The Portrayal of Bathsheba as a Feminist Character in Thomas Hardy's Far from the Madding Crowd

ABSTRACT

JANET NADIA LIMANG. The Portrayal of Bathsheba as a Feminist Character in Thomas Hardy’s Far from the Madding Crowd. (Supervised by Abidin Pammu and Sitti Sahraeny).

This study aims to describe the main female character, Bathsheba Everdeen, as a feminist character in novel entitled Far from the Madding Crowd. The novel was written by Thomas Hardy, an English novelist and poet. The depiction of the character of Bathsheba as a woman in the face of a patriarchal environment and social conditions of women in the novel will be explained in the analysis.

This study used a qualitative research method. By using a structuralism genetic approach underpinned by feminism theory, the researcher focused on the intrinsic and extrinsic elements in the novel that described the social conditions of women in the Victorian era. The theory of feminism is used in this study to describe the character of Bathsheba Everdeen as the main female character in the novel.

The results of this study indicated that the social conditions of women in the Victorian era can be seen from how the main character in the novel, Bathsheba was treated as a weak creation and unable to do the work done by men. In addition, the researcher concluded that Bathsheba is a female character that breaks the standardization of feminine traits that were considered to be owned by all women in the Victorian era.