Dr Diane Duffy has paid a visit to Wessex to explore the life, work and inspiration of Thomas Hardy. Far From the Madding Crowd is the subject of our 2025-26 study sessions.
Hardy’s earnings from Far from the Madding Crowd allowed him to marry Emma Gifford whom he met while on a commission to survey the parish church at St Juliot, near Boscastle in Cornwall. It is ironic that a novel in which Hardy questions the nature of marriage should have provided the financial security to facilitate his own nuptials. While Oak is quite positive about marriage:
Love is a possible strength in an actual weakness. Marriage transforms a distraction into a support, the power of which should be, and happily often is, in direct proportion to the degree of imbecility it supplants.
Bathseba Everdene is not so sure:
I have tried hard all the time I’ve been thinking; for a marriage would be very nice in one sense. People would talk about me, and think I had won my battle, and I should feel triumphant, and all that. But a husband—… Well, what I mean is that I shouldn’t mind being a bride at a wedding, if I could be one without having a husband.
A woman’s independence and what she may be asked to sacrifice in marriage are points that I hope to discuss in our study sessions.
Diane Duffy
Click the images above to enlarge and see captions.
Use the links in the list of study sessions to see Diane’s Extracts and Points to Ponder for each session.
List of Study Sessions
Session 2 (from 2pm, Tuesday 25 November 2025) – Chapters 12-24
Session 3 (from 2pm, Tuesday 27 January 2026) – Chapters 25-35
Session 4 (from 2pm, Tuesday, 24 February 2026) – Chapters 36-46
Session 5 (from 2pm, Tuesday 31 March 2026) – Chapters 47-52
Session 6 (from 2pm, Tuesday 28 April 2026)
We’ll consider some of the novel’s themes, including setting, gender, religion, humour, and Victorian society. These can be compared with Gaskell and her treatment of similar subjects
Doors open from 1pm: feel free to bring a packed lunch. The study session and Zoom meeting will begin at 2pm (UK time).
Simply come along and pay on the door, or use the Book Now button (no booking fee). Diane will also run the sessions on Zoom, so if you can’t join us in Knutsford, join us online. You’ll receive the Zoom link with your ticket.