"Far from the Madding Crowd" By Thomas Hardy - ch - 34 to 57

"Far from the Madding Crowd" By Thomas Hardy 

Read the brief review - Click here

 Read Ch 1 to 33 - Click here

Ch – 34 HOME AGAIN — A TRICKSTER

               Bathsheba now has returned to home. When Gabriel come to know about this he forgot what Cainy has told and he was very happy with the arrival of Bathsheba.  When Boldwood come to know about Bathsheba’s arrival he came to apologise and meet at her home but Liddy told him that she could not meet him and Boldwood understood that she has not yet forgiven him.

              When he was returning he met sergeant Troy. Boldwood told Troy that he is aware with Troy’s affair with Fanny and it would be dishonourable for Troy to not marry Fanny. It is wrong on his part to deceive Fanny as well as Bathsheba. He further informed that he himself was about to marry Bathsheba,

“If you had not come I should certainly — yes, certainly — have been accepted by this time. If you had not seen her you might have been married to Fanny.”

                  Boldwood love Bathsheba so much that he offered fifty pounds to Troy if he marry Fanny and he would also give five hundred pounds to the couple on their wedding day.

         

                 Meanwhile Troy saw Bathsheba coming and he asked Boldwood that he has to meet Bathsheba because she must be expecting him. Boldwood said that he would allow him to go if he will allow him to hear every word of their talk.

                Bathsheba was talking with Troy and Boldwood was listening. He heard that Bathsheba addressed Troy “Dearest Frank” and he was disheartened after that.

‘Frank, dearest, is that you?’

               Troy told Boldwood that she has already surrendered herself to him and therefore her honour could be only saved if she marries him. Now, Boldwood for the sake of Bathsheba’s honour said in almost requesting manner that he must marry Bathsheba. He also gave some more money ‘not to desert Bathsheba’. Boldwood said that,

“But take Bathsheba; I give her up!”

                Then, Troy and Boldwood went out of Bathsheba’s house and Troy showed the paragraph in newspaper, this was an announcement of Troy and Bathsheba’s marriage which was already took place at Bath. When Boldwood read this he has got a shock and in that situation the newspaper was dropped out of his hand. Troy threw the money that was given to him by Boldwood.

“Fifty pounds to marry Fanny. Good. Twenty — one pounds not to marry Fanny, but Bathsheba. Good. Finale: already Bathsheba’s husband. Now, Boldwood, yours is the ridiculous fate which always attends interference between a man and his wife.”

             Troy laugh in a mocking manner and closed the door and Boldwood was feeling very disappointed and said that he will punish Troy.

Ch – 35 AT AN UPPER WINDOW

           Coggan saw Troy ideally lying on the chair and he told to Oak that one day Bathsheba will feel sorry for marrying Troy because he is good for nothing.

Ch – 36 - WEALTH IN JEOPARDY — THE REVEL

           Troy has arranged harvest supper and dance for the workmen. Oak was worried because of rainy weather and something should be done to protect ricks. He also informed Troy but he said,

‘Mr Troy says it will not rain,’

And he also denied meeting Oak personally. Troy announced,

“Friends, it is not only the harvest home that we are celebrating to-night; but this is also a Wedding Feast.”

           He also announced that he will present a treble (triple)-strong goblet to each guest. Bathsheba requested him to not give those gifts to the workmen but he has avoided that request and Bathsheba angrily left.

Ch- 37 - THE STORM — THE TWO TOGETHER

       

           At that night Bathsheba told Oak that she has married Troy because of some circumstances. She said she has gone Bath that night not in order to marry Troy but to tell Troy that she wants to break all the connections with Troy. Troy said that he has seen more beautiful women than her and if she would delaying marriage with him then he will marry another woman and out of jealousy and anger she married Troy. She thanked Oak for listening and talking with her.

Ch – 38 - RAIN—ONE SOLITARY MEETS ANOTHE

            Boldwood was very upset and disappointed. Gabriel met him and saw that Boldwood was not concentrating on his work as a farmer. He was aware with the fact that Boldwood is a good farmer and nothing can affect his work but this time he has failed in love and this disappointment has changed him and he was not focusing on his work.

Ch – 39 - COMING HOME — A CRY

            (Saturday evening) In the month of October Troy and Bathsheba were returning from Casterbridge to Weatherbury. Troy told Bathsheba that it was a sheer luck that he had lost about hundred pounds at the horse races. Bathsheba told Troy that it was cruel on his part to waste her money in that way. Bathsheba told Troy to not to go to races again but Troy said that it is impossible and further added that if he was aware that she is a “Chicken-hearted” creature then he would have never married her.

            They were travelling, during that time they saw a figure of a woman. That woman has asked Troy,

‘Please, sir, do you know at what time Casterbridge Union-house closes at night?’

       

            Troy recognised the voice but he didn’t turn and faced the lady and said, “I don’t know”. The lady has also recognised the voice and looked towards the man and she fell down. Bathsheba has tried to help the girl but Troy denied and said he will look after the lady. He also told her to move on. Bathsheba left. He asked the lady that why she has not written a letter to him and where she was living from so many days. He also gave money to her and said,

“I wish I had more to give you!, I have none but what my wife gives me, you know, and I can’t ask her now.”

             Then he told her to meet her on Monday morning at 10 O’clock on “Grey’s bridge” out of the town. When Troy returned to home, Bathsheba asked about him about the lady but Troy said he doesn’t know the woman very rudely.

Ch – 40 - ON CASTERBRIDGE HIGHWAY

             Fanny reached to the gate of the union house with the help of dog. Two men opened the door and took Fanny inside.

Ch -  41 - SUSPICIOUS — FANNY IS SENT FOR

            Troy asked for twenty pounds to Bathsheba, first she denied but then she was ready to give it to him. In that discussion Troy said,

‘All romances end at marriage.’

            When she was giving him the money, he opened the back case of his watch and suddenly Bathsheba has seen the thing which was under the back cover of his watch. She said,

‘A woman’s curl of hair!’ she said. ‘O, Frank, whose is that?’

Troy replied that it is Bathsheba’s curl of hair but she denied accepting that because she has seen that the colour of that curl was yellow and Bathsheba’s hair was not of yellow colour. Troy argued that it was the hair of the young woman whom he wanted to marry before he knew Bathsheba. Then he left without informing where he was going.

          Next morning, Bathsheba was walking on the road and saw Oak and Boldwood talking about something. She asked Poorgrass about that and he informed her that Fanny has died in “Casterbridge Union house” and so Boldwood was going to send a wagon to fetch the dead body to Weatherbury for buried. Bathsheba said that it is her duty to attend the funeral of Fanny. She told Poorgrass to fetch the dead body to her house.

Bathsheba has asked Liddy about the colour of Fanny’s hair, Liddy replied that it was yellow and also added that Fanny’s lover was in the same regiment as Mr. Troy. She said Mr. Troy once said that he knows the lover of Fanny and he also resembles him greatly. Bathsheba now understood that Fanny’s lover was no one but Troy himself.

Ch 42 - JOSEPH AND HIS BURDEN — BUCK’S HEAD

           When Joseph was bringing the dead body of Fanny back to Weatherbury he met Oak, Oak never wanted to place the dead body of Fanny in Bathsheba’s house. He read the words written on coffin.

‘Fanny Robin and child’

          Oak was shocked after reading this and he immediately rubbed the two words “and child” because he did not want that Bathsheba come to know anything about  Fanny’s pregnancy.

Ch 43 - FANNY’S REVENGE

          

          Bathsheba decided to open the coffin of Fanny. When she opened it she found a child with the dead body of Fanny. When Troy arrived Bathsheba asked him whether he knew Fanny or not, Troy replied she was the girl whom he wanted to marry. He kissed the dead body of Fanny and the child, and said she is dearer to him even she is dead. Then he turned to the dead body and said,

‘But never mind, darling,’ he said; ‘in the sight of Heaven you are my very, very wife!’

        Bathsheba was not able to hear the words from Troy about Fanny. She was feeling very jealous and she asked, “if she is your wife then what I am for you,” and Troy replied,

‘You are nothing to me — nothing,’

Ch 44 - UNDER A TREE — REACTION

          Bathsheba was very upset after the revelation and she started walking. When she came to a conscious she comes to know that she is near the big oak tree. She hid herself under the woods. In the morning Liddy came near the tree and found Bathsheba. Bathsheba was not ready to go home till the coffin of Fanny was there. After a long time she went to home With Liddy. She come to know that nobody has yet fetched the tomb for her grave and someone has went to the city for buying the tomb but Liddy was not aware about the man.

Ch 45 - TROY’S ROMANTICISM

           Troy has taken twenty pounds given by Bathsheba and he also collected his savings and it was about seven pounds. He went to meet Fanny and reached five minutes early. He waited there for almost two hours. On the other side Fanny was getting robbed by the two persons who came to the union house. Troy was angry with Fanny as she done the same twice with him. He went to race-course for playing. He sat there for a while but he was not able to get rid out from thoughts of Fanny and he also remembered Bathsheba’s request of not wasting money in race-course and he went home back.

(The same day after abusing Bathsheba)

         He has taken all money with him and went to the city to purchase a tomb. He went to the shopkeeper and said he wants the best tomb and he can pay 27 pounds for it. He purchased a tomb and went to the graveyard of Weatherbury. He himself placed the tomb at Fanny’s grave. He also has put flowers on her head and feet.

Ch – 46 - IT IS DOING

            Bathsheba went to the church yard to have a look at Fanny’s grave, Oak was there and his eyes were fixed upon the tombstone on Fanny’s grave. The words on the tombstone were as follows,

‘Erected by Francis Troy in Beloved Memory of Fanny Robin.’

When Bathsheba read these words she was disappointed and heartbroken but she controlled her feelings. 

Ch 47 - ADVENTURES BY THE SHORE

Troy had left Weatherbury because he was troubled by the gloomy memories of Fanny. Troy was walking on the road and behind the hill he saw an ocean. He decided to bath in the ocean. He was about to drawn in the ocean but was saved by the sailors. Troy told them that he wants a place to pass night and he spent a night with sailors.

Ch – 48 - DOUBTS ARISE — DOUBTS LINGER

         Several days passed but Troy did not returned to Weatherbury, Bathsheba was little worried but now she was not interested in life.

After some days Bathsheba went to a Casterbridge market and she felt that a man is following her. That man has told her about the news of Troy’s death. Bathsheba was stunned; she was about to fell on the ground but Boldwood has lifted her up and carried to the private room.

       Bathsheba did not believe the fact and she told Liddy to tell that her husband is still alive. After some days in a local newspaper, there was a short paragraph which was based on the death of sergeant Troy. There was one eye witness who saw the accident of Troy when he was drowning in the ocean.

Ch – 49 - OAK’S ADVANCEMENT — A GREAT HOPE

In the late autumn, Bathsheba has appointed Oak as her personal Bailiff and Boldwood has given him a small share in his farm. Boldwood’s hope has arisen and he thought that now Bathsheba will accept his proposal and marry him. One day Boldwood told Liddy that he is ready to wait for the period of seven years to marry Bathsheba. A year had already passed. 

Ch – 50 - THE SHEEP FAIR — TROY TOUCHES HIS WIFE’S HAND

          Summer has arrived and it was the time of the annual fair in “Greenhill”. This fair was all about buying and selling sheep. There was also a circus called “The Royal Hippodrome Performance of Turpin’s Ride to York and the Death of Black Bess,” the performer of Turpin’s Ride was Troy. Troy has sailed to the US and there he worked as the professor of gymnastic, sward exercise, and boxing. He lived like this for some time and then thought to return back at Weatherbury. A thought was preventing him to go Weatherbury and it was about Bathsheba, that how she will greet him. She will accept him or not but at last he decided to go back to Weatherbury.

After working as a professor for some period of time, he met the manager of the circus and that manager has took him into his circus. Troy was the member of the circus and now without any planning he was at Greenhill. Bathsheba was also about to arrive there. This was a co-incident.

Ch- 51 - BATHSHEBA TALKS WITH HER OUTRIDER

         Boldwood gets Bathsheba a seat at the show. Troy recognised her. He requested the manager that he will perform in disguise in order to not reveal his identity. Troy has come to know that Bathsheba’s former bailiff has recognised him and he approaches to Bathsheba to give her a note that her husband is alive. But Troy snatched the note from her and took Pannyways with him on a walk.  

        Boldwood contrives to take Bathsheba home from the fair, and on the way he asked Bathsheba for marrying him. He asks her to pity on him, even though she does not love him. Bathsheba was getting afraid of him and she told, 

 

“O what shall I do? I don’t love you, and I much fear that I never shall love you as much as a woman ought to love a husband.”

        She has agreed to marry him after six years. A few weeks later Bathsheba asked Gabriel for his advice, she told him that if she would not marry Boldwood he will lose his temper and will go out of his mind. Gabriel replied that, 

“The real sin, ma’am in my mind, lies in thinking of ever wedding with a man you don’t love honest and true.’

      After this conversation, Bathsheba felt piqued that why Gabriel has not mentioned his own love for her and why he has not said that,

“‘I could wait for you as well as he.”

Ch – 52 - CONVERGING COURSES (7 parts)

         Bathsheba, Boldwood and Troy prepares for attending Boldwood’s Christmas party. The whole Weatherbury town was talking about the party, because it was so unusual for Boldwood to give party. Bathsheba was dressing and she decided to wear her mourning dress in black. Boldwood has also given an attention to his cloths.  He asked Oak,

“Does a woman keep her promise, Gabriel?”

Oak replied,

“If it is not inconvenient to her, she may.”

         Oak warned him to not to build too much promises but Boldwood had a fear of Bathsheba’s refusal.

       Troy and Pennyways also decided to go to the party. Troy asked Pennyways about Bathsheba’s relationship with Gabriel and Boldwood.  Boldwood offered large part of his farm to Oak, saying that he hopes to retire. Boldwood was aware about Oak’s feelings about Bathsheba and because of Oak’s “goodness of heart”, he showed “feverish anxiety”. 

Ch – 53 - CONCURRITUR — HORAE MOMENTO

The village gathered outside Boldwood’s house, and all were whispering that Troy had been seen that day in Casterbridge. Boldwood was eagerly waiting for Bathsheba, she arrived. Boldwood presented her a ring and forced her to wear that ring for just that night, and she began to cry. Boldwood was getting violent and she was not able to handle him. Suddenly a stranger arrived, and in front of all the audience he said,

“‘Bathsheba, I come here for you!, ‘Come home with me, come”

She did not move, he reached out to pull her towards him but she shrinks back. Her behaviour irritated Troy and he seized her arm violently. She screamed. The sound of the scream was followed by the shot of gun. Boldwood shot Troy dead. He was also about to shot himself but a worker stopped him and he left the party hall. 

Ch – 54 AFTER THE SHOCK

Oak entered in the hall after Boldwood left and he come to know about the catastrophe. Bathsheba told everything to Oak. Boldwood was sent to the Casterbridge jail.  Bathsheba was again in the gloomy period her time. Finally Sergeant Troy was dead. She was suffering from illness and was half-conscious. She said,

‘O it is my fault — how can I live! O Heaven, how can I live!’

Ch – 55 - THE FOLLOWING MARCH—‘BATHSHEBA BOLDWOOD’

Month later in March, it was a time of Boldwood’s trial. He has prepared a package with an expensive ladies dress with good jewellery; the label on the package was “Bathsheba-Boldwood”. Boldwood was sentenced to death. However, the people of Weatherbury were convinced that Boldwood was not morally responsible for his actions. Oak has sent a petition to the home secretary requesting a reconsideration of the sentence. Finally, he was pardoned and given “confinement during her Majesty’s pleasure”

Ch 56 - BEAUTY IN LONELINESS — AFTER ALL

Troy was buried in the same grave as Fanny Robin. Bathsheba’s spirit slowly revived as the spring turns to summer. One day when she visited the grave, she saw Gabriel singing in the church chorus. He joined her at the grave and said he intends to leave Weatherbury. She begged him to stay but he said he will not. Finally she received the official notice from him as bailiff. She cried and decided to visit him at his cottage. She talked with him and she admitted that she came to propose him and win his heart and the two agrees to marry.

Ch 57 - A FOGGY NIGHT AND MORNING — CONCLUSION

In this chapter there is a marriage of Oak and Bathsheba. After the wedding they dine in farm and all the men from village gathered to sing for them.