The mood of Far from the Madding Crowd swings between serious and lighthearted throughout the novel. Hardy portrays the events unfolding in Weatherbury as both deeply important and somewhat small in scale.
The formal tone of the writing, as well as the many allusions within the book to the Bible and Greco-Roman myth, continually connect the story’s events to things greater than the imaginary Wessex. The references, however, are often somewhat tongue-in-cheek. Along with this subtle glibness, Hardy often uses the setting to shift the story into a lighter mood. Hardy captures the English countryside in highly specific detail, from the landscape right down to the colloquialisms, mannerisms, and names of the people in the country. Take, for example, Henery Fray, who insists on the arcane spelling of his name even though it's pronounced as “Henry." Small details like this one bring readers further into Hardy’s world and provide some counterweight to the high drama that Bathsheba, Oak, Troy, and Boldwood engage in.
The balance of drama, humor, and realism in the book is reflected in the storm scene. In the face of an advancing thunderstorm, Gabriel can only notice Bathsheba’s hand on his arm:
Gabriel was almost blinded, and he could feel Bathsheba’s warm arm tremble in his hand—a sensation novel and thrilling enough [...]
Gabriel draws an equivalency between the wonder of the coming storm and the wonder of Bathsheba’s proximity to him—these things are equal in weight and importance to him and should be to the reader as well. The lighthearted and trivial sits nestled within the grand, dangerous, and earth-shattering.
