Far from the Madding Crowd she screams. At this, Boldwood shoots Troy dead and tries unsuccessfully to turn the gun on himself. Although Boldwood is convicted of murder and sentenced to be hanged, his friends petition the Home Secretary for mercy, claiming insanity. This is granted, and Boldwood's sentence is commuted to "confinement during Her Majesty's pleasure". Bathsheba, profoundly chastened by guilt and grief, buries her husband in the same grave as Fanny Robin and her child and adds a suitable inscription. Throughout her tribulations, Bathsheba comes to rely increasingly on her oldest and, as she admits to herself, only real friend, Gabriel. When he
Far from the Madding Crowd neighbour William Boldwood, the faithful shepherd Gabriel Oak, and the thriftless soldier Sergeant Troy. On publication, critical notices were plentiful and mostly positive. Hardy revised the text extensively for the 1895 edition and made further changes for the 1901 edition. The novel was listed at number 48 on the BBC's survey The Big Read in 2003. The book finished 10th on "The Guardian"s list of greatest love stories of all time in 2007. The novel has been dramatised several times, notably in the Oscar-nominated 1967 film directed by John Schlesinger. Gabriel Oak is a young shepherd. With the savings of