Far from the Madding Crowd — Thomas Hardy | Coleman’s Notes A Level Student Guide
Independent, intelligent and determined to control her own future, Bathsheba Everdene inherits a farm and takes on a role normally occupied by men. Around her, three very different men offer three very different versions of love.
Gabriel Oak represents loyalty, patience and practical constancy. William Boldwood becomes consumed by an increasingly obsessive attachment. Sergeant Frank Troy offers excitement, sexuality and danger — while concealing a past that will have devastating consequences.
Through Bathsheba’s relationships and the changing fortunes of the farming community, Thomas Hardy creates a novel about love, independence, responsibility, class, gender, fate and the conflict between romantic desire and dependable companionship.
This Coleman’s Notes guide provides the detailed textual knowledge, literary analysis and examination preparation needed for confident A Level study.
Inside the guide
✓ Complete plot summary
✓ Detailed chapter-by-chapter analysis
✓ Essential setting and location guide
✓ Character relationship map
✓ Bathsheba Everdene in depth
✓ Gabriel Oak in depth
✓ Sergeant Francis Troy
✓ William Boldwood
✓ Fanny Robin
✓ Major and supporting characters
✓ Love and different forms of courtship
✓ Independence and female agency
✓ Gender and Victorian society
✓ Fate, chance and coincidence
✓ Responsibility and moral judgement
✓ Social class and rural community
✓ Nature, landscape and the seasons
✓ Work, farming and rural life
✓ Tragedy and consequences
✓ Hardy’s language, imagery and symbolism
✓ Narrative method and structure
✓ Historical and literary context
✓ Key quotations and quotation analysis
✓ A Level literary methods
✓ Structured essay planning
✓ Model answers
✓ Exam & Revision Questions
✓ Quick Recall revision
✓ Key episodes for close analysis
✓ Critical debates for A Level
✓ Exam technique
✓ Final revision checklist
Perfect for
A Level English Literature students • examination revision • essay preparation • teachers • tutors • independent learners
Designed to move beyond simple plot summary, the guide helps students understand how Hardy constructs meaning and how character, setting, symbolism, narrative method and context can be turned into effective examination arguments.
This is a digital product, available for download following purchase.
Individual Student Guide — £7.95
Also available — The Thomas Hardy Collection
Build a fuller understanding of Hardy through five Coleman’s Notes® A Level Student Guides:
Tess of the d’Urbervilles • Far from the Madding Crowd • The Mayor of Casterbridge • Jude the Obscure • The Return of the Native
Complete five-title Thomas Hardy Collection — £34.95
Coleman’s Notes® — Understand • Analyse • Revise • Succeed
