Far From The Madding Crowd - Hardy: nature, love and relationships

Résumé du document

Nature is essential in Far From The Madding Crowd but love and relationships are central elements in this novel. Hardy articulates these dimensions by using nature as an omen, as an echo of feelings and thoughts but also as a pretext to bring people together.

In the novel, Hardy uses nature as a premonition, as a clue to understand the future of some relationships between different characters. For example, Fanny, most of the time, appears alone, at night, hidden in the darkness. In chapter seven, she meets Gabriel for the first time. She is alone at night, she is fleeing Bathsheba's house, to ask Troy to marry her.

Extraits

[...] This metaphor represents the danger, and this danger is brought by Troy. It is an omen of the future harm he will do to Bathsheba and Fanny. To finish, another omen in this novel can be seen in chapter 38, two chapters before fanny's death. In this chapter, Troy and Bathsheba are in a hill that is slowly reached by a very dismal and frightening atmosphere as Fanny approaches. She arrives between the overshadowing trees, in the eventide. It is like a snake that is slowly suffocating her, this atmosphere is anticipating her death in the next chapter. [...]

[...] Nature is echoing William Boldwood's feelings provoked by his relationship with Bathsheba. In chapter 14, when he receives Bathsheba's Valentine that said marry me”, Boldwood did not feel comfortable but he was happy. The metaphor of the sky, this night, that was putting lights where shadows used to be, reflected Boldwood's spirit. The fact that this woman could like him lightened his spirit, he became hopeful. But, then, when a second letter arrived, full of hope, he thought it was a second Valentine. [...]

[...] In chapter she told him to go away, as he revealed her that playing with Boldwood's feelings as an entertainment was vain. They separate once again and Hardy disguises the dying sheeps as a pretext to get them together. She needs him because he is the only one who knows how to save the animals, so she writes a desperate message, and Gabriel comes to help her. Once again, nature brought them together. Then, death is part of nature, and Fanny's death is a way to find her and Troy together again, without being forced to hide. [...]

[...] The rain represents Troy thinking that by this good action, his sins will be washed away, exactly in the same way the rain cleans the dust. It is a symbol of cleanliness, like his “sleep of the just”, at the end of his task. III. Nature as a pretext to bring people together Finally, Hardy makes nature play another important role in the relationships between characters, it is a pretext to bring people together and this, from the beginning of the novel. [...]

[...] This task also shows their proximity, he is touching her through the grave, through the soil, despite life and death. To conclude, Hardy uses nature in a very deft way to show the importance of its connection between two characters. By using a natural symbol, he predicts a failure in relationships, exactly as literary features that can play the role of an omen. Hardy's precised description of nature is presented as the mirror of character's thoughts. He also shows the importance of some relationships by disguising natural disasters of natural elements of life as pretexts to bring those people together. [...]