Film "Far from the Maddened Crowd"

The title straight away informs you that this story, although set in the country-side is not going to be that different from life in the city. The title is ironic; it shows the characters struggling and suffering, maddened people committing suicide, yet they live in idyllic rural surroundings. ‘Far from the Madding Crowd’ is evolved around a certain woman, Bathsheba Everdene. Bathesheba is firstly portrayed as a poor, attractive cottage girl admiring herself in the mirror. Thomas Hardy, the author, clearly wanted to show immediately the vanity within herself.

However, it is her good looks that attract all her admirers.

Although we soon learn to know that Bathsheba is a well-educated woman, we find as a reader that she is “too wild” to be governess. This suggests that she will behave unpredictably towards her future proposals. Bathsheba attracts her admirers by her dark good looks, independence and courage. As the only woman in the corn market, she becomes obsessed by the admiration of all the other farmers except Mr.

Boldwood, after showing courage by saving Gabriel Oak from suffocating when sleeping in front of the fire by throwing “warm tea” over him. Bathsheba is fairly obsessed with having everyone’s attention, so she sends Mr.

Boldwood a valentine as a harmless joke. A joke, as she does not love him does not seem very problematic to her. After receiving this letter, Mr. Boldwood becomes quite infatuated by Miss. Everdene and asks for her hand in marriage by offering “a lady’s life of leisure”.

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Bathsheba, feeling quite guilty for sending the Valentine in the first place now, apologises and explains that she has “not fallen in love” with him. However, being frightened by his “vehemence” she asks for longer to consider the proposal. Boldwood becomes obsessed with what was implied to be a simple trick, but has fallen for it and has inspired such a strong passion.

There are many consequences to this obsession that the readers see by Boldwood towards Bathsheba. We see that he soon loses control of his farm and himself. He even becomes so obsessed, that he doesn’t go without seeing her to ask if she had made up her mind yet. He also started to show signs of the stalker syndrome whereby he practically followed her everywhere she went. As Boldwood is quite late in his life to be having such deep feelings like this towards a woman, he comes across as too weak to cope and quite ill equipped.

He knows and understands that he was once “a confirmed bachelor” at “forty one years old”, but says that things can change. Boldwood, before meeting Bathsheba was quite a self controlled and aloof man, but now he has no control over himself and becomes wild with jealousy when he discovers by twist of fate that on the same night that Boldwood gave Bathsheba until harvest time, she met the gallant Sergeant Troy. The reader first notices Troy as the soldier who agrees to marry “little Fanny Robin”. Fanny Robin is a delicate, shy, romantic but weak young woman. Troy also has no respect for his once fianci?

Fanny, as this is show when she is dead and he puts her grave under a water pipe where it is ruined. This shows that Fanny got no respect when she was alive or when she was dead. She was cheated and ignored in life and death. When Troy discovers that Fanny is dead, he shouts at Bathsheba and proved in his own words, “All romances end at marriage”. This shows that there was never any real love in the relationship from Troy, but only from Bathsheba. Fanny and Bathsheba are in direct contrasts to each other. Fanny, who is blonde and fragile, is quite the opposite of Bathsheba who is dark and lively.

Bathsheba and Fanny only meet each other once on Yalbury Hill however, they didn’t realise that they both loved the same “fickle” man – Sergeant Troy. His pride is wounded by Fanny’s failure to arrive at the right church for their wedding. This made him extremely angry and decided not to see her again. Later, Troy is seen treating Fanny carelessly, leaving her out in the snow to find her own lodgings. However, after the wedding, Fanny thought that Troy was just implying that the wedding was to be the next day. She was so blinded by love for him, that she didn’t see his anger at one who was so obsessed with him.

He however, was obsessed with is pride, “You fool, for so fooling me! ” When Troy first meets Bathsheba “in a young plantation of tapering ferns”, her skirt is caught on his spur. Whilst trying to relieve her, he remarks on her beauty “thank you for the sight of such a beautiful face”. Eventually they part, but once home, Bathsheba asks Liddy, her maid, many questions about this new encounter. Both, Troy and Bathsheba are attracted by each other’s looks. Troy is very attractive, articulate but “common place in action”. He is better educated than an average soldier, but often lies to women.