Bathsheba Everdene is a fictional character conceived by Thomas Hardy for his novel Far from the Madding Crowd, which was published in 1871. Alongside Jane Eyre, Elizabeth Bennet and even Jo March, Bathsheba exemplifies one of the first female characters that are beyond their era and that we can consider as the first feminist characters. However, there are mixed feelings about her character and the way she acts during the novel. Bathsheba is a complicated character that is confused by who she wants to be and what happens around her.
Independence vs. commitment
Since the beginning of the novel, we can appreciate that Bathsheba is a strong, independent woman who knows what she is doing and seems like she knows what she wants. As we can recall, when Oak asked her to marry him Bathsheba said that she did not want to be any men’s property, at least not in that moment. From that moment on we can see her display a magnificent role; when she inherited her uncle’s farm many of her workers were not happy with this because Bathsheba was a woman, but she showed them that it was not important because she could be as efficient as any other man and that she did not need a man by her side to do the hard work. These facts show us that Bathsheba is independent.
On the other hand, as soon as she meets officer Troy, Bathsheba falls for him and marries without hesitation, she did just what she said that silly girls usually do and she would never do; for a while, Bathsheba is faithful to officer