The Oxford English Dictionary defines pathetic fallacy as "the attribution of human response or emotion to inanimate nature." More information is needed in order to distinguish it from other forms of symbolism or imagery. John Ruskin first used the phrase in 1856 in an article entitled "Of the Pathetic Fallacy." He attributes it to an overwhelming emotion that changes one's perspective of the world. When writers create a fierce scene between the antagonist and protagonist, the sun may be shining but it is not perceived as enveloping, gentle warmth; instead it is an intense, penetrating force. As Ruskin put it, "All violent feelings have the same effect. They produce in us a falseness in all our impressions of external things, which I would generally characterize as the `Pathetic Fallacy'" (2).

      It is not mandatory in modern literature that pathetic fallacy extend to the extremes of violent emotions. Authors themselves may not be under these emotionally induced false impressions, but the characters they depict commit these fallacies and in doing so nature can reflect and expand their emotions. Thomas Hardy's extensive use of imagery often included the pathetic fallacy, and as one critic so aptly stated, "Where another writer might have screamed to evoke a grand emotion, Hardy only whispers" (Anderson 200) With such a heavy presence of nature throughout Far From the Madding Crowd, it is difficult to sift out pathetic fallacy from symbolism or coincidence. The determining factor is emotion. Early in the novel Hardy wrote the following description of Norcombe Hill:

It was a featureless convexity of chalk and soil- an ordinary specimen of those smoothly outlined protuberances of the globe which may remain undisturbed on some great day of confusion when far grander heights and dizzy granite precipices topple down. (8)

      This passage can be read as symbolic of Oak who is able to remain levelheaded even facing the loss of his entire fortune. Inanimate nature receives human characteristics, yet the driving force is not emotional and thus there is no pathetic fallacy.

      While able to move on in his determined and steadfast way, Oak is not completely unfazed by the loss of his flock. He does not show it directly, but Hardy makes Gabriel's bleak thoughts apparent in a more subtle way:

Oak raised his head, and wondering what he could do, listlessly surveyed the scene. By the outer margin of the pit was an oval pond, and over it hung the attenuated skeleton of a chrome-yellow moon, which had only a few days to last- the morning star dogging her on the right hand. The pool glittered like a dead man's eye, and as the world awoke a breeze blew...(33)

      It is unlikely that a content person would look to the sky and see the attenuated skeleton of the moon or a pool glittering like a dead man's eye. The only depiction of Oak Hardy offers directly is the adverb "listlessly," beyond that his emotional state comes only through his perception of the world around him.

      Hardy possessed a strong talent for describing what he saw. His discussion of nature offers far more to the reader than a simple statement of emotion. The Oxford Companion to Hardy quotes a note he made in 1887; "(he) wrote that his interest was in `the deeper reality underlying the scenic" (201). Nature is capable of playing a profound role in the emotions of a novel without seeming excessive and it was often through pathetic fallacy that Hardy achieved his "whisper."

      In this manner Hardy can enhance the mood of any scene without simply loading adjectives into the text. This appears countless times throughout the novel and as Carol Anderson described, "Hardy uses landscape not only to intensify emotion but to modulate it"(204). This idea of modulation was especially important in Victorian times. If one could not write of scandalous or sexual emotions directly, pathetic fallacy provided the means for sliding past censorship.

      This maneuver is epitomized by Hardy's use of "the hollow amid the ferns." It is here that Troy dazzles Bathsheba with his sword skills. This scene, highly suggestive, could not have been considered appropriate to family readers had its true meaning not been conveyed through symbolism and pathetic fallacy. Bathsheba approaches a landscape "plump and succulent from recent rapid growth, and radiant in hues of clean and untainted green"(159). When it appeared in The Cornhill, Leslie Stephen had changed succulent to diaphanous in order to minimize the sexual connotations (Notes 376).

The pit was a hemispherical concave, naturally formed... The middle, within the belt of verdure was floored with an impressible carpet of moss and grass intermingled, so yielding that the foot was half buried within it.(160)

      Nature becomes virgin, seductive, and sensuous, all the things that Bathsheba and Troy cannot be or feel. The presence of these feelings remains strong, altering the emotion from Bathsheba's girlish curiosity in sword tricks and Troy's pride in his skill to a scandalous rendezvous.

      The transformation of this hollow symbolizes the transformation of Bathsheba's relationship with Troy. The change is seen through pathetic fallacy; what once conveyed the thrill of romance is now overwhelmed by disgust and shame.

...the general aspect of the swamp was malignant. From its moist and poisonous coat seemed to be exhaled the essences of evil things in the earth, and in the waters under the earth… The hollow seemed a nursery of pestilences small and great, in the immediate neighborhood of comfort and health, and Bathsheba arose with a tremor at the thought of having passed the night on the brink of so dismal a place. (265-6)

      The once-alluring spot has become corrupted with disease and suggests the presence of evil. The relationship with Troy is revealed; without reading of it explicitly the reader understands his malevolent presence in Bathsheba's life.

      In the process of shedding light on or intensifying the emotion in a given scene, pathetic fallacy can also serve as a form of foreshadowing. This idea is exemplified by the storm in installment eight. Beautifully depicted, the storm parallels the growing tension between Troy and Bathsheba. As nature sets up its own fiasco, Hardy sets the stage for another.

The night had a sinister aspect... The moon as seen through these films had a lurid metallic look. The fields were sallow with the impure light, and all were tinged in monochrome, as if beheld through stained glass. (209)

      This turning point, marking the end of harvest time, pulls at the story from all sides. As nature sends more and more signs to Gabriel, the tension is so great that it seems everything will snap at once. Having created external tension, Hardy is able to reflect and expand the tension between Troy and Bathsheba. It is during Troy's harvest and engagement party that his contempt drives Bathsheba away. From this point on, things worsen. The emotional stirring brought by the storm forewarns the reader of hostility to come.

      Thomas Hardy's use of pathetic fallacy in Far From the Madding Crowd serves to broaden the novels emotional scope in a subtle manner that allows him to provide depth to scenes, suggest censorable ideas, and prepare the reader for future events. They become what T.S. Elliot calls "objective correlatives ... external facts or events correlated to and evocative of the human moods and feelings"(Page 202).

      "The point is this: we must abandon the attitude that the landscape and rustics function only to supplement the plot, or to give `atmosphere'" (Anderson 195). Keeping this in mind, Hardy's readers can pick up so much more than what appears to be a lovely description. Pathetic fallacy adds an entire dimension to Far From the Madding Crowd, and the greater one's understanding, the more prevalent it is throughout all literature. Each depiction of the characters' world seems carefully crafted to evoke the proper emotion and Hardy achieves this with only a whisper.

-- Anne Sharp © 2003