How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
"I hate to be thought men's property in that way—though possibly I shall be had some day." (4.39)
Bathsheba is somewhat of a feminist for her time. In the 1870s, it would've been very strange for a woman to run her own farm or to dislike the idea of marriage because she didn't want a man to own her. With all that said, she's not down to totally shock society. Even thought she's independent, she still cares a lot about what people think of her.
Quote #2
Love is a possible strength in an actual weakness. Marriage transforms a distraction into a support the power of which should be, and happily often is, in direct proportion to the degree of imbecility it supplants. (4.5)
It's stated in fancy words, but this passage basically tells us that the more flawed you are, the more you'll probably be improved by getting married. After all, what's better than always having a second person around to point out all of your faults?
Quote #3
"Well, what I mean is that I shouldn't mind being a bride at a wedding if I could be one without having a husband. But since a woman can't show off in that way by herself I shan't marry—at least yet." (4.54)
Bathsheba loves everything about weddings except the fact of getting married. If she could have a bunch of people gather round and celebrate her without her having to marry a man, then that's what she'd go for. For that reason, she plans on holding off on any wedding plans at least until she's older.
Quote #4
"Thank God I am not married: what would she have done in the poverty now coming upon me!" (5.17)
When all of his sheep fall off a cliff, Gabriel Oak knows that he's financially ruined. The one upshot of his situation is the fact that he's not married. As things stand, he has the option to roam the countryside looking for work. But if he'd had a wife or child, it would have been much more difficult to move around.
Quote #5
It may have been observed that there is no regular path for getting out of love as there is for getting in. Some people look upon marriage as a short cut that way, but it has been known to fail. (5.2)
Falling in love can happen almost instantly. But falling out of love after someone has rejected you is a more difficult thing to do. Some people, the book tells us, think that getting married is a quick way to make yourself stop loving that person. But who knows? Maybe marrying somebody will actually make you love them more… if you're not totally cynical about it.
Quote #6
It may be said that married men of forty are usually ready and generous enough to fling passing glances at any specimen of moderate beauty they may discern by the way […] Bathsheba was convinced that this unmoved person was not a married man. (12.16)
When she walks through the market, Bathsheba realizes that nearly every man there is staring at her… all except one: Farmer Boldwood. Bathsheba knows that married men are even more likely to stare than unmarried ones, especially ones that have been married a long time.
Quote #7
"I have come to speak to you without preface. My life is not my own since I have beheld you clearly. Miss Everdene—I come to make you an offer of marriage." (19.9)
Boldwood lives up to his name by being bold and marching straight up to Bathsheba's door to make an offer of marriage. No chitchat, no small talk. That's not his style. It's all business. He cuts to the chase. Hmm, maybe Boldwood would have been a little more successful with Bathsheba if he'd actually tried a little romance.
Quote #8
Boldwood as a means to marriage was unexceptionable; she esteemed and liked him: yet she did not want him. (20.3)
Ah, the age-old conundrum. Bathsheba likes Boldwood, but she doesn't like-like him. She's just not attracted to him in a romantic way. Sergeant Troy, on the other hand, is a dashing young man, and even though he's not the safest bet, he totally does it for Bathsheba.
Quote #9
"All romances end at marriage." (41.17)
It turns out that Sergeant Troy doesn't believe in romance after all, at least not after marriage. This, of course, comes as really bad news for Bathsheba, who married Troy because he was romantic. Maybe she shouldn't have been so superficial, because Troy turns out to be a total bust as a husband.
Quote #10
He turned to Fanny then. "But never mind darling," he said; "in the sight of heaven you are my very very wife."(43.76)
Sergeant Troy isn't totally empty of emotion. In fact, he truly loves Fanny Robin in a way he'll never love anyone else. That doesn't change the fact, though, that he broke his engagement to Fanny and left her and their child to die in the streets. Only after she's dead does he seem to realize the horror of what he's done.