Far From the Madding Crowd - Hardy: how does Hardy explore fate in his novel ?

Résumé du document

"Once you make a decision, the universe conspires to make it happen." said Ralph Waldo Emerson. In Far From the Madding Crowd, fate steps in as soon as the book begins.
We will see in details how Hardy explores fate in his novel, first by the names he chose for his characters, then by how one of Troy's personality trait can bring him to death and to finish, Fanny's mistake and how she collapsed under the weight of fate.

Extraits

[...] Once again he left his wife, fate would not let him another chance. When Troy came back, Bathsheba got engaged to Boldwood, despite herself. Then he ordered her to come home with him and as she did not reply, he pinched her, he made her his good. Fatal mistake, he have had chances enough to become a virtuous man. Boldwood killed him. In fact, fate have had enough of his disrespect towards everyone, especially towards his two wives. Here, fate has multiple faces, like Fanny who he had abandoned (her revenge), the rain that destroyed Troy's work on the grave or Boldwood who tried to protect Bathsheba from a life that she repulsed, even if she didn't choose a life with Boldwood neither. [...]

[...] Far From the Madding Crowd - Hardy: how does Hardy explore fate in his novel? Once you make a decision, the universe conspires to make it happen.” said Ralph Waldo Emerson. In Far From the Madding Crowd, fate steps in as soon as the book begins. We will see in details how Hardy explores fate in his novel, first by the names he chose for his characters, then by how one of Troy's personality trait can bring him to death and to finish, Fanny's mistake and how she collapsed under the weight of fate. [...]

[...] The real element that plunged Troy into an eternal repentance is Fanny's coming back. Once again, pride got the upper hand on empathy. He didn't help her immediately, he spurned her. From that moment things got worse: Fanny died with her baby. Then, Troy become desperate and in love with her. He realized that he had all wrong, and, by planting flowers on her grave, he tried to apologize but nature destroyed his work while he was sleeping. It means that he would never be forgiven. [...]

[...] She can not handle the tragedy of her life, but if she was still alive, she would have to bear the rudeness of the villagers, so fate could have helped her too, but without giving her any choice on the way she wanted to go on her life (victorian woman destiny), neither any chance to escape from this cut-throat area where Troy pushed her. To conclude, fate is almost everywhere in the novel. It is hidden in a very deft way, in the characters' names, or in a vice that has to be punished. Fate is personified and has multiple faces (the rain, the society and so on). Hardy has chosen to draw fate as pitiless, ruthless, but also as a salvation and, at the same time, as the cruel society, and as a moral judge. [...]

[...] In Far From the Madding Crowd, it is the same story. Bathsheba had a powerful beauty: every man was at least attracted by her. Then, three men (Gabriel, Boldwood, Troy) were in love with her, they wanted to seduce her and to own her too, but she refused to be thought men's property and two of them were punished by fate. The only one that really respected her wish was Gabriel because he said he will never ask her to marry him again, because he waited for her to choose him and not impose himself. [...]