Far From the Madding Crowd Pride Quotes

What a first impression. The first thing Bathsheba does in this novel is take out a little mirror and stare at herself in it. Granted, she's beautiful. But seriously? That's a little narcissistic.

It's not like Bathsheba needs to fix her hair or makeup. She just wants to look at her own prettiness. As far as first impressions go, this one tells us pretty clearly that Bathsheba is a vain woman. It's no wonder that she later refuses Gabriel's marriage proposal because she thinks she's too good for him.

We're not alone in thinking that Bathsheba is a vain person. It takes only a glance for a wily guy like Gabriel to size up her enormous ego. But then again, it's not like Gabriel is walking away from her. She might have an ego, but he also totally falls in love with her because of how beautiful he finds her. Go figure.

When she's asked whether any man has ever proposed to her, Bathsheba is more than happy to say yes. But she's even happier to say that she turned the man down because she was too good for him.

It's one thing for a woman to be proud; it's another for her to be so proud that she runs her own farm and tells all her male workers what to do… at least in Victorian England. As you can imagine, the idea of having a female boss in Hardy's time wasn't the easiest thing for men to swallow. But instead of blaming their own sexism, they blame Bathsheba's womanly pride.

When Gabriel senses some sort of sickness in Farmer Boldwood, Boldwood is quick to argue that he is a tough, strong man who can't be hurt by anything. This is all just wishful thinking on his part, though, since his pride has been badly wounded by Bathsheba's rejection of him.

Bathsheba's pride is very strong. But it has a tough time holding up against the knowledge that everyone in town thinks she has lowered herself by marrying a common soldier like Sergeant Troy. It seems, though, that Bathsheba's pride will have to take even more of a beating before she's ready to get out of her way and live the life she wants.

Just before she is totally broken, Bathsheba rallies herself and totally commits to living with Sergeant Troy for the rest of her days, no matter how miserable she is. The reason she'll do this is because she thinks that only women with no pride could ever be so weak as to leave their husbands.

As we come to the end of the book, we learn that the pride Bathsheba once has as a young woman has shriveled over time. And you can't really blame her, considering how much misfortune has befallen the poor woman. A dead husband and an imprisoned suitor will go a long way to making you question how positive your impact on the world has been.

Finally, when she's ready to marry Gabriel Oak, Bathsheba has all but lost her former pride. It's kind of a shame, though, that she can't be proud and have a good life. As far as punishments go, this book is maybe a little too hard on Bathsheba for thinking she was better than other people.