Bathsheba Everdene as an Effective Feminist

Bathsheba Everdene as an Effective Feminist

Far From The Madding Crowd was set in the 1840s, at a time when women

had very few rights. The Married Women's Property Act was not brought

in until the 1870s, which meant that all women's earnings went to

their husbands, and if they owned any property before marriage it

would legally be transferred to her husband upon matrimony. Divorce

laws heavily favoured men and a divorced wife could expect to lose any

property she had brought into the marriage. When the act was

introduced in 1870 it meant that women where allowed to keep up to 200

pounds of their earnings and to inherit personal property and small

amounts of money, everything else belonged to their husband. Although

not liberating in terms we understand today, the Married Women's

Property Act represented a huge step forward for the women of the 19th

century.

When Thomas Hardy wrote this novel in 1872 these laws had already

become the custom, but he deliberately set the novel before these laws

came in. He set the novel in this time because the people who read

this book would have known what life was like before the act. In doing

this Hardy is trying to get across how much of a feminist Bathsheba is

and how defiant she is. Bathsheba is seen as a woman of the 1870's set

in the 1840's.

It is clear that Bathsheba Everdene is an effective feminist at the

beginning of the novel when Gabriel Oak asks her to marry him. Gabriel

takes Bathsheba a lamb as a gift in order to see her, but when he

arrives at the crofters cottage, where Bathsheba is staying with her

aunt, he finds she is nowhere in sight, so he leaves the lamb with her

aun...

... middle of paper ...

...eauty.

When Troy dies she becomes weak and starts to rely on others to do her

work. She is dejected and unlike her old self, as before she would

help out with the jobs that needed doing but after Troy's death she

would not do this. The only reason why she began to take interest in

the farm again was because she had to.

'But she remained alone now for the greater part of her time, and

stayed in the house, or at furthest went into the garden.' P376

In conclusion I would say that Bathsheba Everdene is a feminist woman

but not consistently. She uses her beauty to get what she wants, which

gives everybody the feeling that she is very insecure in herself. But

I would agree that she is an effective feminist when this suits her

objectives at the time and she is clearly happy to use her femininity

to achieve her ends.