How Thomas Hardy Suggests that this is a Moment of Transformation

How Thomas Hardy Suggests that this is a Moment of Transformation

for Bathsheba Everdene

Thomas Hardy is able to suggest to us that this is a moment of

transformation for Bathsheba Everdene, due to a number of factors.

Thomas Hardy uses both the elements as well as the actions of Sergeant

Troy to help us understand the reasons behind Bathsheba's

transformation and the way in which it comes about.

Thomas Hardy uses the setting of Bathsheba and Troy's meeting to its

full potential. Bathsheba goes to meet the sergeant at the bottom of a

pit, which has a saucer like shape and is 'naturally formed, with a

top diameter of about thirty feet'. There are ferns growing all over

the hills near by, but at the bottom of the slope into the pit the

ferns cease to grow and instead there is a 'thick flossy carpet of

moss and grass intermingled'. The ferns play an essential part in the

transformation of Bathsheba, and we are almost immediately introduced

to their role within the chapter. The ferns are personified in a way

that allows them to share some of Bathsheba's soft, sensual qualities.

The ferns are described as 'radiant' and 'diaphanous', and the way in

which 'their soft, feathery arms' caress Bathsheba as she makes her

way through them informs the reader that this chapter will be one of

seduction. Hardy also informs us that this chapter will be full of

action by the way, in which the sky is described to have a sense of

activity within. The sun is shown as 'bristling ball of gold' which

has 'long, luxuriant rays' which sweep over the tips of the ferns. All

of these elementary factors play an important part within this

chapter, but the role that the light plays within this chapter is even

more so.

The light is...

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...episode is a new experience fro

Bathsheba and this makes her exploratory character enlivened with

excitement. The fact that she is so effectively in danger, she finds

it enthralling, fun and wild, predominantly because this is her first

real affair, and her first kiss. We are kept in a large amount of

suspense over the kiss, and the effects which the kiss have Bathsheba

are immense, Her blood beats, and she feels powerless, and has many

mixed emotions. She even cries and is unsure if what she has committed

a sin.

As one can see Bathsheba has changed a great deal during this

encounter with Troy. She has had her world turned upside and feels

very confused, and her strong unemotional barrier has been broken, she

has fallen into the enchantment of a man, and is totally lost. This

meeting will affect her forever more, and is a major incident of the

novel.