# Oak’s Advancement; A Great Hope explained — Far from the Madding Crowd

> Chapter companion for Far from the Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy.

## What happens

Gabriel Oak is promoted to bailiff and also takes on management of Boldwood's farm, leading to rumors about his rising status. Boldwood, still obsessed with Bathsheba, clings to a hope that she might marry him after six years, based on a casual remark she made to Liddy. He attempts to gauge Bathsheba's feelings through Liddy but feels foolish for his indirect approach.

## Themes in this chapter

### Obsession and Madness

Boldwood's 'fond madness' for Bathsheba is described as unreasoning and persistent, driving him to cling to a distant hope of marriage.

### Social Class and Ambition

Gabriel Oak's advancement from shepherd to bailiff and his new status as a 'near' man provoke gossip about his rising social position.

## Character check-ins

### Gabriel Oak

Promoted to bailiff and given oversight of both Bathsheba's and Boldwood's farms; his improved status is noted by the community.

### William Boldwood

Nurtures a desperate hope that Bathsheba will marry him after six years; he questions Liddy about Bathsheba's feelings and feels ashamed of his underhanded tactics.

### Bathsheba Everdene

Returns from visiting her aunt; she is in a quiet, apathetic mood, mourning Troy and managing the farm without enthusiasm.

### Liddy Smallbury

Assists in the haymaking and is questioned by Boldwood about Bathsheba's views on remarriage; she innocently reveals Bathsheba's casual remark about waiting six years.

## Key lines

> A great hope had latterly germinated in Boldwood, whose unreasoning devotion to Bathsheba could only be characterized as a fond madness which neither time nor circumstance, evil nor good report, could weaken or destroy.

Boldwood's obsessive love for Bathsheba had recently given rise to a powerful hope, one that was immune to any external influence.

_Highlights Boldwood's irrational and enduring obsession._

> She looked back upon that past over a great gulf, as if she were now a dead person, having the faculty of meditation still left in her, by means of which, like the mouldering gentlefolk of the poet’s story, she could sit and ponder what a gift life used to be.

Bathsheba felt so detached from her former life that she seemed like a ghost, able only to reflect on the happiness she once had.

_Illustrates Bathsheba's deep apathy and emotional numbness after Troy's disappearance._

> He would annihilate the six years of his life as if they were minutes—so little did he value his time on earth beside her love.

Boldwood considered six years of waiting insignificant compared to the chance of winning Bathsheba's love.

_Shows the depth of Boldwood's devotion and his willingness to sacrifice time._

## Links

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