‘More sinned against than sinning’ means that you are having more bad things done to you, than the bad things that you are doing. This would mean that you feel sympathy for the person who is having worse things being done to them. In ‘Far From the Madding Crowd’ there are a few women roles throughout the book, however, the two main women roles are Bathsheba Everdene and Fanny Robin. Throughout the book, Hardy tries to make the reader see both Bathsheba and Fanny as ‘saints’ and ‘sinners’. This is to show that nobody is perfect.
A reader in the Victorian times would see Bathsheba and Fanny in different ways than a reader would nowadays. This is because there were many things against women during the Victorian times and if women ever sinned they would be seen as unacceptable and a disgrace to the women race. Fanny would most probably be seen as a bigger sinner than Bathsheba. This is due to her becoming pregnant before she had married. In the Victorian times, this would have been seen as very bad! Chapter one is the very first time that we see Bathsheba.
Her entrance happens during the daytime and it is quite dramatic. The fact that she is wearing red creates more drama. This is because the colour red could mean romance or even blood, and blood could mean that bad things could happen. The red colour links with Sergeant Troy as well (a man that has a role in both Bathsheba’s and Fanny’s lives), and at the end of the book, he dies. Hardy uses loads of colours around Bathsheba like crimson, black, green and scarlet, ‘… scarlet glow the crimson jacket she wore…
upon her bright face and black hair… fresh and green… ‘ These colours are used to show that she has a vivid personality. Bathsheba’s entrance is completely different to Fanny’s. Fanny’s entrance is quite dramatic as nobody knows who she is and she is out at night with only thin clothes on. This could make the reader think that she has done something bad (sinning) so is running away. This makes the reader really intrigued as to who she is and how she will fit into the story (narrative hook).
One similarity between both their entrances is that they had some connection to blood or death. Bathsheba was wearing red and Fanny Robin was seen outside a churchyard and it was dark. Nonetheless, Hardy makes both Bathsheba and Fanny seem pretty in their entrances. Bathsheba is seen as beautiful due to her long ropes of black hair. With Fanny, Hardy describes her voice as ‘… unexpectedly attractive: it was the low and dulcet note suggestive attractive… ‘
