In Hardy's "Far from the Madding Crowd", Gabriel Oak is one of the most important characters of the novel and also the hero of the novel. He is one of the most simplified characters of the novel. Hardy describes him in this way:
 
    "When Farmer Oak smiled, the corners of his mouth spread till they were within an unimportant distance of his ears, his eyes were reduced to chicks, and diverging wrinkles appeared round them, extending upon his countenance like the rays in a rudimentary sketch of the rising sun."



              However, Hardy sketches Gabriel Oak as a sincere, tactless and devoted lover. He has a heart of gold. He always does good for everyone. He never thinks evil for anyone. Though he has an unattractive appearance, but is simple, good, honest and hard-working. Sincerity is his most outstanding virtue. He is loyal and faithful to Bathsheba throughout. Though Bathsheba is frickle-minded, Oak is devoted to her from the very beginning of the novel to the end.


             As he is a simple-minded person, he is extremely tactless. When Bathsheba asks him if he is thinking of kissing her hand, he replied tactlessly, "I was not thinking of any such thing." Though Bathsheba does not even think Oak as a man, he worships her as a goddess. He tells her in the beginning--"I shall do one thing in this life -- one thing certain -- that is, love you and long for you, and keep waiting for you till I die." He becomes a guardian of Bathsheba, he always protects Bathsheba from any kind of problems and danger.



              Though he loves Bathsheba from the very core of his heart, he is not without self-respect. When she dismisses him from service for his frank condemnation of her conduct towards Boldwood, he immediately goes away. When Bathsheba sends him a signal of distress, he refuses to come unless he is asked with more politeness to come. It is only when Bathsheba sends him a written appeal that he agrees to come. He is not that type of lover who would efface his dignity and self-respect for the whims of his mistress.


             He is kind-hearted, sympathetic and generous. He feels very sad at the premature and tragic end of his true hundred sheep. He also takes pity on the miserable plight of Fanny Robin and gives her a shilling. Later, he also feels a great sympathy for Boldwood in his disappointment in love and at his sad fate. When Boldwood was trying to court and win Bathsheba, Gabriel did not enter into any rivalry with him but kept his own love control.


              In this novel, rustic or pastoral characters play an important and significant role. Oak is one of these rustic characters. Hardy portrays him as an idealistic rustic. He is manly, loyal, and unaggressive. He is also without any higher ambition like the rural people. He says Bathsheba that before he saw her, he intended to marry a woman without money. His sterling qualities enable him to marry his sweet-heart ultimately.


            In this novel, he also presents a contrast to both Boldwood and Troy. Boldwood loses his balance of mind when he falls in love with Bathsheba. He takes Bathsheba's loss to heart so much so that he loses all interest in life. Troy, on the other hand, is a lady killer. He has not much of conscience. He plays with the hearts of Fanny Robin and Bathsheba. His sole aim is to gratify his animal instincts, as he is a sensualist, pure and simple. But Oak is loyal, faithful and sincere. When he is rejected by Bathsheba, He does not feel disheartened and miserable. But he loves her very much and calmly is longing for her. As Hardy writes,

       "Troy's deformities lay deep down from a woman's vision: Thus contrasting with 

Symbolism is one of the important devices which helps in interpreting one writing in more than one levels. It improves the quality of the writing and interest of the readers. Symbolism is the way of suggesting one thing in terms of another. It says something with the help of pretention or disguise.


              In "Far from the Madding Crowd", Thomas Hardy also uses various symbols to suggest the deeper level of meaning of the novel. First of all, the title itself is symbolic. The title suggests that the rustic village people are leading a better life than the urban people. They are homely, quite, and joyous. They are far away from the "madding crowd" of the urban society.


             The scene of great thunderstorm, which threatens Bathsheba's corn- ricks, provides an opportunity for the author to contrast the firmness of Oak and the careless immorality of Troy. The thunderstorm is a symbolic representation of the turmoil that Bathsheba's mind is going to be afflicted with soon after.


             The description of barn, with its solidity and timelessness has another symbolic suggestion. The activities going on in the Great Barn have been described as --- It took place in the Great Barn, an ancient building dating from the middle ages and used for centuries for the purpose for which it was constructed. Weatherbury itself was as old and unchangeable as this Barn and so, "the Barn was natural to the shearers and the shearers to the Barn."


            Bathsheba like the typical women desires to be dominated and loved by a sexually aggressive man and until that desire has been subdued, she cannot make a wife for Oak,who is essentially a passive lover, no matter how strong and good he is otherwise. Hardy describes her as:

       "She was of the stuff of which great men's mothers are made. She was indispensable to high generation; hated at the tea parties, feared in shops, and loved in cries."

Through Bathsheba's desire for male domination, Hardy brings out other characteristics of inter-relationships.


             The first encounter of Troy and Bathsheba is also symbolic in purpose, which suggests the ultimate relationship that Troy is going to have with Bathsheba. It also throws light on the weakness of Bathsheba. It also shows Bathsheba's flattery. The spur is also here used as a symbol of sex. The spur of Troy which actually gets entangled in Bathsheba's dress is a conventional symbol of male potency.


             The scene of sword play is also symbolic when it is interpreted psychologically. The sword, itself, even more obviously phallic than the spur,  gleams "a sort of greeting, like a living thing". This swordplay attracts Bathsheba towards Troy.


           Thus symbolism and metaphor plays a very important role in Hardy's "Far from the Madding Crowd" which increases the beauty and charm of the novel.

Bathsheba Everdene, an extremely charming and beautiful lady, is the heroine of the novel, "Far from the Madding Crowd", the first popular novel by Thomas Hardy. Like the other heroines of Hardy's novels, such as Eustacia Vye (the heroine of "The Return of the Native") and Tess (the heroine of "Tess of the D'Urbervilles"), Hardy has bestowed all his attention on Bathsheba.

     
            To suggest her beauty, the novelist writes, "She is a fair product of Nature in the feminine kind." She is regarded as "fair handsome lady" and the turnpike keeper calls her "handsome maid". She is the "attractive young wife" of Troy. She is conscious of her beauty and her physical charm and she is quite boastful about her beauty, which is emphasized with the progress of the story. She has a vain woman's desire to be looked at, that's why, Billy Smallbury describes her as "a very vain feymell". Oak gives proof to this opinion when he finds her looking in the mirror and blushing to find that she is as beautiful as she thinks herself to be.


            Bathsheba is not only beautiful, she is practical and sharp-minded. She possesses practical sense and administrative ability. She detects very soon that her bailiff Pennyways is a dishonest man and dismisses him at once. She manages herself a big farm without any assistance. She also has feminine sensibility and thinks herself equal to man. She tells her labourers:

        "You have a mistress instead of a master. I don't yet know my powers or talent in farming; but I shall do my best, and if you serve me well, so shall I serve you. Don't let the unfair ones among you suppose that because I'm a woman, I don't understand the difference between bad gonings-on and good."


             On the other hand, like the typical woman of all time, she is an extremely jealous woman by nature. It is, in fact, the reason behind her marrying Troy. And even when Troy kisses the dead Fanny, she is overcome by a fit of jealousy. She exclaims wildly from the deepest depth of the heart:

        "Don't - don't kiss them! O, Frank, I can't bear it - I can't! I love you better than she did: kiss me too, Frank, - kiss me. You will, Frank, kiss me too."


            Though Bathsheba possesses the practical qualities, she is not without the kindness of the female heart. She feels disappionted at Fanny's sudden disappearance. She does everything which she can do.


            Thus, Bathsheba becomes one of the most remarkable heroines of Hardy. She is one if Hardy's "most convincing feminine creations". She is a practical, sane, strong, and successful woman of the whole novel.

The title always plays an important role in the art of literature. Title gives us an idea of the concept of the writing as well as the author's intention behind the writing.Thus Hardy's "Far from the Madding Crowd" also gives the readers a concept of the theme of  the novel. The title, "Far from the Madding Crowd" is a phrase which occurs in Gray's  "Elegy, Written in a Country Churchyard":

    "Far from the madding crowd's ignoble strife, / Their sober wishes never learned to stray;/ Along the cool sequester'd vale of life;/ They kept the noiseless tenor of their way."

        In this elegy, Gray pays a tribute to the humble and peaceful, homely ancestors of village people, who lie buried in the country churchyard. The "madding crowd" represents the crowded, congested, suffocating life of the city. The scenes of all the stories of Hardy is laid in the countryside, in a region of England to which he gives the name of Wessex. Through this title, Hardy wishes to imply that the life of the country people is peaceful and calm and free from the tumult, the turmoil and the strife which mark the life style of urban people.

               The novel deals with the rustic people like Joseph Poorgrass, Jan Coggan which is clearly suggested in the title. Most of the characters are quite, homely and simple-minded. They are not like the urban-side people. They are very far from the crowded area of town and city.

              Among the major characters, except Troy, all the other characters are rural. Oak is an idealized rustic. On the other hand, Boldwood and Bathsheba are  farmers.

             The title also has an ironical significance. Although Boldwood and Bathsheba line in the countryside, far form the madding crowd, they are neither happy nor contented.There are vicissitudes in their lives. There is a turmoil situation in the life of Boldwood. There is also a tragedy in the lives of Bathsheba and Fanny. Perhaps Hardy wants to believe that even in the countryside, misfortune  and suffering are not absent.

               To suggest the joys and sorrows of the humble and homely countrymen, the title "Far from the Madding Crowd" is very much apt and appropriate.