Far From the Madding Crowd

Far From the Madding Crowd

by

Thomas Hardy

Teachers and parents! Our Teacher Edition on Madding Crowd makes teaching easy.

Sergeant Francis Troy Character Analysis

Bathsheba’s third suitor is the son of a doctor who was ruined by debt after moving from town to country. Troy is impulsive—he leaves his clerk job to enlist in the army—and is often described as a child who follows his instincts and can’t think of other people’s thoughts or desires over his own. He is handsome and charming, able to use his looks and language to his advantage in order to get what he wants (especially with women, though also when money is involved, as when he tricks Boldwood into paying him off for the marriage to Bathsheba that has already happened). But Troy is portrayed as truly capable of love. He may have seduced and then abandoned Fanny, but it becomes clear over the course of the novel (both to readers and, perhaps, to Troy himself) that he did love her—though such love is inextricable from his cruelty to Bathsheba. Ultimately, however, Troy’s desire for material comfort conquers his aversion to Bathsheba and prompts him to return to her, though he can’t imagine just how much of an effect his actions will have on others. In this way, he is not dissimilar from the Bathsheba of the beginning of the novel.

Sergeant Francis Troy Quotes in Far From the Madding Crowd

The Far From the Madding Crowd quotes below are all either spoken by Sergeant Francis Troy or refer to Sergeant Francis Troy. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Epic Allusion, Tragedy, and Illusions of Grandeur Theme Icon
).
Chapter 26 Quotes

He had been known to observe casually that in dealing with womankind the only alternative to flattery was cursing and swearing. There was no third method. “Treat them fairly and you are a lost man,” he would say.

Related Characters: Sergeant Francis Troy (speaker)
Page Number: 148
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 30 Quotes

Bathsheba loved Troy in the way that only self-reliant women love when they abandon their self-reliance. When a strong woman recklessly throws away her strength she is worse than a weak woman who has never had any strength to throw away.

Related Characters: Sergeant Francis Troy, Cain (Cainy) Ball
Page Number: 164
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 42 Quotes

Her pride was indeed brought low by this despairing perception of spoliation by marriage with a less pure nature than her own. She chafed to and fro in rebelliousness, like a caged leopard, her whole soul was in arms, and the blood fired her face. Until she had met Troy Bathsheba had been proud of her position as a woman; it had been a glory to her to know that her lips had been touched by no man’s on earth, that her waist had never been encircled by a lover’s arm. She hated herself now.

Related Characters: Bathsheba Everdene, Sergeant Francis Troy
Page Number: 239
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 47 Quotes

The persistent torrent from the gargoyle’s jaws directed all its vengeance into the grave. The rich tawny mould was stirred into motion, and boiled like chocolate. The water accumulated and washed deeper down, and the roar of the pool thus formed spread into the night as the head and chief among other noises of the kind formed by the deluging rain. The flowers so carefully planted by Fanny’s repentant lover began to move and turn in their bed.

Related Characters: Sergeant Francis Troy, Fanny Robbin
Page Number: 276
Explanation and Analysis:
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Sergeant Francis Troy Quotes in Far From the Madding Crowd

The Far From the Madding Crowd quotes below are all either spoken by Sergeant Francis Troy or refer to Sergeant Francis Troy. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Epic Allusion, Tragedy, and Illusions of Grandeur Theme Icon
).
Chapter 26 Quotes

He had been known to observe casually that in dealing with womankind the only alternative to flattery was cursing and swearing. There was no third method. “Treat them fairly and you are a lost man,” he would say.

Related Characters: Sergeant Francis Troy (speaker)
Page Number: 148
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 30 Quotes

Bathsheba loved Troy in the way that only self-reliant women love when they abandon their self-reliance. When a strong woman recklessly throws away her strength she is worse than a weak woman who has never had any strength to throw away.

Related Characters: Sergeant Francis Troy, Cain (Cainy) Ball
Page Number: 164
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 42 Quotes

Her pride was indeed brought low by this despairing perception of spoliation by marriage with a less pure nature than her own. She chafed to and fro in rebelliousness, like a caged leopard, her whole soul was in arms, and the blood fired her face. Until she had met Troy Bathsheba had been proud of her position as a woman; it had been a glory to her to know that her lips had been touched by no man’s on earth, that her waist had never been encircled by a lover’s arm. She hated herself now.

Related Characters: Bathsheba Everdene, Sergeant Francis Troy
Page Number: 239
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 47 Quotes

The persistent torrent from the gargoyle’s jaws directed all its vengeance into the grave. The rich tawny mould was stirred into motion, and boiled like chocolate. The water accumulated and washed deeper down, and the roar of the pool thus formed spread into the night as the head and chief among other noises of the kind formed by the deluging rain. The flowers so carefully planted by Fanny’s repentant lover began to move and turn in their bed.

Related Characters: Sergeant Francis Troy, Fanny Robbin
Page Number: 276
Explanation and Analysis: