This novel is very similar to anothernovel, ‘Madame Bovary’, written by Gustave Flaubert in 1856. Both works arealike in that they want to show the downfall of their hero, who is a woman inboth cases, by attacking romanticism. The author is able to show Bathsheba’scharacter, which seemed flawless in the beginning, to have completely brokendown at the end of the novel. This goes to the extent of her abandoning hermoral and surrendering herself to the Roman concept of marriage.
In Far from the Madding Crowd, Hardyis able to show the downfall of Bathsheba by exposing and using her relationswith different suitors and coupling that with her ill-fate. Bathsheba’sill-fate would refer to the countless times where she found herself insituations where she would not be want to be, or situations whichcoincidentally occurred to bring her to being less than a hero. For example,her seeing her lover, Troy being shot by Boldwood, or her witnessing Troyleaving her for when he confessed his true love for Fanny and his real feelingstowards Bathsheba, which were not as strong as what he felt for Fanny. Alongwith this, he attacked Romanticism, which is shown throughout the novel,evident from the true love portrayed between characters. Showingpure as being self-indulgent is within the idea of romanticism. In this way, hehas tried to convey something that goes completely against the title- that lovecan only be pure if it is generous, and that anything apart from true love isimpure and selfish.
At the same time, if love is selfish, it cannot be pure.
