Question- Write short notes on the major characters of the novel, and show how Hardy develops these characters in the course of the novel.

Answer-

All novels have two major elements - story and characters apart from the narrative style, i.e., how the story is narrated. The plot or events drive the novel from the start to the finish, while characters move the story forward with their words and actions. Characters are of many types; each has its unique characteristics and functions. Normally the characters do not change midway in the course of the novel. Some characters develop and grow and these are the ones who contribute to the progress of the story. These characters start out one way and end up different, and the change in the story is brought out by what happens to them. Who are the main characters in this novel? The major characters pivotal to the story, whose actions develop it from beginning to end are discussed below.

1. Bathsheba

Everdene Bathsheba, the orphaned daughter of a wealthy farm owner, is raised by her aunt in the countryside. She is the protagonist as the novel centers around her. The story progresses through her relationship with three suitors and her final choice reflects her personal growth from the impulsive and headstrong woman that she was at the beginning to a mature woman who can manage her emotions. She is pivotal to the story and her final choice of Gabriel Oak as her husband shows she is far from her mad obsessed lover, Farmer Boldwood and a pretentious, self absorbed husband, Sergeant Troy who deserts her soon after marriage. Bathsheba is by far the best-drawn and strongest female character seen in Hardy's work, despite her vacillations. Hardy shows her to be a strong and self-reliant woman and although she makes some poor choices, they do make sense. She is a realistic character whose statement made late in the novel helps to explain Tess, Eustacia and Sue the central female leads in Hardy's later novels: 'it is difficult for a woman to define her feelings in language which is chiefly made by men to express theirs."

2. Gabriel Oak

Gabriel, like Bathsheba, is different from all other characters in the novel. He is far from the madding crowd of Weatherbury, for he is originally from Norcombe Hill and he comes to Weatherbury in search of a job. He is an outsider to Weatherbury and learns about the people of that place and their way of living after he gets a job under Bathsheba to manage her farm and

English -- II Paper / 67 settles down there. While the Weatherbury folks are given to gossip and are skeptical about a woman deciding to manage her own farm, Gabriel Oak, a shepherd who was reasonably well off in his native place till tragedy struck him with the loss of his two hundred sheep, suffers from no false pride and accepts a job under a woman. He does not gossip about anyone. He is humble and gentle and accepts Bathsheba's instant rejection of his marriage proposal in his stride. His humility, unboastful character and selflessness are in marked contrast to the vain, boastful, selfcentric Sergeant Troy who marries Bathsheba and leaves her. He is also a simple rustic shepherd from an obscure village and thus is a contrast to the country-bred, complex and wealthy gentleman Farmer Boldwood, who falls a victim to his own passion that was initially kindled by Bathsheba's prankish message to him to marry her. Thus Gabriel Oak is far removed from both the suitors of Bathsheba Sergeant Troy and Boldwood. Gabriel Oak stands out in the midst of the Weatherbury crowd, and proves to be a likeable loner, far from the madding crowd.

3. Sergeant Francis

Troy Sergeant Troy is a handsome, dashing young soldier, charming to women and a pleasure seeker. He is not one of the Weatherbury types; he feels superior to the countryfolks in Weatherbury and his conquest of Bathsheba provokes awe and admiration in the innocent rural farmhands. He is in their eyes a hero who could tame Bathsheba, the spirited young woman of the place. He is not 36 like Gabriel Oak who is self-effacing and withdrawing by nature. He is unlike Farmer Boldwood who is a strict no-nonsense type and who adheres to Christian morals. Boldwood has a congenital hatred for Sergeant Troy who with his pretentious charm, woos and wins Bathsheba. If Gabriel Oak, who ultimately proves successful, is the hero, Sergeant Troy is the antagonist of the novel. He should not be seen as totally evil for he has shades of good qualities. He keeps to his promise he made to Fanny Robin that he will marry her by waiting in the church for her to turn up. Unfortunately it is destiny that mars their marriage as Fanny reaches another church and thus fails to arrive at the right place. He feels a deep sense of remorse, when Fanny dies along with his unborn baby.

4. Farmer Boldwood

Boldwood is the second of the three suitors for Bathsheba's hand. Boldwood is not a young man like Gabriel Oak or Sergeant Troy. He is middle aged, dignified and respectable. He owns a farm close to Bathsheba's and is a highly respected farmer, especially for his knowledge and management of his farm. He had never regarded marriage as a necessity and despite the gossip of the villagers about his unmarried status, the truth is, he had never really been in love. He is kind and sympathetic towards the poor and the submissive like Fanny Robin. He is a man with a kind heart and he feels responsible for Fanny, initially for her schooling,then for her employment in Bathsheba's uncle's farm and finally for her safety when she suddenly disappears from the village with no one having any information about her whereabouts. In spite of his no-nonsense approach to women and marriage, he misunderstands Bathsheba's mischievous Valentine card sent to him with the tag line 'Will you marry me?" He is flattered to be paid such attentions by a beautiful, almost imperious woman and slowly becomes obsessed with her - an obsession that eventually turns into madness. He is insistent on Bathsheba agreeing to marry him after it is rumored that her husband Sergeant Troy had died of drowning. The Valentine card makes him for the first time look at women and think of marriage that he had till then shunned. For the first time, he experiences love which turns into obsessive passion. He becomes possessive of Bathsheba and gets upset with Sergeant Troy whom he knows to be a pretender with no genuine love for Bathsheba. The change in Boldwood is palpable. He is far removed from his earlier serious and solemn nature. He forces Bathsheba to promise that she will marry him after the official mourning period for her departed husband is over. His character undergoes change twice in the course of the novel from a stiff, sedate, sober, almost a boring character to a passionate and obsessed lover and then, when he is denied the fruition of his obsession, to a vengeful murderer.

5. Fanny Robin

She is not a full-fledged character and her appearance is limited to her meeting with Gabriel Oak on a gloomy winter evening. Yet she is pivotal to the development of the story. Both Boldwood and Bathsheba wonder where the girl had disappeared, as they are not aware of her pathetic condition of pregnancy and destitution. She is young and innocent and is taken in by the charming Sergeant Troy. She believes in him as a true lover with his proposal to marry her. But it was just her fate that she waits for him outside a wrong church while Troy waits inside another church. Troy gets angry and refuses to listen to her pleas for forgiveness and abandons her even as she carries his baby in her womb. Fanny dies in childbirth and but for Gabriel Oak's presence of mind to erase the word 'child' on the coffin and retain only 'Fanny', her name would have been sullied as an unwed mother. She is guileless, innocent and honest as she returns the shilling that Oak had lent her earlier on seeing her distressed condition. The rest of the characters who appear are the people of Weatherbury, mainly farm hands and employees of the farm owners. They are illiterate labourers, and work manually in farms to earn their livelihood. The only pleasure they get is from their drink and gossip.

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