Plot construction of the novel Far From Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy

 

                   Far From The Madding Crowd

Thomas Hardy:      



On June 2, 1840, Thomas Hardy was born in the lonely and silent hamlet of Higher Bockhampton, Dorsetsire situated in few miles away from the town of Dorchestor. Thomas Hardy was a Fragile Child.

Plot construction of the Novel:

        Thomas Hardy’s novels are masterpieces of constructive skill. His plots are generally closely knit and brilliantly constructed. Hardy’s early training as an architect enables him to build the plots of his novels in a skilful manner.

          Hardy’s stories have an arresting beginning, a swift movement, a satisfying climax and an effective ending.  There are, in them, no incidents or characters which are for their own sake.  This is to say, every incident, in them, carries the story forward and every character serves a definite purpose.

         Hardy’s plots deal with elements passions, love, hate, anger, jealousy, thirst of knowledge and hunger for respectability.  In the Return of the Native as well as Far From the Madding ‘crowd the plot is built round an erotic situation of a rather complicated nature.  In Far From The Madding Crowd, Oak and Boldwood love Bathsheba who loves ‘troy who has been previously loving Fanny Robin.       

Hardy’s plots are mechanically constructed. They lack sometimes, the elements of naturalness and spontaneity.  They seem to have been built in a very calculating and deliberate manner.

Far From The Madding Crowd has a well-constructed plot.  This novel is one of Hardy’s five great stories.  Duffin calls it “Hardy‘s first masterpiece”.   The plot is built round an erotic situation.  The central character, Bathsheba Everdene, is loved by three men Oak, Boldwood and Troy.

Chance plays a considerable part in this novel.  It is a malevolent chance that renders Oak penniless when his dog drives all his sheep down a precipice.  It is chance again which sends Fanny Robin to the wrong church on the day of her marriage.  Troy enters Bathsheba’s life by a sheer chance.  Similarly the Valentine sent by Bathsheba to Boldwood, by a chance, kindles a flame in Boldwood in which he is ultimately consumed. 

“Thomas Hardy’s plots” according to a well-known critic, “are self-supporting organic holes.  Every novel is an answer to the question, given certain characters in certain situations, and allowing the irony of fate what will happen what will become of them?”

v Hardy’s novels have well-knit plots.

v His training as an architect in early life enables Hardy to construct his plots skilfully.

v There are no characters or incidents in his novels that are for their own sake.

v His novels have a swift movement, a satisfying climax, and an effective ending.

v His novels contain admirable love-stories.  Generally in them, we have one woman loved by two or three men or one man loved by two or three women.

v Chance plays a get part in his novels.

v Hardy’s plots deal with elemental passions like loves, jealousy, greed, thirst for learning or hunger for respectability. 

v Hardy makes a considerable use of ‘chance’ in Far From The Madding Crowd.            

    

           

 

       Major and minor characters of the novel

 

Major characters of the novel:

·       Bathsheba Everdine

·       Gabriel Oak

·       Bold wood

·       Fanny Robin

·       Sergeant Troy

        

Minor characters:

1.    Liddy Smallburry

2.    The Oldmaltstar

3.    Joseph Poorgrass

4.    Jan Coggan

5.    Henry Fray

6.    Cain Ball

 

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