How could this heroine be anything but memorable with an amazing name like Bathsheba? 'Far From the Madding Crowd' by Thomas Hardy is one of my all-time favourite books and films. With a quiet but memorable start you know this is a book where characterisation will reign supreme - the heroine is espied by shepherd Gabriel Oak riding down a Dorsetshire lane. Unobserved, she takes out a mirror and preens herself leading Gabriel to describe her later as having one fault - that of vanity. But Bathsheba has enough qualities, beauty being just one, to be courted by three extraordinary characters. Gabriel the solid, ultra-reliable charmer, Sargeant Troy the dashing, selfish soldier and wealthy Farmer Boldwood the lonely, obsessive widower. Bathsheba was extraordinary for her time in being a strong, independent business woman. A landowner who makes her inherited farm a success, an employer who hires and fires, a woman who takes her own decisions about who she will and will not marry. True she makes myriad mistakes along her path to a happy ending, the worst being falling for love-rat Troy. At one point, married to Bathsheba but always in love with Fanny Robin who perishes due to his neglect Troy tells Bathsheba, "this woman is more to me, dead as she is, than ever you were, or are, or can be." Boy, I wish I'd written that line! If you want to read a truly wonderful romance with an extraordinary heroine, this book is for you.
Tuesday, 11 December 2012
Advent Heroine - Bathsheba Everdene
How could this heroine be anything but memorable with an amazing name like Bathsheba? 'Far From the Madding Crowd' by Thomas Hardy is one of my all-time favourite books and films. With a quiet but memorable start you know this is a book where characterisation will reign supreme - the heroine is espied by shepherd Gabriel Oak riding down a Dorsetshire lane. Unobserved, she takes out a mirror and preens herself leading Gabriel to describe her later as having one fault - that of vanity. But Bathsheba has enough qualities, beauty being just one, to be courted by three extraordinary characters. Gabriel the solid, ultra-reliable charmer, Sargeant Troy the dashing, selfish soldier and wealthy Farmer Boldwood the lonely, obsessive widower. Bathsheba was extraordinary for her time in being a strong, independent business woman. A landowner who makes her inherited farm a success, an employer who hires and fires, a woman who takes her own decisions about who she will and will not marry. True she makes myriad mistakes along her path to a happy ending, the worst being falling for love-rat Troy. At one point, married to Bathsheba but always in love with Fanny Robin who perishes due to his neglect Troy tells Bathsheba, "this woman is more to me, dead as she is, than ever you were, or are, or can be." Boy, I wish I'd written that line! If you want to read a truly wonderful romance with an extraordinary heroine, this book is for you.
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OOoh yes, one of my favourites too. Wasn't Julie Christie excellent in the role? So sad she had to die before it ended.
ReplyDeleteI didn't think Bathsheba Everdene died before the film ended. Didn't she marry Farmer Boldwood (Alan Bates)? Or are you referring to Fanny? I agree though, it's a fantastic choice of heroine.
ReplyDeleteMargaret
Now I am confused! I thought she was killed off but will be pleased to find she did live happily ever after!
DeleteI must admit I only saw the film Chrissie, and in that I'm sure she married Farmer Boldwood and was happy but it was a long time ago. I haven't read the book. Sometimes books and films differ don't they? If she did die does anyone else know the cause?
DeleteMargaret
She ended up marrying Gabriel Oak ladies and there was that wonderfully romantic bit where he proposese saying something like 'when I look up there you'll be and when you look up, there I'll be' - Hardy put it a teeny weeny bit better, but you get the drift! Cara x
ReplyDeleteThanks for putting us right, Cara. Of course it was Gabriel Oak. There were references to solid oak trees etc weren't there? Glad we got that sorted.
ReplyDeleteMargaret