Far from the Madding Crowd · Chapter
The Great Barn and the Sheep-Shearers explained
On the first day of June, the sheep-shearing season reaches its peak in Weatherbury.
What happens
On the first day of June, the sheep-shearing season reaches its peak in Weatherbury. Gabriel Oak, still pining for Bathsheba Everdene, supervises the shearing in the ancient Great Barn, a structure that embodies a timeless continuity of purpose. The workers, including Jan Coggan, Henery Fray, Joseph Poorgrass, and others, engage in rustic banter and gossip about Bathsheba's rumored attachment to Farmer Boldwood. Bathsheba appears in a new riding-habit, and after a tense moment where Gabriel accidentally wounds a sheep while distracted by her and Boldwood, she departs with Boldwood to see his Leicesters. The chapter closes with the workers speculating on the impending marriage, while Gabriel struggles with his unrequited love and wounded pride.
Themes in this chapter
Nature and the Pastoral Life
The chapter opens with a lush description of June's vitality, and the shearing in the ancient barn emphasizes the enduring connection between rural labor and the natural world.
Love and Marriage
Gabriel's unspoken love for Bathsheba and the workers' gossip about her potential marriage to Boldwood dominate the emotional undercurrent of the chapter.
Social Class and Ambition
Gabriel's desire for the bailiff's post is tied to his feelings for Bathsheba, highlighting the intersection of social standing and personal ambition.
Characters to notice
- Gabriel Oak
Acts as general supervisor of the shearing, inwardly tormented by his love for Bathsheba and his belief that she will marry Boldwood.
- Bathsheba Everdene
Appears in a myrtle-green riding-habit, departs with Boldwood after a brief, sharp exchange with Gabriel over a wounded sheep.
- William Boldwood
Present at the shearing, escorts Bathsheba to see his Leicesters, deepening the workers' belief that marriage is imminent.
- Henery Fray
One of the shearers, gossips about Bathsheba and Boldwood, and boasts of his own blunt words to her.
- Jan Coggan
The master-shearer, participates in the banter and pacifies the maltster.
- Joseph Poorgrass
A shearer, joins in the conversation and anticipates the feast with pleasure.
Key passages
“Men thin away to insignificance and oblivion quite as often by not making the most of good spirits when they have them as by lacking good spirits when they are indispensable.”
People often fade into obscurity because they fail to use their good moods when they have them, not just because they lack cheerfulness when it's needed.
Opening reflection on Gabriel's state of mind.
“God was palpably present in the country, and the devil had gone with the world to town.”
The countryside felt holy and pure, while all evil seemed to have moved to the city.
Pastoral idealization of rural life.
“The fact that four centuries had neither proved it to be founded on a mistake, inspired any hatred of its purpose, nor given rise to any reaction that had battered it down, invested this simple grey effort of old minds with a repose, if not a grandeur...”
Because the barn had stood for four hundred years without being shown wrong or attacked, it had a peaceful, almost majestic quality.
Reflection on the barn's enduring utility and beauty.
“I find more bitter than death the woman whose heart is snares and nets!”
I find a deceitful woman more painful than death itself.
Gabriel's inward lament, quoting the Bible, about Bathsheba's seeming coquetry.
“Well, better wed over the mixen than over the moor.”
It's better to marry a neighbor than a stranger from far away.
Laban Tall's rustic proverb about marrying locally.
