From the Madding Crowd Essay

† However, when he first met Bathsheba he called her names like ‘lady’ and ‘miss. ‘ The way that Troy treats Fanny after his relationship with Bathsheba shows that in retrospect, Troy did in some ways love Fanny. Ironically, we see this the most after Fanny’s death when Troy gets a tombstone for Fanny and plants flowers on her grave, but the fact that the water from the gargoyle could wash away the flowers so easily, could signify how fickle Troy is and how easily his affections for Fanny were also ‘washed away’. Earlier on in the novel when Fanny comes to see Troy at the barracks, Troy does not realise that it is Fanny, his fianci standing outside his window: â€Å"5What girl are you? â€Å", He â€Å"6doesn’t quite recollect† that he promised Fanny they would marry, even though he said lots of times that he would marry her. This shows how he doesn’t think of the penalty of his words. Fanny’s terrible relationship with Troy could have been used to predict the consequences of his relationship with Bathsheba. Similarly, the fact that in the few times that Fanny appears in the novel, she is in a gloomy and dreary atmosphere which was dooming her to death with descriptions like â€Å"7A heavy unbroken crust of cloud stretched across the sky, shutting out every speck of heaven;†. Her appearance in these depressing environments was a prediction to her passing away. Secondly, she is used to show the true nature of Troy’s character, and highlight this as he is in a relationship with Bathsheba until Bathsheba herself realizes Troy’s true nature in finding Fanny. Once her role has been fulfilled for Hardy, he kills her off because she has reached the character’s limitation and isn’t needed in the story any more. This same meeting also exposes Troy’s cowardice and shallowness, and is a turning point in the novel, as if he had at this point admitted to Bathsheba his connection with Fanny or even that this woman was Fanny Robin, Bathsheba’s missing servant, then Fanny’s death and the following events could have been avoided. Thirdly, Fanny is also involved with the character of Gabriel Oak and brought his character out in the way Fanny borrows money of him and Gabriel gives it to her, she brings out generosity in him and that he is caring. Hardy then shows Gabriel to be kind from the heart to the character Fanny and others when he rubs off ‘and child’ off the coffin lid, this is so we can see that Gabriel cares about Bathsheba being happy with Troy and tries to protect her from the truth. Her life is controlled by fate and chance and this shows how her function for Hardy extends beyond the plot and the development of other characters. Fate plays a big part and is a key part of the storyline in the role of Far From the Madding Crowd’. The first time she is included as a fate icon is when Boldwood reads Fanny’s letter but it was intended for Gabriel this fate causes a description of Troy and the bringing together of the two rivals over Bathsheba, who are Gabriel and Boldwood but don’t realize they are both in love with the same person. It is also fate that Fanny confuses the two churches so Troy doesn’t marry her and it is by chance that she meets him outside the church and he reply’s to her plead to forgive her with ‘You fool, for so fooling me! But say no more. ‘ But if he really loved her he would forgive her. Once again there is more fate involved with the character Fanny Robin where Troy has been looking for Fanny but re-encounters her when it’s too late and Troy has married Bathsheba. The chance has been enrolled in Fanny’s role, this is when Troy keeps a lock of Fanny’s hair and Bathsheba finds it by chance and she gets jealous, this causes extreme arguments between Bathsheba and Troy and gives Bathsheba a clue to Fanny’s identity. Hardy seems to evoke pity when he describes Fanny’s last journey (her death from child birth) with a description of a hostile background and a dog that is helping her, this is her only friend but even that gets stoned off and adds more pity to fanny’s case. Her death is also to go with the contrast of a melodramatic death of troy. The irony to her death is that she has more effect on the characters than when she was alive. Fanny Robin has a minor role in the novel ‘Far From the Madding Crowd’ however the sense cannot be said about the significance of the character Fanny Robin. The reason for why Hardy introduced this character is to have impact on various main characters. She is a pivot in the novel and she causes the main key storyline changes. Yet she has a deeper role in the novel as a symbol for Hardy’s statement about the 19th century men and how they treated the working class girls. It is only when the question â€Å"What is the significance of the character, Fanny Robin in the novel â€Å"Far From the Madding Crowd? † is viewed from a variety of angles that there is a true answer presented. If Fanny were not in the novel, it would be more difficult for Hardy to emphasise the discrimination against women at the time, as well as creating tension and suspense in the plot and highlighting the true nature of other characters, especially Troy. Therefore, a reader would not be as aware of the irony surrounding her role and so would not realise how her presence in the novel helped Hardy to show all these parts. 1 Thomas Hardy, Far from the Madding Crowd Penguin Publications, 1985, (Page 135) 2 Ibid, (Page 54 – 55) 3 Ibid, (Page 336) 4 Thomas Hardy, Far from the Madding Crowd Penguin Publications, 1985, (Page 366) 5 Ibid, (Page 137) 6 Ibid, (Page 137) 7 Ibid, (Page 322 ) 1 Jordan Daniels 11. 5 Matthew Moss high School.