Francis Troy And Gabriel Oak example essay topic

Far From the Madding Crowd Compare the Characters Gabriel Oak and Francis Troy In my essay I am going to compare Gabriel Oak and Francis Troy. I will consider their relationships with Fanny and Bathsheba, and their skill as farmers. Francis Troy and Gabriel Oak are two very different characters. Francis Troy is outgoing, flirtatious and very handsome. While Gabriel Oak is simple, shy and not ugly, but pleasant looking. I prefer Gabriel to Troy because although Troy is dashing and charming, you can tell that there is something odd about him.

Thomas Hardy says in the book", And Troys deformities lay deep down from a womans vision, whilst his embellishments were upon the very surface; thus contrasting with homely Oak, whose defects were patent to the blindest, and whose virtues were as metals in a mine". He was very unfair to Fanny when she made the mistake of going to the wrong church when they were due to get married. When she apologised he did not care. This was the girl he was going to marry and he left her, just because she was half an hour late for the wedding. That was a big mistake he made.

Also, when Fanny came to visit Troy at the barracks she hit the window hoping someone would open it. Someone opened the window and said, Who's there". She asked if it was Sergeant Troy who was there and he said, "Yes". Troy said, "What girl are you", because of all the prostitutes that loiter around the barracks as they got a great deal of attention he thought it was another prostitute wanting some quick cash by having sexual intercourse with him, and he obviously had given them some money before. Then Fanny said, "Yes, so am I. And Frank, when will it be"What" Then fanny said, "That you promised. Troy went on to say, "I don't quite recollect".

He had basically forgotten the promise that he made to Fanny when he last saw her. That they would marry, some day. He made it thinking that he would never see her again because he got her pregnant and it was disgraceful if you were pregnant and not married. He also treated Bathsheba very badly when he lost interest in her and started to lose all her money on the races. He was also very unkind to Farmer Boldwood. Farmer Boldwood gave Troy money for the wedding when no one knew that they were married already, Troy led him along being very nice to him then saying, very abruptly, that he was already married to her.

This broke Farmer Boldwood heart even more. He was using Bathsheba because when Troy saw Fanny again he cared for her much more and wanted to help her but didn't want Bathsheba to know that he knew her so she told her to meet her the next day and he never turned up. Troy was always drinking heavily and when he and Bathsheba had a celebration of their wedding, at the end of the night he told all the women to go to bed while the men stayed and drank themselves stupid. While they were getting drunk there was a storm brewing and the ricks were left uncovered so if it rained all the hay would have got wet and she would of lost a lot of money. Troy didn't even care about the storm because he was to drunk to even think, so it was left to Gabriel to save the day, once again by covering the ricks with tarpaulin.

You can tell how grateful she was to Gabriel after the storm by her saying", Gabriel, you are kinder than I deserve! I will stay and help you yet". Troy was in some ways a lovely man. Every year he would come to the farm and help with the harvest. He was very charming, the woman always liked him. He was a great swordsman and he lured Bathsheba in with his fancy sword work.

In the novel, Troy says to Bathsheba when showing off how skilled he was with a sword, "They are rather death. Now I'll be more interesting, and let you see some loose play-giving all the cuts and points, infantry and cavalry, quicker than lightning, and as promiscuously - with just enough rule to relegate instinct and yet not to fetter it. You are my antagonist, with this difference from real warfare, that I shall miss you every time by one hairs breadth, or perhaps two. Mind you don't flinch, whatever you do". That was his type of flirting.

He is showing off that he can only miss Bathsheba by a hairs breadth. This makes her feel threatened and makes Troy feel in control over her. This shows he is very chauvinistic by wanting to be in control. Although that he was charming he never let people know what he was really like. Gabriel was a very pleasant man; he was always so kind to Bathsheba and was always there for her when she needed him. He was a very patient man.

When Boldwood and Troy were queuing up to marry Bathsheba he just let it happen. He didn't do anything in a rage of anger. Even though, deep down he wanted to marry her. He was always there for anyone if they didn't have anyone else to turn to. He was a very modest man, when he asked Bathsheba to marry him. He admitted he was a simple man.

He was going to leave the farm because he had an argument with Bathsheba, but when he got a note saying from Bathsheba saying, "Don't desert me", he can't ignore her as his feelings got in the way of his principles. She would lose all her money if her sheep had not have been cured. This shows that he would do anything for Bathsheba. The sheep got into a field with clover in it and if the sheep ate too much clover they would bloat up and if they were not relieved of that pressure they could have died. Gabriel was kind because when he saw Fanny in Weather bury on the streets, he gave her a shilling, even though he did not know her, but she looked in a bad way so he spared the change for her. She was very grateful for this offering and accepted it.

In the novel Gabriel says", Since you are not very well off, perhaps you would accept this trifle from me. It is only a shilling, but it is all I have to spare". Gabriel helped Farmer Boldwood with the running of his farm. He had to work in two farms which was quite demanding but he managed because he didn't want to upset anyone which shows how caring he is. On the day of Fanny Robin's funeral when the man who was suppose to bring the coffin to the church stopped off at a pub and got completely intoxicated with alcohol. Gabriel Oak caught him and had to take the coffin to the church.

He saw on the coffin the words written", Fanny Robin and Child". Gabriel realised that the child's father was Sergeant Troy, he was very annoyed by this. But still he rubbed out the bit saying, "Child" on it, because he didn't want Bathsheba to get hurt, that is all he cared about. Even though it meant by doing this that that he would be lying to her and maybe squandering the only chance he had to break her and Troy up. This shows that Gabriel is a caring man who does not want to hurt people's feelings. This tells us that Troy is a man who does not care who he sleeps with and only has relationships with woman he is physically attracted to.

Gabriel was a much better Farmer than Troy, mainly because Gabriel's job was a farmer and Troy was a soldier. Troy had done more farming when he was a young boy. This concludes that Gabriel Oak is a far more pleasant man than Francis Troy and that Gabriel is more of a down to earth type of person than Francis. Troy is more of a exciting, bouncy type of personality which sounds good but not when you don't have your heart in the right place.

Gabriel is kinder to Bathsheba than Troy is to her and is generally nicer to everyone else than Troy. Gabriel is not two faced like Troy is..