Summary
Boldwood is astonished and deeply moved to receive the anonymous valentine. When the mail is delivered the next day, Boldwood mistakenly snatches and opens a letter addressed to Gabriel since he is excited at the prospect of receiving more mail. When he realizes his mistake, he takes the letter to Gabriel at the pub, where Gabriel has been socializing with some of the other farmworkers. The letter is from Fanny; she returns the money Gabriel lent her, and informs him that she is soon to be married to Sergeant Troy, though she asks Gabriel not to tell anyone yet.
Gabriel, however, shares the letter with Boldwood, who worries that Troy will fail to keep his promises. Boldwood then asks Gabriel if he recognizes the writing on the valentine, and Gabriel confirms that the writing is Bathsheba’s. This news unsettles Boldwood, who begins to pay close attention to Bathsheba the next time he sees her. Noticing the change in Boldwood’s reaction, Bathsheba feels a mixture of triumph and shame, and begins to worry that her careless action might have significant consequences. In early May, Boldwood goes to Bathsheba’s farm and asks her to marry him.
Bathsheba refuses, but is startled by the intensity with which Boldwood pleads with her to reconsider, insisting that all of his happiness depends on her. She reluctantly concedes that he may raise the topic of marriage again in the future, though she begs him not to cling to hopes of winning her. Afterwards, Bathsheba ponders the economic stability that marrying Boldwood would offer her. The next day, she brings up the conversation with Gabriel. At first she tells him that she doesn’t want his opinion, and just wants him to contradict any rumors that she is now engaged to Boldwood, but she eventually permits him to tell her what he thinks about this turn of events. Boldwood rebukes her for playing pranks on Boldwood, leaving Bathsheba hurt and embarrassed. She angrily dismisses him from his job and tells him to leave the farm at once.
The next day, some farmhands come hurrying to Bathsheba to tell her that many of the sheep have poisoned themselves and are going to die unless they receive a specialized operation that very few people know how to perform. The farmhands tell her that the only person who can save the sheep is Gabriel, but Bathsheba initially refuses to ask him for help. As the situation becomes more desperate, she sends a messenger demanding that Gabriel return to help her, and he refuses. She sends a letter with a softer tone, and this time Gabriel does come to the farm, where he saves most of the sheep. Realizing his value, she asks him to return to being her shepherd, and he agrees.
Analysis
Bathsheba’s playful gesture of sending the valentine to Boldwood was ill-conceived, but not malicious. Nonetheless, it unleashes a serious set of consequences. Boldwood is lonely and isolated; although he seems very reserved, the prospect that a woman might be attracted to him sends him rapidly spiraling into a kind of obsession with Bathsheba. As soon as she has his attention, Bathsheba becomes uncomfortable with it, since she knows deep down that she not behaved respectfully. Part of why she becomes so angry when Gabriel chastises her is because she was already feeling guilty about her actions.
Bathsheba also has reason to regret her careless action since it leads to her having to make an uncomfortable decision about Boldwood’s proposal. For all the same reasons she rejected Gabriel’s proposal, she is still reluctant to give up her independence and she also does not feel love or desire for Boldwood. At the same time, especially as she reflects afterwards, Bathsheba is shrewd enough to see the practical advantages of the marriage. Her uncertainty is met with Boldwood’s insistence on trying to convince her to think about it and come back to the question later. Whereas Gabriel immediately dropped the question when Bathsheba rejected him, Boldwood is persistent and refuses to take no as a final answer. Bathsheba’s wavering, and Boldwood’s refusal to give up, sets the stage for a long-drawn-out struggle between the two of them.
The nature of the small, close-knit community is revealed by how quickly rumors begin to circulate that Bathsheba is going to marry Boldwood. Revealing that she is lonely without friends or family to confide in, Bathsheba turns to Gabriel looking for advice about her dilemma. She is not, however, willing to be vulnerable and admit that she wants his guidance, so she coyly disguises her intentions in bringing up the subject of her relationship with Boldwood. Perhaps because of this lack of transparency, Gabriel is frank that he does not think she has behaved well. On one hand, Gabriel’s criticism reflects his love for her: he wants to see her being her best self, and he also does not want to see damage her reputation if she is perceived as trifling with men’s affection. However, Bathsheba is somewhat justified in seeing Gabriel as being condescending and failing to respect the boundaries of employer and employee.
Despite her attempt to assert her authority and independence by dismissing Gabriel from his job, Bathsheba is almost immediately placed in a vulnerable and needy position when her sheep get sick. She initially mishandles the situation by thinking she can exert authority over him, and has to learn the humbling lesson that she has to earn Gabriel’s help by treating him with respect and kindness. In the end, his integrity and his love for her combine to compel him to come and help her. Bathsheba comes to realize how valuable Gabriel’s help is to her, and the two of them come to an implicit agreement that they have to respect each other. At the same time, his devotion to her signals that he will likely stand by her no matter what.
