MACMILLAN MASTER GUIDES

FAR FROM THE MADDING CROWDBY THOMAS HARDY

MACMILLAN MASTER GUIDESGeneral Editor: James Gibson

Published:JANE AUSTEN: PRIDE AND PREJUDICE Raymond Wilson

EMMA Norman PageMANSFffiLD PARK Richard Wirdnam

ROBERT BOLT: A MAN FOR ALL SEASONS Leonard SmithEMILY BRONTE: WUTHERING HEIGHTS Hilda D. SpearGEOFFREY CHAUCER: THE PROLOGUE TO THE CANTERBURY

TALES Nigel Thomas and Richard SwanCHARLES DICKENS: GREAT EXPECTATIONS Dennis Butts

HARD TIMES Norman PageGEORGE ELIOT: MIDDLEMARCH Graham Handley

SILAS MARNER Gra'ham HandleyOLIVER GOLDSMITH: SHE STOOPS TO CONQUER Paul RangerTHOMAS HARDY: FAR FROM THE MADDING CROWD

Colin Temblett-WoodCHRISTOPHER MARLOWE: DOCTOR FAUSTUS David A. MaleGEORGE ORWELL: ANIMAL FARM Jean ArmstrongWILLIAM SHAKESPEARE: MACBETH David Elloway

A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAMKenneth Pickering

ROMEO AND JULIET Helen MorrisTHE WINTER'S TALE Diana Devlin

Forthcoming:GEOFFREY CHAUCER: THE MILLER'S TALE Michael AlexanderT. S. ELIOT: MURDER IN ms CAmEDRAL Paul LapworthE. M. FORSTER: A PASSAGE TO INDIA Hilda D. SpearWILLIAM GOLDING: THE SPIRE Rosemary SumnerTHOMAS HARDY: TESS OF THE D'URBERVILLES James GibsonHARPER LEE: TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD Jean ArmstrongARTHUR MILLER: THE CRUCIBLE Leonard SmithGEORGE BERNARD SHAW ST JOAN Leonee OrmondWILLIAM SHAKESPEARE: HAMLET Jean Brooks

HENRY IV PART ONE Helen MorrisJULIUS CAESAR David EllowayKING LEAR Francis CaseyOTHELLO Christopher BeddowesTWELFTH NIGHT Edward Leeson

RICHARD SHERIDAN: THE RIVALS Jeremy RoweTHE SCHOOL FOR SCANDAL Paul Ranger

JOHN WEBSTER: THE DUCHESS OF MALFI/THE WHITE DEVILDavid A. Male

THE METAPHYSICAL POETS Joan van Emden

Also published by Macmillan

MACMILLAN MASTER SERIES

Mastering English Literature R. GillMastering English Language S. H. BurtonMastering English Grammar S. H. Burton

COLIN TEMBLETT-WOOD

MMACMILLAN

<s> Colin Temblett-Wood 1985

All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmissionof this publication may be made without written permission.

No paragraph of this publication may be reproduced, copiedor transmitted save with written permission or in accordancewith the provisions of the Copyright Act 1956 (as amended).

Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation tothis publication may be liable to criminal prosecution andcivil claims for damages.

First edition 1985

Published byMACMILLAN EDUCATION LTDHoundmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 2XSand LondonCompanies and representativesthroughout the world

British Library Cataloguing in Publication DataTemblett-Wood, ColinFar from the madding crowd by Thomas Hardy. -(Macmillan master guides) .1. Hardy, Thomas, 1840-1928. Far from themadding crowdI. Title823'.8 PR4745

ISBN 978-0-333-37434-4 ISBN 978-1-349-07488-4 (eBook)

ISBN 978-0-333-39465-6 Pbk exportDOI 10.1007/978-1-349-07488-4

CONTENTSAcknowledgement

General editor'spreface

vi

vii

1 Life and background

2 Summaries and criticalcommentary

3 Themes and concerns

4 Technical features

1.1 Early days1.2 The apprentice architect1.3 Farfrom the Madding Crowd

3.1 General thinking3.2 'Novels of character and

environment'3.3 Envuonment3.4 'Pastoral'3.5 'Destiny obscure'?

4.1 Plot and structure4.2 The pattern of characterisation4.3 Style

123

5

25

26324345

495970

S Examination of a specimen passage

6 Critical reception

Questions and exercises

Furtherreading

77

81

85

87

vi

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTSCover illustration: Glowed with Tints of Evening Hours by JosephFarquharson. © Roy Miles Fine Paintings, London, courtesy of theBridgemanArt library.

vii

GENERAL EDITOR'S PREFACEThe aim of the Macmillan Master Guides is to help you to appreciate thebook you are studying by providing information about it and by suggestingways of reading and thinking about it which will lead to a fuller under­standing. The section on the writer's life and background has been designedto illustrate those aspects of the writer's life which have influenced thework, and to place it in its personal and literary context. The summariesand critical commentary are of special importance in that each briefsummary of the action is followed by an examination of the significantcritical points. The spacewhich might havebeen given to repetitive explana­tory notes has been devoted to a detailed analysis of the kind of passagewhich might confront you in an examination. Literary criticism is con­cerned with both the broader aspects of the work being studied and withits detail. The ideaswhich meet us in reading a great work of literature, andtheir relevance to us today, are an essential part of our study, and ourGuides look at the thought of their subject in some detail. But just asessential is the craft with which the writer has constructed his work of art,and this is considered under several technical headings - characterisation,language, style and stagecraft.

The authors of these Guides are all teachers and writers of wide ex­perience, and they have chosen to write about books they admire andknow well in the belief that they can communicate their admiration toyou. But you yourself must read and know intimately the book you arestudying. No. one can do that for you. You should see this book as a lamp­post. Use it to shed light, not to lean against. If you know your text andknow what it is saying about life, and how it says it, then you will enjoyit, and there is no better way of passing an examination in literature.

JAMES GIBSON