Far from the Madding Crowd

 Q. 1 Discuss the significance of the title far from the Madding Crowd.

Elegy in a country churchyard is a poem written by Thomas Gray in 1750. It is from this poem Thomas Hardy took his title "Far from the Medding Crowd". The words of his title literary mean far from the town life, which described as a maddening crowd. With the knowledge that the book is set in the countryside, we are given the impression that the characters will lead problem-free and peaceful lifestyles. However, the actual situation is very different. All the characters are living with the problems of their life and driven by infatuation and lust. Not any character is living life with peace. Thus, title can be identified with an ironic meaning.

The story is set in the countryside, this does not mean that the characters have calm lives. The plot is mainly based on three men's love for the beautiful yet hopeless Bathsheba Everdene. The first character to fall in love with Bathsheba is Gabriel Oak. He is a humble, courageous, and even with Bathsheba's rejection to his proposal of marriage- which he accepts- he is true and loyal to Bathsheba throughout the novel.

 Although Oak is upset in love, he is not dishearten and continues to adore her. He is willing to risk his becouse he knows the importance of doing his job well for his mistress, as well as for the woman he loves. The first in incident in which Gabriel helps Bathsheba is when her farm catches fire. Gabriel is merely passing by her home when he sees it going in flames. " Oak suddenly ceased from being a spectator." He takes charge, and succeeds in controlling the fire. Everyone at the farm is very impressed with Gabriel's skills and it is this event that brings Bathsheba, and Gabriel together again. 

Here she employs him as her shepherd. Gabriel has also helped Bathsheba again when her sheep have broken into a clover field and he saves the entire flock from dying of colic by Swift action. Even in the relationship with Troy, she was not able to survive without love. Oak has always supported her with all his heart. He was there in all the problems of Bathsheba.

The title represents the peace of mind and calmness in the character of life, but the reality represents the chaos in the life of all the characters. Firstly, Bathsheba is frustrated with all her love relationship. She was not able to accept the love of Gabriel Oak, and in fun, she has proposed Boldwood, after that she got married with Troy. Even her marriage was also unsuccessful. At the end of the novel, she married Oak. 

The next important character is Oak. He was living peacefully, but at the very stating of the novel, he met a terrible tragedy. He lost his everything and he has to leave the town. He also lost his love Bathsheba and she has rejected her. He has witnessed her love Bathsheba's love affairs. Finally, he got peace at the end of the novel. 

Another important character is Boldwood. He was middle - aged man and was in love with a woman. She betrayed him and left him. Bathsheba has proposed him to satisfy her ego and denied to marry him. His mental condition got worst becouse of his passion for Bathsheba. He suffered a lot and murdered Troy. He went in jail and suffered a lot. His life become miserable because of the emotion of love.

Troy is third lover of Bathsheba, whom she married. The marriage was not successful. The reason of love was attraction, lust, and infatuation. He was not able to come out of the passion of his ex- girlfriend fanny and she betrayed Bathsheba and left her. After the death of fanny, he realised the actual meaning of love and sacrifice. He also lost his baby, girlfriend and wife. His life become full of tragic incidents. He has left his town and spend his days in working USA with a circus group. At the end of the novel, he was shot dead by Boldwood and he lost his life too. The minor but significant character is fanny Robbin. She has suffered a lot during the journey of her life. She was the servant of Bathsheba and was girlfriend of Troy. She wanted to marry Troy and was pregnant. She has lost her and her baby's life.

Thus, we can say that title signifies madness in within, which can be related with the outer world. Crowd is not mad, but people in the crowd are. The chaos of world is only because of the chaos within. In this novel, characters have chaos within their self, and that's why they can live peacefully though they are "far from the Madding Crowd".