Far From the Madding Crowd Class Quotes

Bathsheba's servant Maryann wishes she were married. The problem is that she's only interested in marrying into a higher social class, and none of the men from this class want to marry her. There are plenty of men from lower classes who do, but she won't have anything to do with them.

When asked whether she has ever received a marriage proposal, Bathsheba admits that she once has. But she refused the proposal because she was too good for the man. The man she's talking about, of course, is Gabriel Oak, and by the end of this book, she'll come running back into his arms, because he's like the best guy ever. But this passage shows how much Bathsheba's pride in her class position can affect her major life decisions.

The "or there's no meat in gentlemen's houses" part of this quote is said to mean the untrue and unfathomable, because there is always meat in rich men's houses. The guy who says this may have well said "or I'm a monkey's uncle" or "or water is dry." For working men the divide between the rich and poor is just a fact of life.

When she tries to justify her attraction to Sergeant Troy, Bathsheba finds it necessary to mention that Troy was raised as the son of a doctor, but that he's in reality the son of a nobleman. You'd think that it might be good enough for her to say that she simply likes the guy. But like many people of her time, she realizes that a person's social class plays a big role in their suitability for marriage.

When describing Sergeant Troy to us, Hardy's narrator is quick to mention that Troy is much more educated than most soldiers. This probably helps explain why Troy is so good with words compared to many of his soldier friends. This education, though, also tends to make Troy strive for things that are beyond the life of a soldier, which can help explain why he gives up poor Fanny Robin for marriage to the wealthy Bathsheba.

Bathsheba tries to defend Sergeant Troy to Gabriel Oak by saying how good Troy's family was. But Oak totally schools her by saying that actually, Troy's good family shows that Troy has come down in the world and will probably continue to do so. If a dude from a rich family is forced to become a soldier, it must mean that he really blew threw his family's money instead of doing something useful with it.

The word around Casterbridge is that the local poorhouse happens to have a very nice view—so nice that a nobleman from the area once said that he'd give up his own property to have such a view. But as the narrator sarcastically tells us, the inmates of the poorhouse would probably gladly take him up on his offer, since living in the poorhouse ain't exactly a beach party.

Once Gabriel Oak starts to make good money, word spreads around town that he's begun walking around in fancy clothes. You wouldn't think that a down-to-earth practical guy like Oak would care about lookin' sharp. But like everyone else in the book, he does care about his appearance and about what people think of him… and he especially cares about what Bathsheba thinks of him.

Sergeant Troy wants to go home to Weatherbury to live in the comfort of his rich wife's home. But he can't bear the idea that Bathsheba would ever catch him working as a travelling performer, because Bathsheba thinks that travelling performers are essentially 19th century carnies.

By the end of the book, Gabriel is willing to admit to Bathsheba that he's been patiently waiting for the day when he could have enough wealth and property to make a suitable marriage proposal to her. Turns out that class totally does matter when it comes to love and marriage. So much for love being blind.