All Romances end in Marriage Essay

By this time Bathsheba was in love with Troy or believed she was. Troy also thought he was in love yet it was only infatuation. â€Å"Bathsheba loved Troy in the way that only self-reliant women love when they abandon their self-reliance† This shows that Bathsheba has given up her independence that she relied on in the past for the love of Troy. Hardy changes the character of Bathsheba slightly by falling in love with Troy as she now has given up one of her qualities that she relied on, her independence. Hardy’s readers can see that Bathsheba has changed for love as she is has wrongly fallen in love with Troy. Hardy’s readers know this is wrong and in time things will change, as this is not the cause of true love. Bathsheba and Troy eventually get married and that is when the romance begins to end. The two become less infatuated with each other and start to become bitter. When Troy, Bathsheba and her workforce are celebrating there marriage Troy gets rid of all the women and gets drunk with all the men. Meanwhile Gabriel is outside all night in the storm trying to save the harvest. Bathsheba is greatly thankful for what he has done â€Å"Thank you for your devotion a thousand times Gabriel! † Hardy shows yet again that Gabriel is the right man for Bathsheba through his loyalty, devotion and general good and decent nature. The reader knows that Bathsheba is with the wrong man and hopefully it is only a matter of time before her and Gabriel get together. When it is discovered that Fanny is dead, Gabriel is the first to look at the coffin and notices that it says â€Å"Fanny Robbin and child† Gabriel rubs out and child as he knows the child is Troy’s and he does not want her to get hurt as he cares for her. Liddy then informs Bathsheba that there is a rumour going about Weatherbury â€Å"I mean that a wicked story is got to Weatherbury within this last hour-that-that there’s two of’em in there† Bathsheba’s curiosity overwhelms her and she decides to open the coffin. Hardy then uses poetry to tell the reader that there is a baby there â€Å"A curious frame of natures work, A flow’ ret crushed in the bud, A nameless piece of babyhood,† When Troy comes in and discovers that Fanny is dead he kisses her and the baby. Bathsheba begs Troy to kiss her which shows her insecurity as she gave up her independence for him and now she wants to rely on but she knows that he still loves her. After he says â€Å"you are nothing to me† she runs out. Hardy has finally shown the true character of Troy. He is an incredibly nasty person to say this to his wife and now the reader knows it. The way he has treated Bathsheba all this time is unforgivable. Although Hardy has portrayed him as this malicious character he has proved that he did love Fanny and did not just use her for sexual pleasure. Troy eventually decides to get away from everything and fakes his own death. This is where Boldwood comes in to play again. He is still obsessively in love with Bathsheba and in doing so his farm is doing very badly. He makes a proposal to Bathsheba of marrying him in six years after Troy is officially declared dead. â€Å"Well then, do you know that without further proof of any kind you may marry again in about six years from the present- subject to nobody’s objection or blame? † Boldwood forces this offer upon Bathsheba and in the end she has to say that she will give him an answer at he Christmas party. Bathsheba. Although she believes her husband to be dead she does not have along time in which she would cease to do things due to bereavement, she carries on and is cool and level headed. This shows yet again how she is in comparison with other women in the 19th century. Normally she would be expected to bereave, it would be her role but not Bathsheba she is different and more modern than other women. During the Christmas party Boldwood asked Bathsheba for her answer and she reluctantly said yes â€Å"Very well. I’ll marry you in six years from this day if we both live,† Boldwood was delighted and he then gave her a ring, which she was forced, to where for that night. Soon after they got back to the party Hardy brought a great thrill to the novel as Troy showed up to the party, cloaked. When Troy tried to grab Bathsheba, Boldwood shot him dead. With Troy dead and Boldwood in prison the reader now knows that Hardy has left a big opening for Bathsheba’s heart. The only man left and the most decent man is Gabriel Oak. Finally Hardy gives the readers what they have wanted through out the whole novel. Gabriel asks Bathsheba to marry her and she accepts, they are soon married and the novel ends happily. Throughout this novel Hardy has shown three different types of love, obsessive, infatuation and true love. Hardy is trying to say that there are many types of love, some are not real but there is one type that is real and that is true love. True love being the type of love where you love the person for who they are not just what they look like. Hardy also shows that Bathsheba resembles a 20th century woman more than a 19th century woman. She is modern and she is very independent. Her independence is one of her main qualities along with her vanity, which slowly faded away.