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Far From The Madding Crowd Analysis

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In Thomas Hardy’s novel, titled Far From The Madding Crowd, the protagonist, Bathsheba, is surrounded by three different suitors. Gabriel, Boldwood, and Troy each try to win her hand in marriage. The different characteristics of these characters create a dynamic story where marriage and love are both highlighted and critiqued. The majority of this conflict takes place in the fictional area of Wessex, England. Hardy uses this fictional setting, and the surrounding town of Weatherbury, to depict how rural England was slowly going extinct with the rise of modern technology and industry. As a result of this rural setting, many of elements of pastoral literature are seen in the novel. Due to this, the text is often referred to as a pastoral novel. Pastoral novels portray rural country life as free from the complexity and corruption of city life. This idealized approach often uses shepherds and other natural elements in a poetic way to describe both love and freedom. Hardy uses the connotation associated with pastoral literature sarcastically to demonstrate how even in rural life social problems do arise. In the case of this work, the pastoral elements are structured in a way to create parallelism. These parallel episodes compare and contrast different characters through figurative language. The repetition of these motifs reflect and influence characters as well as develop themes. The contrast of fire and water is seen many times throughout the text. In Chapters Six and Thirty

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