Zusammenfassung
Zusammenfassung von Am grünen Rand der Welt
Für wen es gedacht ist
Readers who love country life, strong-minded heroines, rival suitors and the turning of the farming year, and anyone who enjoys a story where weather, work and village talk matter as much as romance.
Worum es in diesem Buch geht
Far from the Madding Crowd is a novel by Thomas Hardy, first published in 1874. It is set in Wessex, Hardy's name for the farming country of southwest England. The villages of Norcombe and Weatherbury and the market town of Casterbridge are its main places. The book follows one headstrong woman and the men who want her, and it gives you a whole working countryside along the way, with its shepherds, maltsters, harvests, fairs and storms.
At the center is Bathsheba Everdene, a young woman who comes into a farm and decides to run it herself. Gabriel Oak is a shepherd who loves her steadily and says little. William Boldwood is a rich, solemn bachelor whose calm life she disturbs by accident. Sergeant Troy is a dashing soldier with a ready tongue. Hardy asks what independence costs a woman who wants to be her own master, and what love asks of her in return.
In this summary you follow the story through its early turning points, then see what the book is really about and how Hardy tells it. The ending is kept apart, under its own label, so you can choose whether to read it. Let us begin where Hardy begins, on a bright December morning, with a young farmer looking over a hedge at a girl on top of a yellow wagon.
In dieser Zusammenfassung
- 1A shepherd, a mirror and a twopenny tollFree
- 2A proposal refused and a flock lost
- 3Fire at the rickyard changes everything
- 4A mistress with a farm and a household
- 5A joke valentine wakes a sleeping man
- 6Two refusals and an angry dismissal
- 7Shearing, song and a soldier in the firs
- 8What the story is really about
- 9How Hardy tells it
Punkt 1 von 9
A shepherd, a mirror and a twopenny toll
The story opens on Norcombe Hill, where Gabriel Oak is twenty-eight and newly a farmer in his own right. He is a steady, plain man with a silver watch that either runs too fast or stops, so he checks it against the sun and the stars. One mild December morning he watches a yellow wagon stop on the road below his field. The driver goes back to look for a lost tailboard, and a young woman in a crimson jacket is left alone on top of the load.
She sits among pots of geraniums, a caged canary and a cat in a basket. Thinking she is unobserved, she takes a small mirror from a parcel and smiles at her own face. She blushes at herself and blushes more when her reflection blushes back. Oak watches from behind the hedge, amused and a little critical, and he forms his first opinion of her.
He follows the wagon to the turnpike gate, where the driver and the tollkeeper are quarrelling over twopence. Oak pays it and the wagon passes. The girl gives him a careless glance and no thanks. When the tollkeeper calls her a handsome girl, Oak agrees but says she has one fault, and the fault is vanity.
A few nights later Oak is tending his ewes in the lambing season, sleeping in a little wheeled hut on the hill. He notices a light in a cowshed under the trees and looks through a gap in the roof. Two women are nursing a sick cow, and the younger one drops her cloak to show black hair and a red jacket. It is the girl from the wagon, the woman who owes him twopence.
She is the niece of a neighbor, and she keeps coming to milk the cow. Oak is caught out watching her ride the pony in a most unladylike way, and her pride is hurt. Then one frosty evening he falls asleep in his shut-up hut and nearly dies from bad air. She opens the hut and brings him round, and he wakes with his head in her lap. A quiet love begins in him.
That’s 1 of 9 key points.
The rest of the summary, written and spoken, and the whole book: free to start.
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Who’s who
- Bathsheba Everdene
- An independent young farmer, Bathsheba attracts three contrasting suitors while insisting on managing her own affairs.
- Gabriel Oak
- A capable shepherd and Bathsheba’s suitor, Gabriel brings practical judgment and steady affection to their relationship.
- William Boldwood
- A prosperous neighboring farmer, Boldwood becomes deeply attached to Bathsheba after receiving her playful valentine.
- Sergeant Francis Troy
- A charming, impulsive soldier, Troy attracts Bathsheba while his relationship with Fanny Robin carries other responsibilities.
- Fanny Robin
- A vulnerable young woman connected to Bathsheba’s farm, Fanny loves Sergeant Troy and depends upon his promises.
About this edition
Every format is free to start, and print and large print are at cost.
- LengthAbout 142,000 words
- Reading timeAbout 9 h 30 min
- Listening time15 h 45 min
- FormatseBook, large-print eBook, audiobook, 15-minute summary
- LanguagesEnglish and 12 other languages
Questions about Am grünen Rand der Welt
What is Far from the Madding Crowd about?
It follows Bathsheba Everdene, a young woman who inherits a farm in Wessex and attracts three very different men: the shepherd Gabriel Oak, the wealthy farmer William Boldwood and the soldier Sergeant Troy. It is a story of love, pride and work.
Who is Bathsheba Everdene?
Bathsheba is the heroine, a beautiful and independent young woman who takes over her uncle's farm near Weatherbury. She is clever in business and proud of her freedom, though she is thoughtless in love and does not foresee how her actions will affect others.
What does the title Far from the Madding Crowd mean?
The title comes from a poem by Thomas Gray about quiet country life away from the noisy world. It points to the setting, a rural Wessex community where work, weather and village talk matter more than the bustle of cities.
When was Far from the Madding Crowd written and is it a true story?
Thomas Hardy first published it in 1874. It is fiction, but it draws on real farming life in the south and west of England. Wessex is Hardy's name for the countryside he knew, and the places in it are lightly disguised.
Is Far from the Madding Crowd easy to read?
It has a clear story, short chapters and many lively scenes. The village workers speak in comic, easy dialogue, and the plot moves through fires, fairs, storms and courtships. Hardy's rich descriptions of the countryside are a pleasure to read aloud.