Fate and Pessimism in Far from the Madding Crowd

Fate and Pessimism in Far from the Madding Crowd

Fate plays a major role in many of Hardy's novels; both Tess of the D'Urbervilles and The Mayor of Casterbridge contain various instances where its effects are readily apparent. Moreover, Hardy's novels reflect a pessimistic view where fate, or chance, is responsible for a character's ruin. Far from the Madding Crowd is one of his earliest fiction; here, although it is much more subdued, fate and pessimism are still visible. It is shown throughout the book; Bathsheba Everdene sends a valentine to Farmer Boldwood as the result of her divination by Bible-and-key, Fanny Robin arrives at the wrong church for her wedding with Sergeant Troy, and a wave sweeps Troy out to sea so that he is assumed dead, only for him to return and be shot by Boldwood. Two of the characters, Troy and Fanny, along with her stillborn child, is left dead, and Boldwood is sent to confinement, labeled as being insane.

Nonetheless, fate and pessimism are much more subdued in Crowd than Hardy's later, grimmer works; whereas Tess is put to death, Bathsheba marries Gabriel Oak, the most obvious choice out of the three suitors. Indeed, Crowd is the happiest of Hardy's major novels. As for the more unfortunate characters, it can be said that they were not without fault, especially Troy. In short, Hardy has written a novel with a happy ending, where the protagonists are rewarded and the antagonists are punished.

At least, it would seem so. However, one must wonder if the "punishments" are truly just. And what about Fanny? It would be impossible to mark her as an antagonist. She is young and naïve, and her fate is unavoidable from the moment she falls in love with Tr...

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...was possible. This optimism, balanced with traces of Hardy's early pessimism, makes Far from the Madding Crowd not a failed tragedy but "a significant novel in its own right-a kind of golden mean among the major works" (Carpenter 81).

Works Cited:

Beegel, Susan. "Male Sexuality in Far from the Madding Crowd." Thomas Hardy. Ed. Harold Bloom. New York: Chelsea House Publishers, 1987. 207-226.

Carpenter, Richard. Thomas Hardy. Boston: Twayne Publishers, 1964.

Flynn, Paul. "Sergeant Troy: A `Wicked Soldier Hero' in the Victorian Military." Hardy Miscellany 2 (September 16, 1998). May 12, 2000

Guerard, Albert J. "The Woman of the Novels." Hardy. Ed. Albert J. Guerard. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1963.

Hardy, Thomas. Far from the Madding Crowd. New York: New American Library, Inc., 1960.