A Biblical Interpretation Of Far From The Madding Crowd

Thomas Hardy (1840~1928), the great British poet and novelist, was well-known for his excellent and immortal works, especially his full-length novels, which have drawn great attention of numerous critics and scholars, both home and abroad, from his contemporary time to the very present.As we know, the western society is a society that is greatly immersed in the Christian culture, and almost all the western major writers'works are greatly influenced by the Holy Bible. Hardy is no exception. He was born in a strongly Christian family, and was a pious Christian when he was young. Nevertheless, with the influence of other currents of thought, Hardy began doubting the existence of God and at last even denied it. This process of his change of religious belief, reflected in his literary writings, is his ambivalent attitude towards Christianity and the God.Far from the Madding Crowd, which was written in the first stage of Hardy's novel-writing, has a distinct religious mark. In this book, Hardy not only borrowed many names and allusions from the Bible, but also unfolded the plot of the story according to the biblical plot modes. Besides, his disposition of destinies of the main characters, who are punished when they violate the Ten Commandments and saved when they obey, also reflects Hardy's faith in Christianity and the God; and his portrait of the pious Christian, Gabriel Oak, as well as his praise on him, reflect his desire for and advocacy of Christianity's spirit of universal love and self-sacrifice. However, from Hardy's appreciating attitude towards Bathsheba's spirit of freedom, and his making of those minor and humorous characters, we can also see his sarcasm and slight hostility towards Christianity.The purpose of this thesis is to give the novel a comprehensive biblical interpretation, and to discuss it independently, so as to reveal Hardy's attitude towards Christianity in this novel, his pursuit and restoration of God's love and salvation, as well as his not yet apparent religious contradictions reflected in this novel, hoping to make readers better understand this novel and push the research on Far from the Madding Crowd a step forward.This thesis is divided into the following six parts:The first part is a brief introduction of this thesis.The second part gives an overview of the diverse criticisms on Far from the Madding Crowd.The third part, with a detailed textual analysis, is the most important part of this thesis. First of all, I will analyze four archetypal characters whose names are copied from the Bible; second, I will discuss the biblical plot modes used in this novel, with the theory of Frye's archetypal criticism.The fourth part explores into the relationship between the Ten Commandments and the destinies of the four leading characters.The fifth part is comparatively short, a brief analysis of other biblical allusions used in the book.Then, on the basis of all these discussions, the last part will summarize Hardy's attitude towards Christianity and the Bible.