English literature Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

English literature - Essay Example Two of Hardy’s novels, Jude the Obscure and Far from the Madding Crowd. Far from the Madding Crowd has much in common with a Shakespearean comedy on its surface. From its rural setting to its errant sheepdog to its misinterpreted Valentine, it has all the elements of good country comedy. And yet, that superficial lightness runs atop a current of deep suffering. The errant sheepdog is responsible for Gabriel Oak’s poverty, which leaves him forced to sell his land and take a job working for Bathsheba Everdene, who has capriciously rejected his offer of marriage. The repercussions of that anonymous Valentine lead to violent murder and life imprisonment. Everything is much, much more serious than it seems. Life is uncertain, and lighthearted schemes are as likely to succeed — or fail — as more carefully laid out ones: â€Å"It is safer to accept any chance that offers itself, and extemporize a procedure to fit it, than to get a good plan matured, and wait for a chance of using it.† (68) There are no guarantees. Indeed, the novel plunges more and more toward chaotic misery, as Bathsheba’s charmingly unscrupulous husband vanishes after learning of the death of his former paramour and conveniently reappears just as Bathsheba is celebrating her engagement to the steadfast, obsessively adoring farmer who has loved her for so long. Driven to madness by the appearance of his old rival, Farmer Boldwood shoots Bathsheba’s husband and tries to turn the gun on himself. Later, Bathsheba returns to Oak — wiser, sadder, older — and agrees to be his wife. Steadfast Oak has won the day, but his victory must be cold — this broken woman who has nothing left to lose and little left to give. Their great romance has devolved to a mutual sharing of burdens: â€Å"Theirs was that substantial affection which arises (if any arises at all) when the two who are thrown together begin first by knowing the