to his own flock.

The next day, Gabriel sees the young woman on horseback heading down the road. Recalling the loss of her hat, Gabriel finds it in a ditch on the side of the road and waits for her approach. Believing she is alone, the young woman lays down on the horse, displaying a level of comfort in riding a horse “hardly expected of the woman” (24). When she returns later, Gabriel waits for her to come toward the hedge, then introduces himself and returns the hat, indicating both that he had overheard their conversation the night before and that he had seen her on the horse earlier that day, when she thought she was alone. This proves a mistake, as his “want of tact had deeply offended her—not by seeing what he could not help, but by letting her know that he had seen it” (27). The two part ways, and though Gabriel continues to look for her, she does not look in his direction.

Five days later, Gabriel, to escape from the cold while milking his ewes, enters his hut and makes the fire fiercer. The hut contains two ventilation holes, of which one must remain open, usually the one away from the wind. Gabriel decides to leave them both closed for a few minutes to let the hut warm up, but he dozes off in the meantime before doing so. He awakens some time later being cared for by the young woman, who had saved him when she heard his dog howling and scratching at the door.

Gabriel asks for her name, but she replies that though he can feel free to ask her aunt for her name; she feels no need to provide it, as they likely will not have much to do with one another. She allows him to hold her hand for a moment, then says she supposes he would like to kiss it; however, when he says he will, she withdraws.

Oak feels that he is now in love with the woman, whose name he discovers is Bathsheba Everdene. As he is accustomed to looking for her when she milks her cow, he dreads that the cow will run dry in one week; once the cow runs dry, Bathsheba stops coming up the hill, saddening Gabriel. Oak decides to make Bathsheba his wife and considers how he might find an excuse to visit their cottage.

After the death of one of his ewes one January morning, he places its lamb into a basket and visits the cottage under the pretense of offering the lamb to Bathsheba to rear. Bathsheba’s aunt tells Gabriel that he can wait for her to come back in, and Gabriel explains his intent to ask her to marry him; however, when her aunt tells him that she has many other suitors, Gabriel decides that he isn’t good enough for Bathsheba.

A short distance away, Bathsheba catches up to Gabriel—she heard the conversation and corrects her aunt, as she has no suitors. This makes Oak happy initially, as he believes this demonstrates interest; however, Bathsheba corrects this notion, explaining that she does not want to marry him, but only wished to correct the falsehood to protect her reputation.

Oak tries to convince her; she appears to open up to the idea, but then dashes it and says decisively that she does not wish to be married just yet, and not to Gabriel. “It wouldn’t do, Mr. Oak,” she tells him. “I want somebody to tame me; I am too independent; and you would never be able to, I know” (41). Further, she convinces him that it would be a bad match, love aside: Bathsheba is educated but poor, and Oak, as a new farmer, should marry someone with money, “who would stock a larger farm for you than you have now” (41). Oak agrees not to ask her anymore. 

A short time later, Gabriel learns that Bathsheba has moved away to Weatherbury, although “in what capacity—whether as a visitor, or permanently, he could not discover” (43).

Gabriel employs two dogs on his farm, an older one, George, who had been abused by his previous owner, and that dog’s nameless son, which Gabriel was in the process of training. Although the young dog is eager, he is slow on the uptake. One evening, when the young dog does not come when called, Gabriel presumes the dog is still chewing on a lamb he had left for them and goes to bed. He awakens to the sound of bleating and discovers that the majority of his flock has disappeared; he eventually finds the young dog pointing over a cliff, at the bottom of which lay his two hundred dead, uninsured ewes. Oak concludes that the young dog had continued herding the ewes long past supper, frightening them into breaking through the fence to escape. Oak is ruined as a farmer—he shoots the dog, sells off his remaining possessions to pay his debts, and moves on, having lost all he had worked for over the previous ten years. 

Two months after the loss of Gabriel’s farm, he attends a job fair in Casterbridge. Job seekers mark themselves by various means depending on the job they seek; Gabriel initially seeks work as a bailiff, but as the day wears on and it seems shepherds are in demand, he goes to a smith’s shop to get the requisite dress and equipment to mark himself as a shepherd. However, he does not have much more luck there, and what luck he does have is spoiled when he reveals that he previously lost his own farm.

At the end of the day, he discovers that there is another fair in a town, Shottsford, on the other side of Weatherbury—the latter excites him, as he remembers that Bathsheba had moved there, though he presumes that she left long ago. He strikes out toward Shottsford, planning to sleep in Weatherbury on the way.

While en route, he naps for a bit in an empty wagon; however, he awakens to discover he is moving rapidly. He stays hidden and overhears the wagoner and his companion speaking about a woman who sounds to Gabriel like Bathsheba, though he believes that cannot be the case. When the wagon reaches Weatherbury, Gabriel slips out unnoticed.

As Gabriel decides whether to find lodging or sleep rough, he notices a fire about half a mile away, and he immediately rushes toward it. Gabriel leaps into action as others arrive around him. As they work to extinguish the fire, a woman arrives on horseback and inquires about Gabriel, but no one knows who he is. When he finishes, the woman asks to speak with him. The woman turns out to be Bathsheba, who inherited the farm from her uncle. Gabriel asks if she needs a shepherd. 

Bathsheba is too taken aback to respond right away, but the townspeople, enamored by Gabriel’s quick and heroic actions, call for her to hire him on the spot. She assents and tells him to speak with the bailiff.

Gabriel asks the bailiff about lodging, but the bailiff refuses to help, instead sending him to Warren’s Malthouse, where the rest of the townspeople have gone on for dinner and drink, courtesy of Bathsheba. As Gabriel walks to the malthouse, he encounters “a slim girl, rather thinly clad” (62) who directs him to the malthouse and advises him where he might find lodging. When the girl discovers he is a stranger, she asks him not to mention her presence for a day or two; Gabriel assents, but insists on giving her some money. They part ways. 

Gabriel finds the malthouse; upon entering, the “conversation […] immediately ceased, and every one ocularly criticized him to the degree expressed by contracting the flesh of their foreheads and looking at him with narrowed eyelids, as if he had been a light too strong for their sight” (65). Gabriel introduces himself, and some of the older men recognize his name; they knew his father and grandparents some time ago. The men invite Gabriel to join them for drinks and food, and they are impressed by Gabriel’s lack of pretension. As they eat and drink, the men of the town introduce themselves.

At a pause in the conversation, Gabriel asks what kind of mistress Bathsheba is. However, as she only arrived a few days prior, none of the men know much about her, though they have good things to say about her uncle. They also tell Gabriel about Bathsheba’s father, who was wild in his younger years, but later became a devout Christian.

Later in the evening, one of the men sees Gabriel toying with his flute; he had seen Gabriel earlier in Casterbridge playing for money. They convince him to play a bit, as they have not heard music in a while.

Much later, the men begin to leave for the night, Gabriel included. Shortly after he leaves, Henry Fray rushes in to report the news that the bailiff, Pennyways, was caught stealing and fired. Just after that, Mr. Tall rushes in to report that Fanny Robin, Bathsheba’s youngest servant, has disappeared. Bathsheba requests the appearance of the men still up and about. She asks them to inquire about Fanny in nearby towns the next day, and when one volunteers that Fanny had been seeing a soldier in Casterbridge, they decide to go to the barracks to ask about her if she does not return by the next day.

The next day, as the servants clean the house, Bathsheba receives an unannounced visitor: Mr. Boldwood; as the house is a mess, though, she has him sent away. Boldwood replies that he was only there to inquire after Fanny, as he had heard the news. After he leaves, Liddy and Maryann tell Bathsheba about Boldwood, a wealthy local farmer, a bachelor at forty despite having had numerous pursuits.

The women talk briefly about marriage. Once alone, Liddy asks Bathsheba if she has ever had anyone ask her to marry him. Bathsheba thinks of Oak, but says only that someone wanted to once, but that he was not good enough for her, though she “rather liked him” (90). 

Shortly after, a number of the townspeople visit Bathsheba regarding the recent troubling events. She first informs them that she does not intend to hire a new bailiff, but rather “manage everything with [her] own head and hands” (93). Following that, she asks if they have heard anything of Fanny; none of the men present have, but William Smallbury has gone to Casterbridge and is expected back shortly.

While they wait, Bathsheba speaks with each of the people present to determine what work they do and how much they are to be paid; she pays each who wishes to stay on with her, including a small bonus for each as she is a newcomer.

William returns, having drawn the conclusion that Fanny has run off with the soldiers. He discovered in Casterbridge that the regiment had gone to Melchester to replace soldiers who had gone to war; as Fanny’s lover is a soldier, he has concluded that she must have followed him to Melchester. However, he was unable find out any more about the man other than that he is higher in rank. Through this, Gabriel remains quiet. 

Many miles north of Weatherbury, at ten at night, Fanny Robin appears outside the walls of the barracks containing Sergeant Francis Troy. She throws snowballs at the window to get his attention, and Troy is astonished to find her outside. She asks him to come out, but he replies that the bugle has sounded, and thus he is stuck inside for the evening. Fanny asks him when they will be married. They discuss the arrangements, then Fanny departs for the night.